Not on Lifetime: "The Boy Next Door"

What better way to kick off the first day of school than with a review of "The Boy Next Door," a tale of a teacher/student relationship gone wrong?

Of course, illicit teacher-student relationships are all over the news. NONE of the convicted educators I've seen on TV, however, look anything like this movie's star, Jennifer Lopez!!

In "The Boy Next Door," J-Lo plays a teacher seduced by a student! Now that's a switch from what we see on the news! Of course, the kid who puts the moves on her also happens to be a raging psychopath!

So, the plot focuses on recently divorced school teacher Claire Peterson (J-Lo). Of course, we're expected to believe that guys aren't beating her door down to get a date! Still, she is unlucky in love, but does have a cool BFF in fellow teacher Ms. Lansing (Kristin Chenowith) and a nice (yet nerdy) son Kevin (Ian Nelson). And the cheating ex (John Corbett) is still hanging around trying to make nice with the woman he betrayed.

Enter new kid in town Noah (Ryan Guzman), who moves in with his uncle -- next door to Claire. He becomes buds with Kevin, who is bullied at school, and pulls the Eddie Haskell routine with all unsuspecting adults. When he's not playing nice, he's appealing to Claire in the classroom with his passion for Homer. Oh, he also watches her undress though her window. 

When Claire has the house to herself, he drops by for dinner, wine and some sex. Yes, Claire is so lonely -- even though she's the most beautiful woman in town and possibly the country -- that she is attracted to a high school student. Don't worry! He's legal (19), so this isn't a completely demented movie. Well, any man 19 or 91 would be obsessed with someone that looks like Claire. And any woman with half a brain would realize that sleeping with a student is very bad news. So, she breaks it to him that this was a one-time fling and it's over. Guess what? Noah's not having it! So, he goes on a rampage stalking her, making sure he gets assigned to her class, then seducing her son's crush.

Claire is worried about keeping her job and sanity throughout this ordeal. Of course, any Lifetime movie aficionado can see where this is going, so I won't deliver the spoilers. I will encourage viewers to stick with this movie through its excellent - and graphic - climax! 

I'd be surprised if this doesn't make it on Lifetime or LMN soon. In the meantime, catch it in full unedited glory on HBO. It's violent, steamy and all around awesome! It airs next at 6:25 p.m., Aug. 31 on HBO Signaure and again at 10:40 p.m., Sept. 4 on HBO 2.