Seduced and Betrayed

For surely this movie was out of her league. It's one thing to have a long long running part in a soap like ALL MY CHILDREN, but another to try to make it on the big screen. Susan Lucci is not an actress. She's more of a soap fixture. Her character name of Erika proceeds her acting abilities. In this film for TV, she still gives that large toothy smile she's known for and disrobes a lot showing a small and bony figure. Not that enticing in my book. The guy, David Charvet, was so much younger than her, that at times it was hard to believe he looked at the seductress at all. Most unbelievable. A somewhat attractive man, who could have any one, goes around saying he did it for the job and the money. Bah, humbug! His lovely wife, Gabrielle Carteris, did not even think he was betraying her. In another world. Although I felt she played the most honest performance in the movie. She and the little boy who played the son. All other actors seemed incidental. so, I give this movie 2 stars for both Carteris and the little boy.

Title should be YOUNG MAN, WITH LITTLE SMARTS, MEETS OLDER LADY WITH OBVIOUS DESIGNS.

I enjoyed the movie because my son Zach was the little boy in the movie. It was the only movie he ever appeared in. (He was actually cast in another movie, but his scene was cut.) He just graduated high school and will begin college in the fall. It is really nice that people talk about his one movie. By the way, on the set Susan Lucci, Gabrielle Carteris and David Charvet were all really nice to Zach and he enjoyed the experience. The movie was filmed in Phoenix, Arizona. Susan's husband Helmut was frequently on the set. In one scene where Zach was in the hospital, he is supposed to be sick. He wasn't acting. On that day, he really was sick. The film is sort of unbelievable, but it was great escapism.

I wondered if anyone else that saw this movie noticed the framed picture in the standing closet when Charvet's character accidentally bumped into it when the electric was out. I'm about 95% sure that was Susan Lucci's real life husband, Helmut Huber, and in reading the crews names, I noticed he co-produced this movie. Anyone else notice it? Apparently the framed picture was "Charlotte's" husband in the movie.

I like both Susan Lucci and David Charvet as actors. I can see how the affair could actually happen in those circumstances, especially since Susan's character did several things to catch David off guard. But some of the movie was just too unrealistic, like the scene where Lucci shows up to dismiss the babysitter. The unrealism is why I voted the movie a 6.

For sheer camp, this TV movie is worth the while. If nothing else, it gives hope (however false) to the over-40 crowd that some young thing is available, even if he/she is 25 years younger.

Certainly Susan Lucci is not an actress worthy of an Oscar nod. On the other hand, she has been around a lot longer than many actresses, and she still commands an audience. David Charvet is much too good-looking in his role to have wanted/needed a fling with Lucci. But this is the sort of movie that begs you not to ask any questions...just go along for the absurdly amusing ride.

I knew I had seen Charvet somewhere, and it turned out he was a former "Baywatch Boy" from the 90s. Even if you don't care for Susan Lucci, this is still worth it for the over-the-top madness of it all.

I still catch it when it's rerun, and age makes it even more surreal and likable.