Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Memorable, crazy movie

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* John Taylor (Morris Chestnut) and Laura Taylor (Regina Hall) are on top of the world in their respective professions. John is a powerful lawyer and Laura is a top-shelf chef. They live in New Orleans in an amazing house but their lives are still incomplete. They long to start a family but they have miscarried 3 times and are down to their last usable embryo. They're trying to get a surrogate and then they come across Anna (Jaz Sinclair). She's 21 and she's a waitress in New Orleans. She comes across as very genuine and Laura takes a shine to her immediately. John isn't quite sure and after meeting her boyfriend Mike (Theo Rossi) he's even less so. Mike is creepy and is very possessive of Anna. But Laura is sure and encourages him to change his mind. Little do they know there's more going on in the shadows. Mike has a plan to extort money from the happy couple and as things progress he gets more and more aggressive toward Anna to fall in line with this plan.There is no pleasant way to say this, the majority of the plot of When the Bough Breaks has been done before. More than a few times actually, the most recent example in memory being Obsessed in 2009. This would have been okay if they had a way to switch things up or bring a fresh take on it. The surrogacy angle is relatively new but that's basically where the new stuff ends. They needed far more interesting stuff in the side-plots than whether John gets the big case at work or Laura gets the new position. We meet their subordinates for so little time that it is literally impossible to get attached to those parts of the plot at all. The scheme that Mike and Anna cook up isn't fresh, I'll admit it's one of the more interesting parts of the plot but it's also undercut by how telegraphed it is by Jaz and Theo's performances.The other problem with When the Bough Breaks is the pace of it. The first half of this movie is pretty boring. It's meant to set things up but they slow play it so much that you can't set up any kind of tension. The story comes across as heavily melodramatic and that isn't helped by how bad the dialogue is in spots. The plot does pick up in the second half but that's when it devolves into the more illogical stuff. They keep the cops out of it for stupid reasons, John doesn't tell his wife how Anna's behaviour is changing for no good reason. It has to happen because the plot doesn't work otherwise. The second half does pick up but it gets progressively more and more outlandish to the point where in the final rampage by Anna, she stops because her water breaks. Ridiculous is the word that comes to mind when I think about the ending of this movie.The acting wasn't all bad but this is the type of movie that doesn't do the actors/actresses any favours. You would think this kind of stuff would be beneath people like Michael K. Williams, Regina Hall and Morris Chestnut. They're all accomplished actors and this movie makes them look like amateurs. But they weren't the worst casualties, Theo Rossi was awful in this movie. I know he isn't a terrible actor, he was solid in Luke Cage but this movie made him look laughably bad. Jaz Sinclair is beautiful but she didn't have the chops to carry this movie like she needed to. She's definitely got potential but she's slightly robotic at the start and when things go south, she can't quite make it work.I've been pretty hard on this movie but I've seen worse. This is formulaic and that's the long and the short of it. It made money at the box office and we'll end up getting more movies like it in the future. I can't recommend this though, there are better thrillers out there that supply what you actually want from this. There are no thrills to be had here and that was the sole job it had to deliver on.

While I can be honest and say this is not an A+ movie, I definitely don't think it is bad either. If you saw the previews, you know exactly what you were in for. Because of that, I think the movie was pretty good.I think I enjoyed the movie so much because of the actors. I adore Morris Chestnut & Regina Hall, even if their acting was just slightly better than everyone's else and that's not saying much. The problem, however, is that this scenario is a little tired at this point. It reminded me the whole time of Obsessed with Idris Elba, Beyonce & Ali Larter. Only, when I saw Obsessed, being in my early 20's, it was the first I had seen of this type of movie, so to this day I love it and actually want to watch it now after seeing this one. I personally prefer Obsessed because it's just a bit more fun, I'll take Beyonce as the sassy, bad-ass housewife over Regina's demure, almost helpless career woman any day. Ugh and that whole husband hiding the other woman's advances from his wife because he can "handle it" narrative is so stupid I don't see why it's keeps being used. What would have made a more interesting movie, he tells Regina the minute it starts happening, the two of them continue to play along and eventually turn the tables on the surrogate. That would have made it a great movie.All in all it was a beautiful movie, the settings and imagery were nice. Not to mention the actors, especially the surrogate were hot! I'm a woman and came for Morris but the surrogate was so sexy, even while pregnant. She was the only thing that kept me interested. Not great enough to buy but definitely good enough to rent and watch at home. Unless you've seen this scenario one too many times, then I wouldn't recommend it. Like I said though, if you've seen the trailer, you already know what's going to happen. If you watch and expect anything else, you will be disappointed but that is not the movies' fault.

Here's a film of 2016 that didn't seem to gain a lot of traction. First thing that came to mind while viewing the film is that it felt so much like Fatal Attraction. I think Fatal Attraction may be the quintessential film about a psychotic woman who tries to ruin the relationship of a man she's obsessed with. In recent years, we have seen a trend of very similar films. Hollywood has a lot of films that are similar in form, which is perfectly fine. The trick is to not be too formulaic and offer something that will commit itself to memory. Films will obviously draw upon previous influences, they just need to be of substantial quality and be able to stand on its own merit. Unfortunately, I can not say this about When the Bough Breaks.The premise of the film involves a young attractive woman, who decides to be the surrogate mother for a couple who cannot conceive. She also seems to be the victim of domestic violence, which further contributes to the affection of the couple. little do they know that she has ulterior motives that involve seducing the husband and tearing the family apart. The plot is interesting enough on paper but the delivery was all over the place. The film feels like something you would see on the Lifetime network. The dialogue at times seems simple and amateurish, writing isn't always up to par, parts of the plot drop in pace leading to an uneven feeling of plot progression. The film struggles to find its pace and I felt like the tone of the film kept shifting. Parts of it are drama, other parts feel like a romantic thriller, and then it diverts into a horror. This isn't a bad thing but you could just tell the filmmaker had a hard time keeping the film even.I thought the acting was fairly solid. Morris Chestnut, Regina Hall, and Jaz Sinclair all did well with what they were given. The film just ended up being too predictable and formulaic. Never was I genuinely shocked by something that happened. Having a psycho surrogate mother was a different twist on something that we see a lot but it doesn't do enough to make the film memorable or remarkable. There are some nice scenes, like when Sinclair lays on the floor donning her seductive red dress, however the film doesn't push the erotic boundaries. I think this was due to the PG-13 rating of the film. You won't leave this film thinking much about it, its a decent watch for when you are bored but not worth much more thought or consideration.5/10

This movie is, I believe, a remake of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" from 1992. At least, a similar set of elements comes up in both movies, this time with a black cast rather than white. One way or another, it was a good movie, full of suspenseful points, and the acting was good. I liked it.John and Laura Taylor cannot conceive a child, despite having made all efforts, and have resorted to hiring a surrogate mother, who is sweet (and seriously cute) and generally easy to like and love, a girl named Anna Walsh. But Anna isn't all she seems to be, living an unstable life and hiding her own deep and dark secrets as she develops inappropriate feelings for John, and her obsession with him turns dangerous and violent. What happens next? Buy a ticket and see the movie. LOLPH