OBSESSION (2026) Movie Review | Curry Barker | Inde Navarrette | @thats_a_bad_idea

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]I'm glad you guys made us watch it as much as I personally suffered through it.

[00:00:06]Why can't you love me?

[00:00:09]And I mean to you viewers of Breakfast All Day who insist that we go see horror movies when you know I hate horror movies.

[00:00:15]>> A hi hate horror movies, but I hate sitting through them. They're very difficult for me. But this was, you know, there's a lot to talk about. It's obsession.

[00:00:24]I thought for sure you were gonna go for the Calvin Klein perfume approach between love and madness.

[00:00:34]>> That's what we have here. Yeah, this came out this past weekend. It was a big hit and a lot of you guys were like, "Please review Obsession." So, here we are. We are reviewing Obsession at those. Thanks for hanging out and subscribing and doing whatever it is you do with us in summertime. It's summertimes. We have Mandaloria and Grou and we have big movies and indies and everything in between. So come and spend some time with us. A love only the branch of a willow tree could conjure.

[00:01:04]>> So this is from the guys behind the YouTube channel That's a bad idea. It's Curry Barker who wrote and directed the film and Cooper Tomlinson who plays Ian supporting player in the film. They have this YouTube channel. So, it's yet another YouTuber turned horror director like the Rakar Rocka guys from Australia have done a couple of horror movies. So, it's it's a cool kind of way to like figure out what your what your voice is, what your tone is. And that's what's happening here. Um, so this is about a guy who goes by the name Bear. He's played by Michael Johnston. and he's kind of dweeb and sweet and meek and he clearly has a huge crush on his coworker Nikki played by Indie Navarretti and how could he not? She is so cute and vivacious and totally her own person and very confident. Uh but he's not sure if she likes him. Maybe she does. He's afraid to put himself out there. So rather than, you know, have a conversation with her, rather than ask her out, tell her how he feels, he goes to this store and buys this novelty thing, the one wish willow, and you snap it in half, and you make your wish, and whatever you want, it comes true. Is it real? Who knows? It's worth a shot.

[00:02:24]Let's just give it a try and see what happens. And so Bear asks for Nikki to love him more than anybody else has ever loved anybody in the whole world. And that's what happens. And that is not a good thing. Uh because pretty much immediately she becomes a totally different person. And she becomes needy and clingy and obsessive and volatile.

[00:02:48]And for a while I thought, "Oh, okay. we are playing up all of the tropes of the like needy psycho girlfriend, clingy and possessive and insecure. And then I realize, oh, okay, it's not an indictment of that kind of character.

[00:03:04]It's an indictment of this dude.

[00:03:06]>> Some dudes would rather make a wish than go to therapy, >> right? This is what he wants. He wants this thing. Um, and he got it. Um, Ian is their other coworker. This is Cooper Tomlinson. Uh, and then Megan Lawless plays Sarah. They all work together at Sarah's dad's music store somewhere in LA. Andy Richtor plays her dad in a very small part.

[00:03:28]>> So many employees in this music store, >> right? They have uniforms. Like they don't just wear like whatever concert t-shirt is their favorite from the floor. They have uniforms. Um and they go to trivia night. It's all very organized. Like for a bunch of people in their early 20s, they're very very organized people. Um, so this is really really stressful and really well done in terms of the way that the tone evolves, in terms of the way that the suspense just ratchets up with each new scene.

[00:03:58]Indian Aetti is freaking astounding here because she is called upon to do so much and to turn on a dime and switch up her voice or switch up her physicality.

[00:04:10]There are high highs and low lows and it's probably an actor's dream to play that kind of character who is so over the top and so out there. Um, but it's also got to be really exhausting. So, um, I thought this was really, really good. And, uh, yeah, an ending I did not see coming. There's a lot here that if you got a hard time with gore, like Alonzo, for example, you might have a hard time with this. How'd you do with this?

[00:04:38]>> Uh, it was a toughy. Um, yeah, I have a hard time with gore. I have a hard time with um self mutilation, uh, which this movie flirts with at times. I didn't I stayed I stayed. I did not pull a a talk to me and walk out midway through and be like, "Nope, I'm done with this." I did stick it out. Uh, and it it's really great.

[00:05:00]I'm glad you guys made us watch it as much as I personally suffered through it. Um, yeah, it is a movie about agency and it is a movie about, you know, uh, the idea of what men want from women and then what happens when they actually get that and maybe should have thought about it some more. Um, you know, it's your classic monkeykey's paw like careful what you wish for scenario. Um, but really well acted as you say. The the the the the woman who plays Nikki uh is great and uh Indie Navaret I think she is a star. Um and and just gets so much out of this role. But all four of the leads I think are are terrific.

[00:05:40]>> And the film just kind of >> it does that thing sort of like what was that we saw recently that's >> that's shape oh kind of like it reminded me of uh the drama in that it is sort of shaped like a romcom in a way but then goes to like really dark places that raise questions about what it is that romcoms tell you about people and love and such. Um, but yeah, much much more disturbing than the drama was. Uh, >> it's kind of magical mystical thing in a romcom where we played for laughs and misunderstanding.

[00:06:12]>> Potion number nine kind of, you know, thing. But yeah, this is like >> uh I'm always reminded of I forget there was a short story that said if you if you get asked what your wish is, you say without any change whatsoever in myself, I want to become the crulest, stupidest, and greediest person on earth. And then you know, but everything else is big.

[00:06:32]You're asking for trouble and they get trouble here. Uh >> yeah. So this is this is a a nifty little um uh you know indie horror movie. I look forward to seeing what Mr. Barker does next.

[00:06:43]>> Yeah. Apparently there's a scene that's particularly gory and gruesome that they had to pull back on because it almost got them an NC7 rating.

[00:06:54]>> The scene in the front seat of the car.

[00:06:56]>> Really? Well, okay. They they left in plenty.

[00:07:00]>> They left in plenty. I was gonna say there's no no guessing what happens here. Uh it's really really brutal. Um but yeah, I even though again it has sort of a a familiar kind of structure.

[00:07:12]So you think um I didn't know where this was going up until the very end there are lots of little twists and there are individual scenes where even within that scene you're just holding your breath like oh my god what's going to happen next? Like it's so exquisitly awkward and tense and it goes from being like kind of funny to kind of awkward to just incredibly painful.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah. They they set up these scenarios were like, "Oh, this could go in one of multiple directions and they're all bad, you know. But which one are we going to get, you know?" Yeah. I I I I was I was definitely I was impressed with this.

[00:07:45]This is not a movie I would have seen under my own steam, but I'm glad I saw it for y'all because, >> you know, the the these are some talented folks. It's just >> Yeah.

[00:07:55]>> Yeah. And of course, the uh the horrible irony is that even though she's totally in love with him, she's not the woman that he fell in love with himself. She's totally changed to please him.

[00:08:07]>> Yeah. And thus is no longer >> a version of her has changed to please him. That's an interesting conflict going on in there as well with that character, with the Nikki character. And so, um, yeah, she's just she's nothing like what she used to be. And >> but he doesn't care cuz he's awful.

[00:08:28]>> He seems so sweet, but maybe he's not.

[00:08:31]Uh, so anyway, Obsession is in theaters and it did pretty well this weekend. It came in third, but like a pretty close third, so it's going to have legs for the summer, I would think. Um, Alonzo, what is your number on this movie?

[00:08:41]>> I'll say like an eight. Um, yeah, like not my particular cup of tea, but if this is your jam, it will be your jam.

[00:08:49]>> Yeah, I will say an 8.5. So much of that is Indian everybody's performance and just like the the use of shadow, the use of like suggesting what's happening when she's emerging from the darkness. Like so many wonderful little details to put you on edge, to put you in a mood within suburbia, within this house, within this friendship. And so, um, it's just it's really thoughtful all the way through.

[00:09:10]So, good job, Curry Burker and team. Uh, we look forward to seeing what you do next.