Why was there a 10 minute flashback 30 minutes in?

I think it would have been less obvious to many people if the movie poster, dvd cover and trailer didn't explicitly show you the landlord was the bad guy, lol. The movie on its own is a bit more ambiguous for the first third with Christopher Lee and her mostly unseen ex wandering about as well.

Let me put a fine point on it.
I liked the flashback, but I disliked its use.

Lets be clear, nobody thought they were watching a romantic comedy.
But up until the flashback, the screenwriter was carefully ambiguous about who the stalker was.
Was it Christopher Lee, the creepy old guy?
Was it Jeffrey Dean Morgan the quiet landlord?
Was it even Lee Pace the snubbed exboyfriend.

I think they would have had a better total film if they had held onto that ambiguity for another 30 minutes.

As presented, it offered up a skeeve inducing procedural on how to stalk your neighbors.

All of the flashbacks and cutaways annoyed me... Not subtle, at all.






Born when she kissed me, died when she left me, lived whilst she loved me

I know I'm super late, but I HAVE to explain why I Loved the flashback:
While they're in the moment of embracing each other by the door for the first time, the flashback informs you that he's been waiting his whole life (or month) to be with this woman, so by the time we get back to the present, the shot of him holding her so tightly and carrying her to the bed looked that much more meaningful to him.
Idk, I loved it. It went from unplanned sex to this-guy-wants-her-so-creepily-bad sex. Like it made me notice his muscles because now I see why he's holding her so tightly.
AND LMBO AT THE PREVIOUS POST OF "you can't kiss her but you can stalk her??"
lol!!!!!!!!!

"And do you know what I'm gonna do?"
"YOU GONNA MAKE SOME BISCUITS??!!!!"
"Ugh...no!"

That was absolutely the worst thing about the whole movie. But after I had fast forwarded the scene I realised that the dvd-cover gave away the stalker even before I had begun watching the movie. Maybe the flashback wouldn't have been so bad if the plot hadn't been spoiled beforehand by those images.

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