Disturbing Behavior (1998) - Movie Review

Katie Holmes and James Marsden star in this retelling of The Stepford Wives, this time with the use of teenagers. Of course, Katie Holmes makes any film worthwhile, but Disturbing Behavior wouldn't be that bad even if she wasn't in it.

That doesn't mean the movie is great, either. It suffers from typical teenage flick syndrome, some bad scripting, stupid characters, and an overused plot. As a teenager, what is most annoying is seeing the class distinctions in this film. There is a clear computer nerd section, gothic section, skateboarding session, preppie session, and, of course, the mind-altered section. The mind-altered section is acceptable, since they are the main point of the movie, but in real life, the others don't exist for the most part in clear lines. I am sick of these false stereotypes because it is so easy to have good movies without them.

I didn't understand anything about the retarded janitor that wasn't, either.

This film isn't scary, it doesn't have any redeemable battle, but it is fairly fun watching. I won't watch it again but I don't consider this one-time watching a waste of time.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.