Fatal Honeymoon

I'm a big fan of Billy's, loved him on All my children, even tried to watch The Young and the restless for him. He had a short lived roll on Ringer, and was fantastic. I'm looking forward to him becoming a big movie or television star, because he deserves it. He can play intense like so few can, almost as good as James Scott (EJ DiMera) on Days of our lives. Don't let the soap opera star title fool you, these guys are better than A-list movie stars. Billy doesn't let me down here. He plays Gabe in such a horridly good way. You hate Gabe so much and you feel like beating your fist against something hard while watching, but you can't stop watching.

Fatal Honeymoon (2012)

*** (out of 4)

Good made-for-television take on the murder case brought against Gabe Watson (Billy Miller) whose wife Tina (Amber Clayton) drowned while on their honeymoon. The husband's story is that the wife simply sank to the bottom of the ocean but her father (Harvey Keitel) believes that the husband cut off her oxygen supply so that he could get her life insurance. FATAL HONEYMOON is yet another true story brought to us by Lifetime and this one here manages to be quite good thanks in large part to some terrific performances. For the most part the film plays it straight meaning that it never really says Gabe is innocent or guilty. I think the "facts" of the case are so mysterious that it's hard to tell a story one way or the other but at the same time the film had no problems showing Gabe to be a complete jerk so the viewer will certainly have their own opinion on whether he was guilty or not. The film does a very good job at bouncing back and forth with all of the events from the time the two met, to their wedding and eventually their honeymoon, which would leave the wife dead. The film also did a good job showing the events from the grieving father who will stop at nothing to find out what really happened. As I said earlier, the performances are what makes this film work so well. Miller is downright chilling in his role and he's certainly one of the most memorable cold-blooded "killers" I've seen from one of these fact-based dramas. The way Miller plays the coldness is quite memorable. Keitel is also extremely good in the role of the father even though you really don't expect to see someone like him in a movie like this. I thought the actor was quite strong in the scenes where he's trying to find out what happened but also quite touching during the scenes where he's grieving for his daughter. Clayton is also good in her role, although the screenplay really doesn't give her much to do than play the victim. FATAL HONEYMOON features some nice cinematography, a good music score and overall it does a nice job in telling its story.

I just watched the ridiculous movie with so many faults. Billy Miller was as good as at total tool as could be. Harvey Kitel played a father who seeming gave up on his daughter marring this guy. I have know idea how true any of this was except for the fact Tina Watson died. This is what I don't get. Why did the other divers just watch her sink to the bottom? They all claimed to be so experienced. And during her struggle she lost a fin (her left one) and then suddenly as she when was sinking it miraculously wast on her foot again. Who edited this disaster? Then Tom shows up the day Gabe is exhuming her body really?? Poorly written. Poorly edited. Billy Miller sure played a great mjor A-Hole though.

The story of the Honeymoon killer an Alabama man who brought his wife to the Great Barrier Reef to dive on their honeymoon and she drowned. Did he murder her?

There are some only could be true life twists and turns and ambiguity in the story which makes it compelling.

The main leads are believable not too famous or glamorous but pleasant looking. The big name cast member is Harvey Keitel who looks a lot older than of late but acts movingly.

The story is quite well filmed but jumps back and forth a bit too much - a more chronological telling would have made things more tense and clearer.

Worth a watch.

Okay. We all agree it was a tragic story. But only tragic enough to be made into a low budget made for TV movie. And that brings me to my point. This movie shows how you can take a superb and versatile actor as Harvey Keitel, drop him into a low budget movie with a low budget director and absolutely no interesting supporting cast, and he sucks just as if he were one of them. Did Harvey need a quick cash infusion? I know he didn't exactly call in his part. But he nevertheless came off as pathetic. Had the producers chosen to cast an equally unknown and mediocre actor for the father instead of disrupting the story with an A lister subjected to a bad script the story would have been easier take.