Never trust a good-looking stranger with your heart.

The Boy Next Door harks back to a bygone era of jeopardy thrillers when Michael Douglas' unfaithful husband met his match in Glenn Close's bunny boiler and naive Bridget Fonda discovered you should never share living space with a single white female.

Alas, Rob Cohen's hokey yarn is more Facile Distraction than Fatal Attraction, courtesy of a clumsy, cliche-riddled script by Barbara Curry that fails to generate suspense.

It doesn't help her cause that 27-year-old leading man Ryan Guzman, who flaunted his abs in the most recent Step Up films, has to pass muster as a high school senior.

"I'm almost 20," explains his character, inciting hoots of derision that become commonplace as the plot goes through predictable motions.

Co-star Jennifer Lopez fares just as badly but with her additional credit as producer, she is granted carte blanche to look fierce and fabulous as an English literature teacher, who espouses Greek classics in figure-hugging skirts and heels.

Her lips are flawlessly glossed, her hair impeccably tousled, even when she is in the throes of a sex scene with Guzman and he is enthusiastically kneading her breasts as if they were balls of raw pizza dough.

Lopez plays Claire Peterson, who is separated from her cheating husband (John Corbett).

Potty-mouthed pal Vicky (Kristin Chenoweth), who is also the high school's vice principal, urges Claire to sign the divorce papers but she hesitates for the sake of their teenage son Kevin (Ian Nelson).

That changes when strapping Noah Sandborn (Guzman) moves in next door and announces his manly presence by helping Claire with her sticky garage door.

"His parents died last year. I'm all he's got in the way of family," explains Noah's great-uncle (Jack Wallace).

"Seems like a nice boy," replies Claire dreamily.

One night of ill-advised passion lights the fuse on Noah's obsession and when Claire informs him that their romp was a booze-fuelled mistake, he responds by papering her classroom with explicit images and making suggestive comments about her cookies.

Mary Berry would be mortified.

With a touch of tongue-in-cheek, The Boy Next Door might have achieved cult status like Basic Instinct and Showgirls.

Regrettably, Cohen's film is deadly serious apart from Chenoweth's fleeting comic relief.

Lopez doesn't convince as an educator of hormone-addled teenage minds.

Guzman gamely keeps a straight face as he woos Claire with Homer and whispers "a woman like you should be cherished" as he exfoliates her hands with his rippling six-pack during their beautifully lit tumble.

If there's one compliment you can begrudgingly pay The Boy Next Door, it's that their on-screen coupling is far steamier than any of the restrained slap and tickle in Fifty Shades Of Grey.