Office Romance (2026), Hollywood Film Review, Picks And Piques, Johnson Thomas

Hollywood Film Review
Johnson Thomas
Cringe inducing Generic RomCom
Film: Office Romance (2026)
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein, Amy Sedaris, Betty Gilpin, Bradley Whitford, Edward James Olmos, Jodie Whittaker, Mary Wiseman
Director: Ol Parker
Rating: * *
Runtime: 115 m

Netflix’s “Office Romance” starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein, is a drab affair. Meant to be a romcom, this one makes you tear your hair out rather than laugh. The setting is pretty, Jennifer Lopez looks well-maintained and hot, but Brett Goldstein does not match-up and neither does the writing and direction. The standardised mix-ups and misunderstandings are so low-key that they fail to draw a laugh. This film is not just disappointing, its turgid.

Jackie (Lopez), President and CEO of Air Cruz, a nepo kid who has to prove herself time and time again to her board of Directors, falls foul of her company’s strict no fraternization policy, by falling for her company Lawyer Daniel Blanchflower (Brett Goldstein).

The meaningless opening showing our principal characters on two different dates going south, does nothing to generate interest. Then we see the top lawyer at Cruz Airlines (Bradley Whitford) choking on a burrito and becoming indisposed. So its up to stiffly turned out, efficient, new on the job, Daniel to represent Jackie at a deposition, in his place.

Much of the contretemps here is contrived and lazy. The issues of law don’t hold water either. The relationship between Jackie and her father “Captain Jack” (Edward James Olmos) comes across as sketchy. Jackie’s very pregnant assistant Sydney (Betty Gilpin), who ends up delivering in the office one day and coming back to work the next day, is the only one who makes her presence felt. The company’s beleaguered HR director (Tony Hale) comes in a distant second.

The board meetings also seem insufferable when discussing Jackie’s worth to the company. When the board decides on Jackie’s fate it sounds preposterous. As for Daniel impressing Jackie, it doesn’t hit the sweet note. He is too stiff and unyielding and there’s no chemistry between the two, to make their romance even halfway believable. Their getting close and personal while on an official trip to the Dominican Republic doesn’t convince either.

The tone is too mild even with the crude sexual overtones and the dick jokes. The storyline is pure fantasy. Just as oil and water don’t mix so also Daniel and Jackie. Their romance feels manufactured. The cultural conflicts don’t raise a laugh. The dialogue sounds silly and stilted.

Brett Goldstein, co-wrote the script with Joe Kelly and managed to write himself into the movie too but he did not write up a suitable role for himself. Throughout the movie he stands out like a sore thumb. It’s a pity that Ol Parker, director of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, couldn’t make this effort more lovable.

Costume designer Caroline Duncan’s (“Marry Me”) efforts to trump up Lopez’s sex appeal must be given due credit. But it’s a lost cause when the chosen paramour only mouths words and fails to make it count with expression, passion or action. Even cameraman Robert Yeoman’s efforts to spice up the visuals fall flat.

The worn out formula with unlikely twists and underwhelming treatment makes for strenuous viewing. Typical worn out genre elements, clumsy setup, a disastrous pairing and a deadened tone makes this romcom wearisome.

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Backrooms, Picks And Piques, Hollywood Film Review, Johnson Thomas

Hollywood Film Review
Johnson Thomas
Film: Backrooms
Plagues the mind

Cast: Renate Reinsve as Mary, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, Mark Duplass as Phil, Finn Bennett as Bobby, Lukita Maxwell as Kat, Avan Jogia as Naren Warne
Director: Kane Parsons
Writer: Will Soodik, Kane Parsons
Rating: * * *
Runtime: 110 m

Nineteen-year-old, Kane Parsons, creator of the viral web series of the same name, hits gold with this unusual horror story with the strangest of inclinations. Here people find themselves in a strange imaginal space consisting of pale yellow walls and fluorescent lighting - spaces which swallow you whole and leave an intriguing mystery behind.

Backrooms is based on an urban legend known as “creepypasta” (web speak) spawned by a photo someone posted of a strange, empty room with yellow carpet and walls without windows. Parsons, when only sixteen years of age, expanded on that idea with a short film and now at 19 yrs he has translated the same idea into a feature which has found buyers and is scoring big at the International Box Office.

The film opens in the early 1990s. We see that a person with a camcorder exploring the Backrooms, is pursued by a barely seen entity. The narrative then switches to Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a divorced alcoholic who runs a sparsely frequented furniture store "Captain Clark's Ottoman Empire" in northern California with two employees, Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and Bobby (Finn Bennett). Clark has been living in the store. He is also shown visiting a therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve) to help him deal with his divorce.

While in the store he discovers strange electrical fluctuations and decides to investigate the cause. While trying to discover the source he finds his way into the Backrooms through a wall in the store’s basement. He explores the empty haunting space for a bit then runs back when he hears some terrifying sounds. He then takes the help of his employees to record what he has seen. All three end up disappearing into the never-ending void. His therapist Mary then goes to the store to check on him and encounters the backrooms herself.

The camera takes you deep into the labyrinthine windowless, endless series of backrooms where time seems to stand still and context appears to evaporate into nothingness. The strange extra-dimensional space with maze-like shifting architecture becomes truly creepy and plagues your mind, generating nightmarish scenarios. While watching the film the audience also begins to feel trapped in an endless world of unremarkable rooms that keep expanding and contracting as you go in deeper. You get the sense that the outside world has ceased to exist.

Parsons uses the camera and huge sets to generate suspense and create tension. The light and shadow play adds ominousness to the setup. While keeping the storyline minimal what Parson’s does is allow the audience vulnerability to suggestiveness go rabid. Every viewer will probably be imagining his or her own nightmarish scenario while watching the film.

Technically the film is impeccable. The Sound Design & Score adds dread and threat in equal measure. The Cinematography by Jeremy Cox makes those empty backrooms spaces look mysterious and haunting. The Editing by Greg Ng is smart, disallowing the repetitive nature of the visuals from becoming boring and tedious. The performances are also solid. Chiwetel Ejiofor lends intensity and pathos to Clark while Renate Reinsve as Dr. Mary serves up a much needed reality check.

This is by no means a generic horror thriller. Backrooms, as an intriguing science fiction horror thriller, delves into trauma and therapy, using streams of memories of Clark’s and Mary’s pasts while linking them with the extradimensional space. It plagues on distorted memories to generate horror in the present. The film is highly suggestive and evocative and can creep you out provided you are one of those easily suggestible types.

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Obsession (2026), Hollywood Film Review, Picks And Piques, Johnson Thomas

Hollywood Film Review
Johnson Thomas
Dark, Twisted and Disturbing Indie horror
Film: Obsession
Cast: Michael Johnston, Indie Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless
Director: Curry Barker
Rating: * * *
Runtime: 109 m

Curry Barker’s ‘Obsession’ is a tricky scary movie that is likely to put you off relationships for good. Just imagine that you are attracted to a girl who fits your ideal and because of some wish fulfilling trickery she falls for you too… And it’s only later that you realise that her love is an obsession that makes her go to the weirdest extent to keep you bound to her. That’s the gist of the story here.

The 26-year-old former YouTuber turned filmmaker’s second feature has Bear/Baron(Michael Johnston) secretly crushing on Nikki (Indie Navarrette), his childhood friend and current coworker at a music store. He is diffident about expressing his feelings to her because he feels that she might not reciprocate and that might possibly ruin their friendship. Their mutual friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) encourages him to speak to Nikki about his feelings while also warning him about the possible fallout, and another mutual friend Sarah (Megan Lawless), appears to have a secret crush on him.

After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" a novelty trinket he picks up from a gift shop, the clueless romantic finds himself getting much more than what he wanted. His desires invoke a dark, sinister price.

There’s a price to pay for a love that is more than anything in the world and it’s not a happily ever after fairy tale scenario. Once Bear and Nikki become a couple the narrative takes the audience to a dark malignant place. Thereafter “Obsession” becomes an unsettling watch. Bear’s fascination with Nikki invokes the sinister in her, replacing the smart, pretty woman with someone volatile and given to extreme behaviour.

Nikki starts displaying dual personalities.At times she is normal and fun loving, then there are times when her eyes display mania and her behavior becomes disturbing. It’s a nightmare scenario for the diffident romantic. Yet he sticks with her till things go totally out of control. Bear’s needy decision-making hurtles him into a danger zone he doesn’t see coming.

Curry Barker does not resort to jump scares to scare the audience. His dodgy characters do the needful all by themselves. The latter portion of the film is replete with grotesque, revolting imagery and brutal violence. Pet lovers may not be happy about a sequence involving a dead cat.

Barker’s attempt to shock the audience out of their comfort zones works beautifully. The bludgeoning scene that comes out of nowhere could even stop your heart. Altogether “Obsession” is gory and could get you all queasy and unsettled with its bludgeoning, blood splattering gore.

This is not a typical horror film. It’s an altogether straightforward attempt to take the audience to places they’ve never been before. The manipulation is in the technique through which the narrative is framed. Barker cuts the film to suit a tune that gets meaner and more reprehensible as the story nears conclusion.

The narrative favors Bear’s perspective so Nikki becomes the villain of this piece. There’s no psychological or emotional perspective to draw you in deep. It’s a straightforward tale that hits you where you least expect it to.

Barker taps into unrequited feelings and being friended. The script is razor sharp, if a little uni-dimensional and the effect is twisted, diabolical and disturbing. Watching Bear slowly realise the nightmare he has created is horrifying in itself, and Barker wrings every ounce of discomfort out of the concept.

Michael Johnston does well to stay in character. Bear’s realisation that his nightmare was self created and that there’s little he can do to change the course of fate, is hard hitting. But it’s Indie Navarrette who steals the show despite being hampered by an underwritten role. Her Nikki is both loving and scary. That bipolarity makes it that much more difficult for Bear and the audience to straitjacket her. It’s a powerfully unhinged performance that gives this film its bite.

This film plays like a dark twisted romance. Barker manages to generate a decent amount of atmospheric tension with steady patient cuts, thus allowing for the viewer to get entrenched in the story. The sound design creates enough upsetting noises to break the silences in order to amplify the horror.

Curry Barker’s “Obsession” captures critical moments with spine-chilling effect. The film is a deliberate ‘uncomfortable’ visceral experience that is likely to horrify you with it’s gender skewed story. This is the freshest and neatest horror setup to come to the screens in a long while. The warning is clear. Love does not come to you neatly packaged to suit your expectations. So, Beware!

Johnsont307@gmail.com