Deadly Betrayal

Nicolette Sheridan plays a wife who is disappointed with her husbands dedication to his job that keeps him away from home for long stretches of time. She reacts to it by having sex with her young daughters teacher. When her husband returns home, on the night of her infidelity, she greets him with argument and criticism until he tells her that he is home for good. She thinks she has gotten away with her disloyalty until a video tape of her making love to the teacher arrives at her husbands office and he confronts her with it. He leaves, taking their daughter with him and she is forced to deal with a sadistic and ruthless former lover. The rest of the story is interesting and well acted but the ending is unbelievable.

In 2003 it was DEADLY BETRAYAL and in 2004 it was DEADLY VISIONS. The same leading actress, Nicolette Sheriden. The same boring performance. First of all, she plays the victim. In BETRAYAL she sleeps around while hubby is away fighting a war, and expects us to understand how vulnerable she was. Tough. You make your bed, you lie in it. It just so happens the guy she slept with is a common thief and turns out to be a murderer. In the second film , she plays the receiver of someone else's eyes, yes a transplant. Here she sees visions of past murders by someone. Once again our heroine decides to become detective.

What bothered me most, aside from the bad acting, was the perfectly coiffed Miss Sheriden, the overly made-up Miss Sheriden (she even goes to be in full makeup) and the obvious sexpot clothes she wore, revealing her form. She comes across a bit on the cheap side. Here are two films where I wanted the villain to win. BETRAYAL directed by Jason Hreno at least had believable performances by Andrew Jackson as the thief; Robert Seeliger as the hubby and Leni Parker, who I though quite good, as the best friend who told our heroine to forget it. VISIONS, directed by Michael Scott had an assorted pick of actors supporting our heroine, none of them outstanding in my book.

I will admit that I don't really care for Nicolette Sheridan as an actress but this storyline would even make the most seasoned actress look bad. Her performance is lackluster at best. The supporting cast makes a decent go of it but it comes off a bit "soap opera". Actually, I've seen soap operas with better plot lines than this tripe! Which explains why my local television station decided to air it at 3 am on a Saturday night.

So, As the title says, If you're looking for a good movie... Keep looking. You won't find it here. Seems to me that this kind of plot has been tried before and with the usual results... A failure and a total waste of time for the viewer. Definitely a movie that is destined for the 99 cent DVD bin at Wal-Mart.

At the start of the movie, a man enters a house while another man is doing the deed with a woman. I suspected the woman was cheating on her husband, though we learn differently later. Also, the man in the bedroom was a teenager.

There is violence, and then the words "20 years later".

In or near Boston (based on the newspaper shown), Donna is upset that her husband is going away for several weeks. Jeff is a TV news cameraman, and this time he is going to Bosnia. He claims the man who was supposed to go broke his leg (which is probably true), but Donna thinks he just wanted to go.

When Donna picks up her daughter Melinda from Dalton Academy, she meets Melinda's teacher Adam, who tells Donna how much he likes having such a smart and creative girl in his class.

Because her parents argue on the phone, and Melinda knows about parents divorcing when they have problems, Melinda gets depressed and Adam notices this. He calls Donna in to talk.

Later Donna attends a classical music concert (which Jeff was also supposed to attend) and meets Adam there.

If I say this seems like a typical Lifetime movie, do I even have to say what will happen next? Of course, the title kind of gives away the fact that the movie will take a dark turn about halfway through. And Jeff does return from Bosnia sooner than he expected. Donna does show a lot of determination and persistence in finding out more about Adam.

This is a TV-movie where a woman gets in trouble but finds her way out of the situation. Nothing more, nothing less. But Nicolette Sheridan is a pleasure to watch. Donna is a pleasant enough character and quite good-looking, in or out of clothes. Which reminds me: how can she eat fast food and not be shown working out, and still have that nice a body? Adam has a home gym ...

Leni Parker gives a good performance as Roz, Donna's friend and co-worker at Rosalind's Bookstore. Amanda Tilson is adorable and does a fine job as Melinda.

Andrew Jackson has the biggest challenge here, going from sensitive and kind to weird and manipulative. He does a good job.

This is the type of movie a can enjoy. I prefer comedies, but this was enjoyable enough.

Can someone tell me why all these supposedly heroines of LMN are blonde? Are there no brunettes? Lovely redheads in the acting world? Must they all look like they came out of a factory of bleached blonde hair, too long for their age, and stringy hanging over their eyes. It seems that todays look is just that. Actress Nicolette Sheridan is no different. I know I reviewed her before and there is still no change. She is too old for the likes of her leading men, all who could pass for her sons. She roams about in skin tight jeans and too tight sweaters. Even with a hat on, her stringy hair is protruding in her face. Is this hair in the face and over the eyes meant to distract us from her real age? The director must have a crush on her as she seems to be in almost all the shots. The supporting cast, all of whom are so much better actors than she, consists of Andrew Jackson, the lover, Robert Seeliger, the husband, Leni Parker, the friend and Amanda Tilson, the daughter. Mom looks like she's competing with her daughter most of the time.

The plot is dumb and story weak. The ending is very disappointing and most unbelievable. Don't waste your time with this.