Fatal Affair: Love turns deadly in this thriller from Netflix
Fatal Affair is a Psychological Thriller distributed by Netflix, Directed by Peter Sullivan and starring Nia Long (Boyz ‘N’ the Hood / Love Jones / The Best Man) and Omar Epps (Juice / Love & Basketball / The Wood).
The movie follows a woman named Ellie Warren (Nia Long) who is in a struggling marriage and through her work, she meets up with an old college friend that she has not seen in twenty years called David Hammond (Omar Epps). One night after a few drinks, Ellie and David nearly give into their primal passions, leading to a steamy encounter in the ladies bathroom, until it is halted by Ellie who runs back home to her husband. Thus, starting David’s obsession for Ellie.
Before watching this movie, I was speaking to a colleague of mine, stating that I believed that I could guess exactly what the movie would be about and how it would end. I stated that I had seen movies such as these, with very similar titles and they always ended up being carbon copies of each other. I then proceeded to give a very brief overview of what I believed the film would entail. To say that I was not very excited to watch this movie was an understatement, however, knowing that it had the Lovely Nia Long it in (Who has aged like a Fine Wine), had me morbidly curious.
Unfortunately, not even my Nia Long could save this car crash of a movie.
This movie is the generic, man and woman have an affair, man or woman turns into a stalker, man or woman kills someone or some people throughout the film. THAT’S IT!!
This movie was not a disappointment to me as I did not expect much. The writing was standard and the acting, whilst they did the best they could do with the material given to them, was forgettable. Nia Long does her best to play the wife who feels guilty over her affair and wants to get her life back on track, whilst Omar Epps plays the obsessed stalker role very well. At times you are genuinely concerned and scared in regards to what he may try next in order to get the woman that he has been thinking about for twenty years.
During the movie, David tries a number of different tactics to get closer to Ellie, from turning up at her house, appearing at her home as her best friend’s new boyfriend, only to demand that Ellie leave her husband for him. Even to the point where he is outside her house, in a hoodie, in the rain, looking through the window watching Ellie make love to her husband Marcus Warren (Stephen Bishop). The Classic Stalker Behaviour!!!
This movie was 1½ hours long and I did not enjoy it at all. It was very predictable, and I saw nothing new that I had not seen before. The acting was fine, but when you are not given much to work with, it falls flat and is a very uninspiring viewing.
I personally would not recommend this movie, even as a generic watch as there is nothing to keep your attention or to get you motivated or excited to see what will happen next. The only motivation will be to get to the end of the movie to see the beauty that is the Ending Credits.
It does pain me to write such a review regarding this movie as I do want to support movies such as these, but unfortunately, whilst Netflix can distribute a few good films on their streaming network, most of them are very much like this film. A big let-down!
[…] Related: Read about another Netflix love tale gone wrong here […]