Bad Influence (Mala Influencia) is a Hollywood Spanish romantic drama that was initially released on January 24th, 2025 and then to Netflix on May 9th, 2025. Written by Diana Muro, and Directed by Chloé Wallace, it has a runtime of 1 hour and 46 minutes.
It is a film adaptation of a Wattpad novel of the same name by an anonymous author (username unidentified). The film follows a slow but forbidden romance between a rich heiress and ex-convict hired by her father to protect her from a vicious stalker.
Premise of Bad Influence
The film starts off in a prison visitation area, where a boy in his early twenties is approached by Bruce Reese, a wealthy businessman. Bruce tells the boy, who appears to be the prisoner, that he can help him get released, on the condition that he agrees to work for Bruce. When the boy, whose name is revealed to be Eros, asks Bruce about the details of the job. Bruce explains that his daughter is being targeted for reasons unknown and he wants Eros to be a sort of bodyguard; protecting said daughter from her stalker.
The scene then shifts to a highschool ballet recital where Bruce’s daughter is performing. During her solo stage, one of the stage lights drops directly towards her head, but she is rescued by Eros before any harm could be done.
Afterwards, Eros goes home to his best friends, Peyton and Diego, explaining to them how he was able to get out of jail and the new arrangement he has with Bruce.
The next morning, Bruce and his daughter, whose name is revealed to be Reese, are having breakfast with Reese’s best friend, Lily. Bruce takes the opportunity to formally introduce Reese to Eros and his new role in her life.
"He's not a bodyguard, he's just gonna follow you around, look after you and ensure that nothing happens to you."
"Dad, that is the textbook definition of a bodyguard."
This role also includes disguising as a student in Reese’s school and being an active part of her life.
Reese, of course, hates this. As is displayed by the less than pleasant first day they spend together. Despite being pretty, rich and somewhat popular, she’s often the target of ridicule and bullying, and Eros’ appearance has only escalated that. Despite that, Eros remains true to his job, sticking by her and even helping her after she is confronted by Raul, her disgruntled ex-boyfriend.
After school, however, for the sake of cordiality, Eros strikes up a conversation. This leads to a discussion about his past, including the death of his parents and his relationship with Bruce. But it comes to a crashing halt when Reese’s attempts to explain her own past are abruptly shut down by him.
"Don't do that. Just because we both lost our parents doesn't make us similar in any way."
Later that evening, Eros drives Reese to a party thrown by her friends and she instructs him to stay in the car until she’s ready to leave. He later disobeys and goes inside anyway, just in time to see Raul attempting to humiliate her using a party game. Eros defends her by hitting Raul and insulting him before leaving with Reese. As they both turn in and lie in bed, Eros checking in on his friends and Reese facing more cyber bullying. However, she reflects on Eros’ actions that night and begins to develop an attraction to him.
A few days later, Peyton and Diego come to pick Eros up for a mysterious mission. Reese, now interested in Eros, attempts to go with them, but Eros turns her down. She follows them anyway, revealing the mission to be a vandalism of someone’s motorbike. Despite this, Reese joins them, even proceeding to have fun until they run away from the scene.
They reach home late that evening, where they are met with Bruce, who is not happy with how close Eros and Reese are, fearing Eros to be a bad influence on Reese. Offended, Eros storms out, making sure to keep his distance from her for the following days.
It all comes to a head one night when Lily coerces Eros to take Reese and her wherever he’s going. This ends up being a party in his less affluent neighborhood. Still, Eros introduces the girls to his friends. Lila instantly hits it off with Diego while Reese is left alone. Outside, Peyton confronts and reminds Eros of the huge differences between their social status and that of Reese and Lily’s. Assuring her that he understands, Eros walks back into the party, keeping a previously alone Reese company.
This is where they share their first kiss.
The film takes an interesting turn from here as Reese and Eros attempt to navigate their forbidden feelings for each other while still dealing with various obstacles such as Bruce’s disapproval, Raul, various attacks from the stalker. They also uncover secrets such as Bruce’s real relationship with Eros and its connection to the stalker and their motives.
Cast and Performances
Bad Influence features an all-Spanish cast, some of which are recognisable from mainstream Netflix media such as ‘Money Heist‘ and ‘Elite‘:
- Alberto Olmo as Eros
- Eléa Rochera as Reese
- Enrique Arce as Bruce Russell
- Mirela Balić as Peyton
- Farid Becharan as Diego
- Sara Ariño as Lily
- Fer Fraga as Raul
The acting in this was fairly good. I feel like the actors really did the best they could with an otherwise difficult script. The writing between the characters was mediocre at best and there was a lot of awkward dialogue that fell flat within the context of the scene and not to mention confusing dynamics between some of the characters (Is Lily attracted to Peyton or not?), and to tie it all together, half of the characters are in their twenties, and the other half are literal teenagers, some even minors (including our female lead).
I need Wattpad to stop.
The characters themselves are all over the place, I’m still slightly surprised that they were able to coherently fit into (most of) the story. And the problem is, a lot of them could’ve had so much depth based on their back stories alone, but it was as if the writers were on the edge of the cliff, and rather than just take the risk and create a complex character, they immediately retreated back to the safe zone of clichés and typecasts.
Spoiler alert: This is also the case for the entire movie plot, but we’ll get to that.
What I Liked About Bad Influence
The main characters. But only because I liked the build up of their romance (probably the only stable element of the movie). Despite their…age difference (She’s 17, and he’s 21. Just 4 years apart, but side eye, still), I like that they didn’t immediately go from strangers to hating each other’s guts and then boom, heated sex (case in point: My Fault London, 2025). No, there was a semblance of stability in the way that they go from awkward strangers in a messy situation to the eventual romance, albeit with some bumps in the road.
I like the fact that Bruce’s fatherly protectiveness over Reese does in fact include shielding her from the ex-convict stranger (even though they retort by raising a valid point of why the ex-convict was there in the first place). The music was good, they did a good job of setting the mood for their respective scenes.
I like Eros, yes, our male lead is every bit as dreamy as the bad boy knight in shining armour he’s meant to be. I like his friendship with Peyton, because hurray for healthy male-female friendships that don’t get weird with unrequited feelings and jealousy over any of them falling in love with someone else.
What I didn’t like
A lot. There are a lot of things I didn’t like. Let’s start with my earlier point about near hits and ultimate misses with the plot. There were several instances and plot points that could’ve advanced the story, but it was as if the writers didn’t want to take that risk and instantly retreated to the safe zone of trending book tropes.
The problem with this is that not only does it give us absolutely nothing, it also leaves us with several plot holes, which in turn leaves the film feeling rather hollow. Eros is an ex-convict that has zero training in defense or how to ensure the safety of another person, so why on earth would Bruce (a multimillionaire who can get the best of the best), hire him to protect Reese? This question is answered by raising the plot point that Bruce had a connection with Eros’ parents before their deaths–and Eros’ inability to remember the details of said deaths foreshadows that Bruce might be involved. You would think that this makes grounds for a gripping story and subsequent plot twist, but no, it falls flat. They do absolutely nothing with it, which then leaves us still questioning why Eros specifically.
It goes this same way for multiple other instances too; why was Eros in jail to begin with? Why was Raul so hung up on his former relationship with Reese? Even when Reese’s stalker is revealed, their identity and motives still edge on something in-depth but then end up falling flat, falling back to the hero saves the damsel trope, leading to a very hollow ending.
Speaking of Reese, I have bones to pick with her character writing. See, in an attempt to retreat from the aforementioned risky plot points, the writers opted to stuff the movie with as many typecasts and clichés as possible. This led to many inconsistencies, especially when it came to our female lead. She’s our resident damsel-in-distress, so she’s fragile, a soft petite ballerina. But she’s also a “brat”, a headstrong spitfire that can only talk back at the male lead. Not the people making fun of her for years, no, that’s for our hero to save her from, amongst many other things. Now why is she being bullied? We don’t know. She’s the same as every other pretty rich girl in the school, the same range of body count too, yet she is bullied and sl*t ashamed by boys and girls alike, on top of being stalked (even though that’s another story entirely), why?
Even Eros asks her that, and we still don’t get an answer.
But despite being apparently public enemy number 1, all the girls wanna be her and all the guys wanna date her. Everyone attends her birthday party and Raul even throws a tantrum about not being invited. Awfully inconsistent for the girl the entire school is supposed to hate.
Final Thoughts
This is what I’d like to call a fantasy booster. Similar to My Fault London, it only serves as an instrument for the BookTok/Wattpad to channel their bad boy hero fantasies. And as a book girl myself, I’d usually love this. But it sucks to watch the commercialisation of a bunch of trends and buzzwords (bad boy, ballerina, bodyguard, forbidden, “enemies-to-lovers”) for a quick moment of fame within the community.
Rating
I rate Bad Influence: 2.5 out of 5
