When I first caught wind of the redundant "sex thriller" Obsessed, my first reaction was to adopt the voice of a blaxploitation announcer and Twitter things like "Bang! It's a black-on-white cat fight you KNOW is outta sight! Look out for the affirmative action Fatal Attraction, baby! Obsessed!" I walked in expecting a base, push-button and knee-jerk story of "white hoochie vs. black wife" story ... but unfortunately the movie turned out way too plain and generic to bother with such immaturities. Had they "trashed" it up a little bit, then Obsessed could have been a grade-A B-movie worth laughing at and cheering with. As it stands, Obsessed feels a lot like a refugee from the Lifetime Network that just happened to have a budget.

Idris Elba (who delivers a performance better than the movie deserves) plays a very successful investment banker named Derek who catches the eye of a pretty new temp (Ali Larter) called Lisa. But Derek is quite married, you see, and rather happily, as would you be if you got to sleep with Beyonce Knowles every night. But that doesn't stop Lisa from (ever so s l o w l y) getting under the skin of poor Derek, and before too long we're dealing with a very basic yet powerful case of, well, obsession. No matter how many times he professes his love for wife Sharon, the tantalizing temp just keeps on flirting. Heavily, shamelessly, redundantly. After about an hour of altercations between Derek and Lisa both predictable and obvious, we finally get into the Act III catharsis, which is when the frequently-dormant Beyonce gets to stand tall and kick some serious booty.

Yesterday's New York Times featured a rather flattering profile on Screen Gems president Clinton Culpepper and how his Sony studio arm reliably turns a profit on its comedy and thriller titles. Despite Culpepper declining to be interviewed for the piece, it goes noted amidst "past and present associates" that the man has a preference for "the white comedy, done black," a supposed genre brought up with regards to Chris Rock's forthcoming remake of Death at a Funeral with an all African-American cast.

The minority-cast likes of You Got Served, Stomp the Yard and This Christmas have certainly proven profitable for Screen Gems, but do any of you out there refuse to see Funeral or The Big Chill, and yet may fork money over if those films were done with a more superficially familiar ensemble? Or do you personally wish for more out of niche filmmaking meant to appeal to the African-American audience than the wacky antics of Martin Lawrence and Madea?

And with regards to this Friday's Obsessed, is there a double standard with regards to a white woman (Ali Larter) interfering with the happiness of a black couple (Idris Elba and Beyonce Knowles)? If the roles were reversed (and if the alleged working title of Oh No She Didn't were kept instead), would everyone be up in arms about stereotyping and such? On the flip side, would anyone argue that having a white villainess is maybe being too politically correct? Let us know.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Obsessed, starring Idris Elba, Beyoncé Knowles and Ali Larter. Directed by Steve Shill, Obsessed follows in the footsteps of films like Fatal Attraction or The Temp in that it tells of a married well-to-do suit (Elba) who accidentally shacks up with a temp worker (Larter) at the office. Of course, if the movies have taught you anything, it's that the woman you cheat on your wife with will not just walk away from the fling empty handed -- and, as such, Larter's temp causes more than enough trouble for the man and his wife (Knowles).

Obsessed hits theaters on April 24. Check out the trailer over on Moviefone and the full image of the poster by clicking below.

On the heels of a few images that popped up earlier this month, you can check out the newly released trailer for Obsessed above. Does it look just a little bit familiar?

It should, if you ever watched Glenn Close stalk Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction. Jumping ahead a few years with Obsessed, Idris Elba plays the poor man who just tried to have a quick fling with his new temp (Ali Larter), only to have her go psycho. She gets busy with suicide attempts, stalking, cutting the wife (Beyoncé Knowles) out of the family pictures -- all that fun stuff. Larter even tries to pull off the trench coat seduction, although set to the music, it looks pretty funny and not at all comfortable or seductive. On the plus side, we need more Jerry O'Connell!

It looks like it could be some good campy fun, although I doubt that's the mood they were going for. But what say you? Can Ali Larter hold a torch to the bunny-vicious Close?

Etta James blasts her way through a sad song, but it's not good enough. Leonard Chess taunts her and claims she's not "woman enough" for such a song. Didn't anyone ever walk out on her and leave her heartbroken? Take that and put it in the song, he suggests. She steps up for another take, and -- although she has tears in her eyes now -- it sounds pretty much the same. The main trouble with Cadillac Records is that no one took aside writer/director Darnell Martin with the same advice. Scene after scene, Cadillac Records is thin, flat and rote.

Like all biopics, the new film skims over years and years of history in a brief fling. All the moments are historical; they describe what happened, but not who they happened to. Sometime in the 1940s -- the movie is rarely very clear as to what year it is -- Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) runs a junkyard and decides to get into "race music." He moves from a club to a record label and signs Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), a blues guitarist straight off the plantation. There are a few nice, early scenes showing these two men touring together, sharing meals and getting the stink-eye from local rednecks, but the movie shies away from developing this friendship.

Girlfriends and wives usually get the short shrift in music biopics. In most cases, they end up as background (with maybe the exception being Walk the Line). Hopefully, this will not be the case for Gabrielle Union's latest role. BlackFilm reports that Union has signed to star in Darnell Martin's music biopic Cadillac Records as Geneva Wade. Wade was blues legend Muddy Waters' long-time girlfriend and was the inspiration for the classic song, Little Geneva.

Cadillac is the story of Chess Records, founded by Leonard Chess. The famed label was responsible for launching the careers of some of the greatest names in R&B. Casting has been the order of the day since news first hit that Adrien Brody would be playing Chess. Since then, it's been a flood of news, with the debate over Beyonce being cast as jazz legend Etta James at the top of the list. It should probably not come as a shock that other casting news has garnered fewer headlines. So just to bring you up to speed: Jeffrey Wright signed to play the great Muddy Waters, Cedric the Entertainer will appear as Willie Dixon, Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, and Columbus Short as Little Walter. There is also my favorite piece of casting -- Mos Def as Chuck Berry. Because, frankly, Def is just 'eccentric' enough to pull it off.

Due to my appreciation of Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright, I've really been trying to get behind the idea of Beyonce Knowles as Etta James, so that I can fully appreciate everything Cadillac Records can offer. So far, it's not happening, and with the first look at Beyonce's Etta, courtesy of Just Jared, I'm really not convinced. You can check out the full picture, plus a peek at a blue-suited Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess over at the site, and above I have given you a side-by-side comparison.

Putting a blonde wig on Beyonce doesn't make her Etta. It makes her look like she's getting ready for Halloween. They just don't look alike. They look different. They have different body types. And they certainly don't sound alike. It just looks like a caricature, which is really a shame, considering the solid cast along for the ride. And heck, as JJ pointed out, Etta doesn't think so either, although she's remaining positive: "It's a privilege and an honor to have somebody like that girl. I don't think she looks like me, but that's all right. They can fix that up."

Etta is going to work with Beyonce on both the acting and singing, so hopefully the pointers can make this all come together.

Since she won't be struggling with her alternate side in a world of Heroes any time soon, Ali Larter is getting Obsessed. Variety reports that she's going to star in Screen Gems' upcoming thriller, along with Beyonce Knowles and Idris Elba. Television director Steve Shill will helm the project, from a script by David Loughery. The latter has penned the likes of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and The Three Musketeers, had a 13-year break after Tom and Huck, and is now back with this and the upcoming Lakeview Terrace.

In the hand that rocks the professional cradle, Elba plays "an asset manager who has a knockout wife (Knowles) and thriving career until a temp office worker (Larter) begins stalking him." What better validation can an actor get? One gets stalked by an attractive woman, and the other gets to be a "knockout." Acting can be so rough!

Screen Gems head Clint Culpepper is said to be "working with Knowles' and Larter's reps to iron out scheduling kinks," but the company is planning to get the film into production this summer.

Would you ever believe that Eva Longoria dated Jason Biggs? Well, Hollywood is asking us to suspend our disbelief, because the two are starring in a comedy in which they play former flames. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sexy "desperate housewife" and the doofy "pie f**cker" have been cast alongside Rob Corddry in Lower Learning, the debut feature from writer-director Mark Lafferty, who was responsible for the gay-centric Sixth Sense spoof, The Seventh Sense ("I see gay people"). In Lower, Corddry will play a shady elementary school principal under investigation by Longoria's inspector with help from her ex, a former cop who is now a vice principal. The cast will also include Corddry's old Daily Show co-worker Ed Helms, Tenacious D's Kyle Gass and Saw's Monica Potter. I don't know about you, but I expect this to be another movie in which the adults are less mature than the children.

I hope there aren't too many disappointed men out there, but Jason Biggs isn't much of a substitute for Beyoncé Knowles. Remember last year, Longoria was said to be doing a lesbian film with Knowles, but the rumor was quickly and unfortunately shot down. Well, let's just hope Longoria's character doesn't end up getting back together with Biggs' character, so we don't have to suffer through their reunion kiss -- though I've already suffered from imagining it. I'm rather hoping this movie focuses more on Corddry, who is a lot more enjoyable to watch. However, I might be in a minority here, considering audiences weren't too receptive to his recent sitcom The Winner, nor were they interested in his starring role in Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story nor as support in The Heartbreak Kid. Personally, I think he needs another shot at carrying a movie -- his next few roles are fairly small, playing second fiddle to Justin Long, Will Ferrell, Harold & Kumar and Ashton Kutcher. Like Longoria, he could definitely do better.

Yes, I'm a Sopranos fan like you and I think the same thing every time I hear this particular musical mentioned. Anyway, Jim Hill, who has a lot of knowledge of goings-on at Disney, is reporting that the Mousehouse is pushing forward with plans to take the Tony-winning Broadway musical (adapted from the Verdi opera of the same name) to the big screen. For those who haven't seen Aida, it's a tale set in ancient Egypt, revolving around a love story between an Egyptian Army captain named Radames and one of his female Nubian captives, Aida. The play is completely unseen by me, but I've heard once or twice from people who've seen it that it's very cinematic.

Jim Hill says the Disney movie offices are "abuzz lately with the news that Walt Disney Studios is seriously thinking about turning DT's earlier production, Aida, into a big budget movie musical. And just who would play the title role in the film version of this Elton John musical, you ask? Would you believe Beyonce? The Mouse is reportedly in talks with this pop diva, trying to convince Ms. Knowles to make Aida her follow-up project to Dreamgirls." Hill also reminds us that Disney bought the rights to a storybook version of the Verdi opera way back in 1990 for the sole purpose of using some of its ideas as grist for a feature film. This all makes sense to me -- I'd expect to hear about a firm deal sooner rather than later, especially considering how well Dreamgirls was received by the public.