Dangerous Child

The film is exactly what the synopsis says, "mother is accused of abusing her children, when in reality her son is the abuser." Of the 90 minutes of the films runtime, 80 of them is just various scenes of the oldest son acting out, then being abusive towards his mother.

Since the movie spent all of it's time (and budget I assume) on mentioned above, the ending is rushed and lackluster. The movie tries to fit some emotional scenes in here, one's that if they actually had time would've made their mark, but they fall flat. The very ending scene skips six months ahead without telling the viewer and, while cute, really makes you go "that's it??"

You'll save yourself the time if you just read the synopsis paragraph.

This is an interesting movie starring Delta Burke, one of my favorites, and Ryan Merriman, who does an excellent job as a teenager who turns on his mother.

Burke is divorced from a verbally abusive and belittling man, and she has custody of their two children. The older boy becomes less and less able to cope with his emotions and begins to act violently against his mother.

He's jealous of a man she's seeing, he has anger issues over the divorce, and in his father, there's an excellent role model to blame his mother. She can't handle him so she covers for him by lying. This leads to a near fatality.

Merriman plays a boy who's obviously a good albeit extremely troubled kid, and Burke is excellent as a frustrated and helpless mother. It's an all too typical situation today, unfortunately.

The film handles the issues well, especially by pointing out that the boy's behavior was not learned overnight, and it won't go away instantly either. Fairly absorbing, and I always love seeing Delta.

What would you do if your child was a danger to you? This is the question that Sally Cambridge (Delta Burke), a divorced mother, must face when her 16-year-old son Jack who is very violent. Sally lives in fear, should she turn Jack in before its to late, or dose he accidentally hurt his younger brother badly while fighting with his mom? Dangerous Child is a WONDERFUL movie and the acting was great, I think everyone should watch this move on Lifetime TV.

It's good to finally start seeing ole Delta again after all those years after "Delta" flopped. And with all the comedic roles she's had since she's seriously started acting again, I really enjoyed seeing her dramatic side. The movie itself isn't Oscar quality, but it's about average for "Made-For-TV." The thing that sets it apart is that focuses on an all too frequent problem these days: parental abuse. Now I am not a parent, myself. However I do watch my mother deal with my brother and it scared me at some points during this movie to see some of the same things happening and what they can turn into. The character of "Jack" is a far too accurate portrayal of teenagers today. Anytime he does something wrong, he is able to either talk his way out of it by changing the subject, or let's his temper get out of whack and throw things across the room. His mother doesn't know what to do about it, so she's passes it off as a phase and moves on, which even I know is a big no-no in parenting. But then, what is she supposed to do? She's the only one who really sees the extent of what he is actually capable, so nobody knows what to tell her, as far as what to do. She could defend herself, but, even if she could bring herself to do that, the law would look at it as child abuse since "Protect the Children" is the main thing these days. At any rate, this is a good movie to watch, moreso as research and warning than anything else.

I just have to agree with all of you - Ryan's play in the movie is just brilliant. All the rage and violence in one moment, and the regret and tears in the other, all very strong and pure. As a whole it is interesting to see how the story goes, but there isn't even the slightest shadow of impatience, because you just don't know what he'll do next. and the look, his eyes, filled with such hidden anger and even evil... just makes you shake...it's so real...

besides, you can almost feel the confusion that's happening in that boy's mind, just by the look on his face.

a great movie no less than 10 out of 10