When Diva’s Become Hustlers.

by Kimberley Jev

Beyoncé Knowles may not always get it right in the fashion department, although this year she has made a few good choices, like the British designer Gareth Pugh for example. She may have played roles in highly praised movies such as Austin Powers in Goldmember and Dreamgirls but taking Beyoncé Knowles as a serious actress can be a rather difficult task.

The singer and actress has no doubt made a huge impression on the world this year, first by "secretly" marrying her long time "are they together, are they not together?" boyfriend Sean Carter, known to many as Jay-Z, and secondly by unleashing her stage ego Sasha Fierce, to the world in a manner that screamed blatant PR practices to hype the release of her third solo album I Am…Sasha Fierce.

Sasha Fierce turned out to be exactly that, a fire breathing diva who still knows how to love, tough but sweet and loved by the president Obama and his wife as was seen at the recent inauguration of America's first African American president.

With the release of Sasha Fierce came empowerment and growth for Beyoncé, and even though her tenacious dance moves and holier than thou, butter doesn't melt in my mouth demeanor allows for much entertainment, Beyoncé Knowles has never really been what one would call a seasoned actress.

Knowles first hit the big screen in the MTV production Carmen: A Hip Hopera starring as the lead character Carmen, a vivacious, seductive actress to be who gets caught up in a series of unfortunate events. Her performance although celebrated and given good reviews by the critics, left little to be desired as the film depended on Beyoncé's sharp head bobs and booty shaking walks which made the film a 3 hour long music video, something Beyoncé is well versed in.

Scene from Obsessed

Obsessed, the thriller released by Screen Gems Pictures in April is Beyoncé's latest endavour as an actress. Obsessed has Beyoncé playing the character of Sharon Charles, a happily devoted mother and wife married to a dashing man of substance Derek Charles, played by Idris Elba who is well placed in the corporate world. It all begins rather awkwardly as Sharon and her overly smitten husband perform some kind of R+B style music video of husband and wife lovingly cooing over one another as they celebrate their move into the cookie cutter world of suburbia. It's rather creepy to be honest, suburbia should never be this nostalgic. It's clear to see from the movie that there has been an influence by mangers of Beyoncé to make sure she is kept within her constraints. A lack of actual acting skills.

So father, mother, and child embrace their new surroundings but of course trouble lays ahead when a new secretary takes up residence at Derek's (Idris Elba) office. Beyoncé's characher a native to the corporate dillema of receptionists and bosses, (he was her boss and she was his secretary) begin to battle the advances of a new temp, the highly seductress Lisa Sheridan, played by Ali Larter set on nothing else but Mr Charles, who coincidentally can't seem to get away from his new secretary's progressively threatening advances.

If you closed your eyes for a second, the movie almost bears a resemblance to the popular thriller The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, complete with awkward scenes of other people's babies and pretend mothers. Yes, Beyoncé brings out a little bit of "Sasha" in what actually turns out to be an enthralling end to the saga of wife versus mistress but at the end of the day, the use of Beyoncé to promote the film really down plays the talents Idris Elba and Ali Larter bring to the table.

Beyoncé's performance in the film is really nothing to write home about, she does well as a secondary character staying silent and speaking when spoken to or yelling and raging when the state of her marriage is threatened but you know what; It's really quite simple, to see this movie is to watch the trailer and to watch this movie is to see just how things go when diva's become hustlers in the land of movies and box office hits.

Obsessed will be released on DVD and Blu-ray, and also available for download on iTunes, on August 4th, 2009 in North America.

  • When Diva’s Become Hustlers.
  • by Kimberley Jev
  • Published on June 19th, 2009
Movie:
Obsessed
Director:
Steve Shill
Cast:
Idris Elba, Beyoncé Knowles, Ali Larter, Jerry O'Connell, Bonnie Perlman
Rating:
2 / 5 (ouch)
Website:
areyouobsessed.com

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