Since the start of 2023, I have not found any reason to return to the movies until Perfect Addiction. The film is based on Wattpad author Claudia Tan’s book of the same name and is about “A Successful boxing trainer who discovers that her boyfriend, A reigning champion, has been cheating on her with her sister. She sets out to get revenge by training the one man capable of dethroning him: his arch-nemesis Kayden.”
Perfect Addiction is about much more than revenge, however. It is a Romantic knockout. Before I start this review, let me preface it by saying I had not read the book before seeing the film. I started it right afterward. It was refreshing to go into this movie blindly with no preconceived notions. Since I started reading the book, I realized they took a more diverse approach with the cast, which I loved. Seeing Kiana Madeira (After Ever Happy) take on the lead role of Sienna Lane was pretty awesome.
Madeira has been a favorite of mine since I watched her in Sacred Lies, so I was thrilled to see she was in Perfect Addiction. Having a woman of color be the lead in a popular romance like this one is a huge deal, and she nailed it. The diversity continued with her lead love interest Kayden played by Ross Butler (13 Reasons Why), who is also a person of color.
Right off the bat, Perfect Addiction sets the viewer up with Sienna’s backstory of her relationship with her boyfriend, Jax Deneris (Matthew Noszka), before cheating with her sister Beth (Bree Winslow). Their relationship is a whirl-wind, and she even nursed him back to health in his time of need after being sidelined by an injury. Director Castille Landon (After We Fell, After Ever Happy) set this up nicely, so watching Sienna catch him with her sister was a gut punch. It immediately makes the viewer understand exactly where she’s coming from by wanting to get revenge.
When Sienna enlists Kayden to help her get that revenge, he’s initially not on board. I mean, who would be when someone is training you for the sole purpose of beating the shit out of their ex-boyfriend? The temptation to win and be a better fighter ultimately makes him agree because it’s evident that Sienna knows a thing or two, considering she is a great trainer and fighter. In exchange for her training him, she gets to stay at his apartment. It seems like a good idea at the time, but we all know how stories like these go. The old, we will help each other, and nothing else will happen between us. Of course, that never works, and the two grow closer.
The romance between Sienna and Kayden is intense but also soft and sweet. It is a huge contrast to anything she’s had with Jax. That’s showcased in various flashbacks that indicate that Jax and Sienna’s relationship was very toxic. Sienna mentions a few times that Jax would gaslight her and make her feel like she wasn’t good enough to be a real fighter. She also worries about her sister’s relationship with him and his aggression. As I said, I haven’t read the whole book yet, but the genuine concern that Sienna verbalized had me side-eyeing and wanting to know what Jax was doing.
Speaking of Jax, I don’t know if I was supposed to like him, but I did not. He had not one redeemable quality for me. He was just a skeevy asshole to me the entire time. And he was incredibly arrogant. I was #TeamKayden all the way. But more importantly, I was #TeamSienna. Sienna is a badass, and I had so much respect for her for being able to hop into the ring and kick not only the asses of females but also her male counterparts. Madeira brought so many layers to Sienna. She was able to bring the softness and that tough-as-nails persona. Not only that, I could tell she gave more than 100% of herself to every aspect of training. No lie watching Perfect Addiction made me want to go to the gym.
It was apparent that the entire cast took their time in the ring seriously because the fight sequences were incredibly intense and had me on the edge of my seat. I may or may not have slid down a few times and covered my eyes. Butler and Noszka brought their A-game because, man, oh man, were those moments crazy!
I was impressed with Perfect Addiction, and Landon did a great job with it. The pacing of the film was good, and the Romance was there. The love scenes were the right amount of steamy, and Madeira had fantastic chemistry with both Noszka and Butler. The great thing about Perfect Addiction is that it’s not just a Romance or a movie about boxing. There is something for anyone, whether or not you’re a fan of the Romance genre or not. Perfect Addiction will keep you entertained from start to finish, and I highly recommend it.
