Bad Influence

Michael Boll (James Spader) drifts through corporate meetings and wedding obligations with the posture of someone permanently bracing for impact. After a violent stranger named Alex (Rob Lowe) rescues him during a bar confrontation, Michael becomes intoxicated by the other man's fearless aggression and social ease. Alex steadily pulls him away from routine and restraint, encouraging retaliation at work, reckless public behavior, drug use, and impulsive sexual encounters with Claire (Lisa Zane). What begins as liberation slowly hardens into surveillance and coercion. Alex inserts himself into every vulnerable space in Michael's life, turning private humiliation into spectacle while pushing him toward acts that threaten his career, relationships, and freedom.