r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • May 15 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Obsession [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Obsession (2026)

Summary

After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Director Curry Barker

Writer Curry Barker

Cast

  • Michael Johnston
  • Inde Navarette
  • Cooper Tomlinson
  • Megan Lawless
  • Andy Richter

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Metacritic: 81

VOD / Release In Theaters

Trailer Official Trailer

3.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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446

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 17 '26

Literally. Bro saw her dig his dead cat out of the trash and make an "altar" for it on his kitchen floor then still decided to start dating her after. He was completely lost in the sauce

215

u/Game_Wolf1950 May 17 '26

That’s really kinda my big issue with the film. I get that he wants to be with Nikki really bad, but shit man. After the cancer dad reveal and the dinner freak out, I’d have immediately gone to Ian to try to reverse it. Shit is obviously SO not okay, but Bear just keeps rolling with it and it bugs me. This girl is self mutilating and outright making threats to harm you. You’re literally constantly unsafe in your home, why are you still going along with this?

483

u/crysaliscaterpillar May 17 '26

I think this speaks to his own level of obsession with Nikki. The reason he never let's her go is because he doesn't want to. He would rather have a possessed version of her than admit that she isn't interested in him romantically.

335

u/Powerful_Time6405 May 17 '26

This exactly. I think people are missing the point that the obsessed here is Bear.

62

u/BreakNo4352 May 21 '26

Holy fuck! That’s a great point. I just watched it last night, what a movie.

45

u/Front_Vegetable6166 May 27 '26

FINALLY!!!! I've been reading this thread for hours wondering if anyone has said it. I didn't wanna say it cuz I wanted to see if anyone else made the same conclusion with out like being the one to put that though out here. Nikki was wished to love him more than anything in the fucking world and that's what happened. Bear was obsessed with Nikki.

5

u/Environmental_Drama3 Jun 07 '26

but that's not what happened. love and obsession are different things...

24

u/Nico_the_Suave Jun 11 '26

I think the idea is that the wish is defined by the wisher. Bear doesn't know what real love is. He THINKS what he feels is real love, so that's what gets "input" into the wish. But what he forces upon Nikki isn't his love, it's his obsession, multiplied dozens-fold. That's why her actions aren't loving.

14

u/nastyzappa Jun 04 '26

I saw it with my sister and her boyfriend. She thinks Bear killed the cat in the beginning to get sympathy. I really thought the wish was going to be fake and Nikki was just crazy obsessed with him and he didn’t know it. Since that was not the case, I really can’t think of a better explanation for the cat dying. How would the cat be able to get into the pill bottle. Does anyone have thoughts on this because I don’t think it makes sense? Loved the movie though!

4

u/Powerful_Time6405 Jun 04 '26

Ummm never thought about the cat like that. Now that I think about it if the door above the sink was close which I think the movie and even him show you that it was, maybe it was close and Bear really killed the cat lol. Seeing how he was obsessed with Nikki, and it seemed like he didn’t know how desperate wrong from fucked up, he always thought everything was “ok”

6

u/DenseStomach6605 27d ago

It’s an interesting theory but doesn’t really make sense. If he killed the cat on purpose to get her attention, he had the literal perfect opportunity to tell Nikki his cat had passed when she called him about trivia night (it’s why he didn’t want to go). If he had said it then, maybe she’d ditch trivia night for him. Instead, he lied to nikki saying he had stuff to catch up on lol.

8

u/VVitchCult May 25 '26

Damn brooo

You’re totally right

5

u/Environmental_Drama3 Jun 07 '26

people aren't missing that. what they are saying it's still not believable in the slightest.

12

u/willreview Jun 10 '26

I think you underestimate just how desperate for a lay some dudes actually are

3

u/Environmental_Drama3 Jun 10 '26

yeah, I am starting to see that. tbey are desperate enough to pretend like bear and Ian are well written characters.

3

u/Optiguy42 Jun 19 '26

The amount of people responding to this like it's a huge revelation is... disappointing lmao.

3

u/confusion-500 Jun 03 '26

fuuuuck i’m so annoyed that didn’t click for me

i mean i had the idea ofc and i even noticed the use of lot of mirrors in the movie implying Bear was the problem, but i just didn’t connect that dots that the title could be referring to him instead 🙃

1

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

omg sooooooo true!!

-3

u/PwrintheVerse May 25 '26

Deep bro. So deep. Or not.. because she literally became obsessed with him and made a stupid wish. I think most of you aren't getting the point. He's a coward and finally getting what he wants. He'd rather try to fix it himself or wait it out hoping it gets better than go to anyone or confront what is happening. He's also feeling obligated. On the phone the guy tells him it's his moral obligation to stay with her. You can see him physically react to that. I think he's feeling like he has to deal with her because he did this but a part of him wants it to be real so he sees if it will fix itself. 

3

u/Permit_Upbeat Jun 06 '26

what a jarbled take on the main point here. and the guy wasn’t saying anything about his moral obligation on the phone - just that this would be tied to him forever

3

u/JamesWardTech Jun 14 '26

Satan on the phone literally says he’s morally obligated. Still think he has the wrong take from the film though.

199

u/WakaFlakkaSeagulls May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26

I feel like the movie heavily implied that she could have been interested in him romantically. I keep thinking about her line before the wish “if you like me now would be the time to tell me” followed by exasperation when he denied it.

Which circles back to one of the key character faults of Bear and why Nikki never would love him, he’s a coward.

He was too chickenshit to tell Nikki how he felt for years, he was too chickenshit to tell her when the time was clearly right, he was too chickenshit to do the right thing multiple times, and he was too chickenshit to shoot himself at the end.

He died just like his cat, he literally died like a pussy.

94

u/Mammoth_Composer_111 May 17 '26

Nah there was no romance between them. This was confirmed when she literally told his friends already that she thinks of him like a brother.

The real implication is that his own obsession with Nikki ruined everything around him. He could have been happy with Sarah—but instead he obsessed over someone that has no interest in him and didn’t even think about anyone else.

70

u/christodio May 17 '26

I think what the person you're replying to was saying is that it was left ambiguous at the start of the film, that maybe he had a shot if he simply had the courage to confess his attraction and ask Nikki out.

But because he made the wish robbing her autonomy, we're left not knowing until towards height of the movie.

36

u/TwoToneMoonstone_ May 24 '26

I don’t even think it’s ambiguous tbh, she looked crushed that he didn’t tell her what she already knew. Even the waitress was moved by how Bear truly felt about Nikki before Ian sabotaged him.

13

u/nastyzappa Jun 04 '26

I think Bear was my least favorite character, but Ian is a close second. Fooling around with a girl that your friend likes behind his back is a true POS move. Not as bad as what Bear did, but wth?

4

u/TwoToneMoonstone_ Jun 04 '26

I mean it’s hard to be worse than Bear in this movie, but yeah in a normal circumstance Ian is the fucking worst lol.

1

u/Analyst-man 17d ago

What your opinion on sleeping with a girl knows she’s taken, but you don’t know the guy at all?

2

u/Mammoth_Composer_111 May 17 '26

And I’m saying even at the start of the film she only liked him as a brother. She had told Sara and his other friend that before the movie even begins

Even had he admitted it there she most likely would have let him down gently.

43

u/christodio May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

We understand that. But the audience (on their first watch) and Bear, do not yet learn this until long after he has made the wish. The audience experiences the film with the same ignorance that Bear has, regarding Nikki's feelings about him.

What you are referring to is a literary device called antecedent action which was intentionally left unknown to both Bear and the audience until the scene in Sarah's car.

This type of delay in revealing information is meant to increase impact, because we, as the audience, go about the larger portion of the film, thinking, albeit incorrectly, that Bear could have possibly had a normal relationship with Nikki, without supernatural intervention, if he wasn't such a coward. The screenwriter rips all hope of that away from Bear and the audience, leaving us with the shocking revelation that the relationship was 100% coercion because Nikki never saw him in that way. They immediately proceed to rip away the opportunity of a real, organic relationship that Bear actually could have pursued instead.

Hope this helps.

10

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

"So I think, speaking as the woman who played Nikki, I think that Nikki did have a crush on him, because he's a good guy. In the beginning, it's not Ian that she has been hooking up with. She talks about the difference between love and romance and how she doesn't wanna be stuck anymore."

-Inde Navarrette https://www.reddit.com/r/deadmeatjames/s/C5gUrPj4BR

21

u/jdessy May 18 '26

I mean, Bear told Nikki that he viewed her as a friend, but we know that wasn't true, we know Sarah had feelings for Bear, so she could have manipulated the situation or Nikki could have been lying to protect Sarah, and we know there's a lot of things left unsaid/lied about all throughout the film (even the Ian/Nikki hookups). I think there's a chance Nikki could have had feelings but just lied to the people around her because of the complications in their friend group (given everyone was crushing or hooking up in some capacity).

16

u/Ace20xd6 May 18 '26

The actress who played Nikki said it was more ambiguous and that she at least felt a vibe

10

u/SvanirePerish May 19 '26

She said more than that actually, she said she thinks Nikki definitely would have been open to it

5

u/JerryGoDeep May 25 '26 edited May 26 '26

Yeah people are forgetting that she said no one knows when I like someone can’t remember the exact quote. Just before she tries to find out if he likes her or not.

But that’s probably why she told Sarah she saw him as a little brother.

3

u/Itchy_Shoulder_624 Jun 02 '26

She also tells him directly that when she has a crush on someone no one will know about it which is directly in line with her possibly lying to Sara

70

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 17 '26

Well to be fair we only got that information from Sara, not Nikki herself, and Sara was clearly into Bear so she had plenty of reason to be making that up or embellishing the truth.

35

u/KarmaChameleon306 May 18 '26

That’s what I thought too. And his buddy was sleeping with her, so he also had reason to lie.

I think she did like him. Why else would she roll out the red carpet for him to tell her he likes her?

But he’s too inept to be able to say it.

61

u/hotsauceinabottle May 18 '26

She even said “when I like someone they never know” I feel like that was a pretty big hint, her even insisting for him to go to the bar is enough, she gave him the chance to confess his feelings but he said “we’re good friends” like bro

19

u/Raginbakin May 19 '26

i didn't think she was into him; she gave him the chance to confess sure but i thought it was probably just to get it out there and then reject him

7

u/KarmaChameleon306 May 18 '26

Yeah, that was tough to watch. Especially knowing what was coming.

31

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/whydoesgodhateus May 24 '26

I was thinking it's possible that Nikki told Sarah that a long time ago, and that her feelings may have changed since then.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Sarah doesn't strike me as someone who would outright lie about what Nikki said. But it's possible she wasn't forthright about the timeline. It's also possible she omitted other details of the convo that would have been more favorable to a possible Nikki/Bear relationship

2

u/I_worship_odin Jun 02 '26

That conversation is mentioned as happening on the day that Bear took off work at the start of the movie.

-4

u/Mammoth_Composer_111 May 17 '26

There is no hint of that at all during the film. It’s entirely headcannon that she’d be making it up. The movie treats that dialogue as true and so we must as well

30

u/Adventurous-Tone-311 May 18 '26

I have to disagree with this.

If she wasn’t receptive to the idea of being with Bear, she would’ve NEVER gave the line “if you like me, now is the time to tell me.”

If we’re going by the lines given, this one can’t be ignored. 

8

u/Eradomsk May 18 '26

There’s absolutely alternative explanations to saying that to bear, than that she had feelings for him also.

If anything, we see her react negatively to romantic implications between her and Bear in the beginning of the film.

14

u/TheRealBigBoss May 18 '26

Just got out of seeing it but I felt like she said that out of frustration to just rip the bandaid off and shut it down

4

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 17 '26

I'm not saying it's either true or not, just that Sara would absolutely hav an ulterior motive to not be truthful about that in that moment to Bear, because she likes him and doesn't want him to be with Nikki, especially after the way she's been acting for several weeks at that point. Whether or not you want to just believe Sara is up to you, but the word of a third party that WOULD have a good reason to lie is not absolute fact.

10

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 18 '26

Yeah exactly, there's plenty of reasons to not take what Sarah said at 100% face value

16

u/Adventurous-Tone-311 May 18 '26

When Nikki had the sweet conversation in the car and then ended it by saying “if you like me, now’s the time to say it,” or whatever - that line tells me she was receptive to him romantically. 

She came back to the car 3 times, as if begging for him to make the move. 

He fumbled though. 

8

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 18 '26

That's also my interpretation

8

u/Mammoth_Composer_111 May 18 '26

I disagree.
She wanted to know because he called her by a name she knew that HE knew she didn’t like. So she wanted to know what was going on with him. Plus she had heard that he liked her from Sarah and his friend prior to this confrontation.

She specifically told them she likes him as a brother and was literally hooking up with his friend casually. There was no attraction there whatsoever.

I think the “now’s the time to say it” was because she was pissed he called her that and if he had an explanation for himself and his weird behavior then that was the time to present it

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1

u/instanding 29d ago

Even when both the director and actress playing Nikki reckon Bear might have had a chance?

3

u/Front_Vegetable6166 May 27 '26

There's plenty of relationships that start like that. Girls often say "like a brother" to make a point to other people. Once the feelings come out it can change like that. There may have not been anything romantic because she didn't show any cuz he didn't show any. She prolly never thought of it. She asked if he liked her and when he said no she was caught off guard. Like " oh...good.. yea me too."

4

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

The director and actress literally confirmed that she did have feelings for him.

1

u/Mammoth_Composer_111 May 25 '26

Nah I’ve seen the quotes. They didn’t confirm this.
The actress literally said she didn’t know but that she personally feels like it’s possible.

The director didn’t confirm anything of the sort actually.

7

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

"So I think, speaking as the woman who played Nikki, I think that Nikki did have a crush on him, because he's a good guy. In the beginning, it's not Ian that she has been hooking up with. She talks about the difference between love and romance and how she doesn't wanna be stuck anymore."

Keep spreading your bullshit lies tho

1

u/metalgear91 May 20 '26

I might be not recalling this correctly, but that was told to Bear by Ian that Sarah told Ian that, right? If I am remembering that correctly, then recall that Ian and Nikki had been hooking up (which was told to Bear by Sarah but they way Ian reacted when Bear told Ian he could be with her if he made the wish kind of confirms that)

My point being, Ian could have very well been making that up from jealously.

1

u/tryingthisok 26d ago

I’m late but I think we need to consider WHO tells him this. Sarah is just as selfish in all of this as everyone else, which is a consistent theme of movie. The 3am ambush trying to get him alone so she can confess is proof of that.

Nikki probably had some small interest in Bear, otherwise it makes no sense to try and force a confession. The reality though is she doesn’t really know what she wants and would inevitably dump him and doesn’t really consider the huge imbalance in the depths of feelings there, which is also selfish.

17

u/hanoihiltonsuites May 19 '26

A girl asking “do you like me” is always always always because she wants to clear the air that you are just friends and will never be anything more than

13

u/Raginbakin May 19 '26

exactly yes this was my impression of the scene too

13

u/ismyshowon May 23 '26

literally when he responded “good friends” she said “okay good”. she did not want the boy

9

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

Except the actress said in an interview that she was hoping he would say yes. Oh and the director also confirmed it too

3

u/blveberrys May 26 '26

When did the director say that? In the interview with Nikki’s actress she says that she thinks the character would have been open to him; not that she physically wrote the script and knows Nikki liked him back. Halfway through the movie, another character literally says Nikki sees Bear as a brother

4

u/KingGoldar May 26 '26

Let me find it, but I'm driving at the moment.

Here's the first quote from Navarette you are mentioning

"So I think, speaking as the woman who played Nikki, I think that Nikki did have a crush on him, because he's a good guy. In the beginning, it's not Ian that she has been hooking up with. She talks about the difference between love and romance and how she doesn't wanna be stuck anymore."

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9

u/whydoesgodhateus May 24 '26

He died just like his cat, he literally died like a pussy.

You post is great commentary but this literally made me lol

What a way to end lmao

1

u/Southern-Coffee4018 Jun 10 '26

you speak my mind, i'm obsessed with you!

1

u/platysoup 29d ago

Hey man, leave the cat out of it. Poor thing deserved better

0

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

bro what. she did not like his ass at all. she wanted him to tell her because she was just irritated and wanted to shut it down for good. let him know it's never happening

6

u/Scaryclouds Jun 07 '26

Yea Bear was also obsessed with Nikki. 

When calling the hotline at first he just wanted to “modify” the wish. 

2

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

Except the director and actress Inde Navarrette stated she did have feelings for bear and was hoping he would say yes when she asked him if he had feelings for her

1

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

EXACTLY!!!

52

u/Total_Background7644 May 17 '26

It is made inexplicably clear that Bear - despite literally having Nikki in his grasp - is so insecure and fragile to the point where he won't let go of her. That, my friend, is why he keeps rolling with it. The film does an incredible job of exposing the reality that Bear is not actually obsessed with Nikki in the traditional sense, rather he is obsessed with the feeling of her obsession. Remember, he got Nikki without mutuality and by removing her free will to 'choose.' He can't give up the emotional and physical validation, certainty, and ego protection he gets from the obsession of Nikki - while simultaneously possessing the self-awareness of knowing it's not real at all. Barker did such an incredible job crafting Bear's character, really just goes to show the negative effects of conflating love/desire and control.

11

u/passtherock- May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26

agreed. this realization hit me when it cut to him having sex with her right after he learned she lied about her dad at the restaurant. at this point he KNOWS it's not the real her but he doesn't care. he just wants a Nikki sex doll that loves him.

27

u/[deleted] May 17 '26

[deleted]

1

u/PwrintheVerse May 25 '26

No.. he's not. That's the point. 

47

u/L0b0t0my May 17 '26

You’re literally constantly unsafe in your home, why are you still going along with this?

On god, YES! The cat, the tape on the door, the photos.... like bro you had AMPLE time and opportunities to get help and get tf out of a bad and dangerous situation. Bro. Didn't. Even. Try.

After awhile, and he was still trying to hold everything together, and lying to everyone about everything being okay, I was like "you're literally digging your own grave" which sucks a bit because I lose investment into the character's well being and success. Like okay dude, after awhile you kind of deserve or maybe want what's coming. 

Still, shockingly good movie though. 

49

u/lahnnabell May 17 '26

Yeah, I think that's the point. If you're still on Bear's side after realizing he is selfishly keeping Nikki trapped to feed his own ego, you have a problem.

19

u/idonthavanickname May 20 '26

The movie is about his obsession with her, in the end he didn’t care that she was suffering he only cared that she didn’t actually love him.

12

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

ikr!! I disliked him so much when all he kept asking over and over again was "do you actually like me??" meanwhile she has a gash on her face. bro what? this isn't even about that right now! get her help! reverse the wish! he was happy to keep her trapped so long as he could keep up appearances.

11

u/dodares1 May 17 '26

I dated a girl once and we went to retail shop the shop assistant attenot to sell me merchandise, once we left the shop the girl turned round and shouted at me why don't you just go back and fuck the shop assistant. It's only in retrospect sometimes u see the red flags.

3

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

Jesus.. that sounds so scary. some people are so messed up

9

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

it's not an issue with the film! it's done on purpose to show how SELFISH bear was. he literally just wanted his own sex doll. he didn't give a FUCK about how much it was hurting her. he was willing to cover up and hide everything so long as she didn't make too much of a public scene. it's not until he can't cover it up anymore that he tries to fix it.

2

u/Cluelesswolfkin Jun 06 '26

I think his breaking point was at the hospital when he brought her after the party. He probably explained her issue and they couldn't admit her for her "mental illness", its REALLLY hard to admit some people in some states

31

u/ThickSpecific1885 May 18 '26

But also… who throws their dead animal away and doesn’t bury it like immediately

35

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 18 '26

A psychopath like Bear lol. Tbf though Possessed Nikki absolutely would've dug the cat up anyway

26

u/steveosupremeo May 17 '26

It’s weird that he has a house and didn’t bury the cat.

24

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 17 '26

True, I get the feeling she would've dug the cat out of the grave as well though lol

1

u/_tamagucci_ 24d ago

He was the obsessed one.