Don’t fall for ‘Obsession’
“Their effects are permanent, and extend far beyond the mere carnal impulse. But they include it. Oh yes, they include it. Bountiful. Insistently. Everlasting.” – John Collier
That’s right, guys, gals, and NB pals, we’re in Chaser territory yet again. Sing along if you know the words.
Lovelorn Baron “Bear” Bailey (Michael Johnston) has the hots for co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). After botching his one chance to get his feelings out to her, he grabs a wishing stick he picked up from the local occult shop and voices his request for Nikki to love him more than anything else. Subsequently, she falls hard for him, fulfilling his every desire. However, with this high level of devotion comes a much higher level of clinginess. He initially finds it annoying, but as the behavior escalates, he comes to realize he’s made a terrible mistake.
Collier’s short story works as such, case in point being the Twilight Zone episode adapting it. So stretching something that is over and done in 20 minutes to nearly two hours is not a good idea. Remember The Box from 2009? No, of course you don’t, but it did the same thing. Richard Matheson’s Button, Button short story was turned into a 1985 Zone episode. Worked perfectly there, but as a feature film, it’s an utter slog just to get to a punchline the audience saw coming within the first five minutes.
Obsession has got to be one of the worst cases of Idiot Plot in cinematic history. Scene after scene, Nikki goes off the rails in a manner that necessitates getting the police and/or mental health professionals involved, but not only does no one ever do anything, the matter is never even discussed! I would say that it’s like these people don’t know the number for 911, but it’s more like they don’t know emergency services exist at all.
Chief among these morons is Bear himself, who has absolutely no reason not to have her committed/jailed. Either he’s over her romantically and would nonchalantly resign her to that fate, or he’s trying to find a solution to undo the spell, in which case it’d be best for her to be transferred to a safe area where she can do no further harm to him and his social circle. This character doesn’t bother weighing his options or thinking creatively; he simply ambles along cluelessly because the plot says so.
Speaking of uncreative thinking, we’ve now arrived at the ending. Once again, so many different and interesting directions it could have gone in, and they chose the worst possible one. It is really just there to end the film so it can be over, not to provide a satisfying payoff to the protagonist’s journey, nor to demonstrate any measure of inventive problem-solving.
I’m all for championing the underdog, but they need to be able to cut the mustard, not the cheese. While the brief appearance of Andy Richter as Bear and Nikki’s boss was a nice surprise, it’s not nearly enough to save this knockoff. Find your library card and check out some of the real deal Collier’s work instead.
