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Addicted – Film Review

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So it seems Hollywood has gotten into the habit of making erotic novels into movies. Most of the screenplays go on to make readers even happier with their favourite book characters coming to life while others make one cringe and regret that they ever hit the big screen. ‘Addicted’ unfortunately fell into the trap of the latter.

Addicted tells the tale of young professional wife and mother of two Zoe, who works as a gallerist, her husband Jason (Boris Kodjoe) is a hard working architect that loves his wife and children. He is the perfect husband and is always understanding. The two seemingly have a healthy sex life and have sex two to three times a week, something which Zoe is not happy about as she is unsatisfied.
Frustrated she meets a young artist Tony (Brandon Gonzales) whose only talent seems not to be outlined on canvas but in the sack. What stems from the relationship is a dangerous addiction leaving Zoe even more unsatisfied, (goodness me! I am so exhausted from Zoe’s sexcapedes, how is one woman not satisfied by three and not just two gorgeous men).
After a few minutes of watching the film I realized that the plot is no different from Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a married counsellor, making the storyline, dull, predictable and beyond cliché, The acting in Addicted is also below par with performances ranging from trying too hard to sleep acting. How is one not supposed to fall asleep if the actor in a seemingly good scene seems to be sleep walking through the set of the film. Kodjoe has always been an emotional actor in all his films, however in this film he fails to get the sympathy of the audience. How does a man who has just found out that his wife has been cheating on him with not one but two men react with such little emotion?  The least he would have done is throw a fork at her, punch the wall or something but he acts as if he is not surprised at his wife’s antics or that it is normal for her to cheat on him. Sigh!
Now how is the audience supposed to really get into the film, into his shoes if all he does is look like his golf buddies have just called to say they have cancelled their annual gold tournament? Leal’s acting is decent, at least she does not try to come off as such a MILF, but does show that she has a problem, one that should not be ignored as she winds up in sex-clubs.  The film does have a few other familiar faces in Kat Graham who plays Tony’s sex-crazed friend with benefits. She plays the role of a wanna-be girlfriend with ease, while model Tyson Beckford adds to the list of eye candy as Leal’s other shag buddy, who introduces her to sex-clubs and only seems to want to have sex with her on his tables.
The only strength of this film is the lesson it teaches. Many are the times that we think addiction only comes in terms of drugs and alcohol, we forget that sex too can be disruptive. Sex addiction has been the cause of many divorces and break-ups in relationships. Most people do not know that their partners are addicted and just see it as their partnersbeing unfaithful. Addicted is not for children and neither is it for immature people who will deem the movie as soft-porn. Yet, the movie does have something positive about it, a message that should not be misinterpreted but understood with a lot of compassion.

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