Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
A wealthy businessman hires a young man to be a bodyguard for his daughter after she becomes the target of a malevolent stalker in the Spanish romantic-thriller Mala Influencia (Bad Influence). The problem? The bodyguard is fresh out of prison, super hot, poor, and potentially a bigger problem for the dad than the unknown stalker. Lol. Like seriously, this is my fault for streaming a movie that sounded like it would deliver an overload of clichés right from the start.
Directed by Chloe Wallace, Mala Influencia stars Alberto Olmo as lead Eros, the handsome ‘bad boy’ who is paid to ‘protect’ high-school teen Reese (Eléa Rochera) by her father Bruce (Enrique Arce). Why does Bruce trust Eros? Because Eros is a foster kid whom Bruce had been visiting as part of an orphan program for years. Reese is outraged that her dad wants her to have a bodyguard at school, and Eros is in it simply for the money. But as a lot of girls start to drool over Eros at school, which makes Reese see him in a new light too. It’s the classic rich girl falls for poor boy. And while at least Reese is an aspiring Ballerina, Eros doesn’t have any evident talents, unless we’re counting facial features.
In the very first fifteen minutes of the film, Bruce tells Eros, “Don’t even think about it,” when he catches Eros staring at Reese while she is swimming. Any sane dad who doesn’t want an unwanted affair between his bratty daughter and the hot guy he hired to spend all his time with her would immediately fire him… and there ends the story. Doesn’t Bruce watch movies? When the rich, clueless dad finds out his precious daughter is dating his “employee,” he fires Eros and demands they end their “fantasy.” To which Eros snappily replies, “You set up this fantasy.” One point for self-awareness. Ha ha.
A lot of people at school are nasty to Reese for no reason, and then the predictable romance between her and Eros begins. You’ll most likely forget that there is supposed to be a stalker giving her trouble — that’s how harebrained Bad Influence is. Alberto Olmo and Eléa Rochera are actually convincing in their parts; it’s just that their parts are bland, their story boring, and I lost interest quite fast. Regardless, I did see Bad Influence through to the end to find out who the ‘stalker’ is, and the reveal was extremely underwhelming, to say the least. Unless you’ve run out of options for a mildly steamy teen romance, do not bother to stream this film.
Rating: 2 on 10. Watch something else on Netflix.
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