Love Object (2004)

Review by Adam C. Thomas



Have you ever been creeped out by a movie? Has it ever made you turn the lights on, jump at the smallest of sounds, and give you a general sense of uneasiness? "Love Object" was this movie for me. I thought I was long past the days of being freaked out by a movie, but boy, was I wrong.

The plot involves Kenneth, a copy editor for a company that writes instruction manuals for everything under the sun. He is the model employee, always on time, always getting his assignments done ahead of schedule, so on and so forth. His boss, played by Rip Torn, has a huge assignment for him, and hires another editor to help with his work load. He doesn't think this is such a good idea at first, because he feels she may just slow him down, but once he sees her, he starts singing a different tune. He falls for her immediately, but is far too shy to say anything to her. He then finds out about this company that makes extremely lifelike rubber sex dolls. One night, he decides that damn his bank account balance, he wants one of these dolls, and as you can imagine, designs it to look just like his editor, Lisa. In case that isn't weird enough for you, it only gets weirder. Instead of simply having sex with her, he decides to practice his moves on this doll with the intent of eventually asking Lisa on a date. Wait, though, because it only gets weirder. You see, this doll, known as Nikki, starts talking to Kenneth, or at least in his head she does. Once she finds out about Lisa, she becomes jealous, much like most women would, if they were real. He starts developing this paranoia about Nikki, because weird things begin happening. He walks in the room, and she's propped up holding a kitchen knife. He wakes up connected to her via wrist straps. Did I mention that Kenneth lives alone?

Overall, this movie was very, very creepy. It was very good at making me go "What the hell?!" on several occasions. The acting was decent, and the story was good, but creepy. If you want a movie that will keep you up at night, then check this one out. The only beef I had with this movie was the last scene, where after everything was coming to a head, the detective apprehended the suspect, and instead of only firing his gun once, he unloaded a full clip into them. I am almost certain this is not any protocol for any police force anywhere in the world. Other than that, it's an enjoyable flick. I give this one a 7 out of 10.