Gold Digger Killer

It is a cheap-series-like movie, where every act looks fake and not well done. Even the story and directing are not good at all. Don't waste your time and watch something else.

In Austin, wealthy Steven Beard is shot in his home. Four years earlier, he meets single mom and waitress Celeste (Julie Benz). He would later marry her. She loves spending his money and he showers her with gifts until it goes overboard. He threatens divorce and she threatens suicide. In rehab, she seduces and recruits fellow patient Tracey Tarlton to do a little killing.

This is based on the true crime story of Celeste Beard Johnson. There is a large age difference which isn't here in the movie. Julie Benz is going crazy, but everybody else is totally bland. This is a bland movie-of-the-week. There is no tension. The structure saps away the intensity. They could have spiced it up to fictionalize it as a pulpy lesbian killer thriller. This is nothing.

I'm very picky about movies and am usually very critical of most LMN flicks - especially the endless dime-a-dozen "Wrong" and "Psycho" ones - but as I've written here before: Lifetime does true crime very well.

I had seen this case covered on Dateline a few years ago, so the names Celeste Beard and Tracey Tarleton rang a bell, and this movie stuck pretty close to the actual facts of the case. It was very well-acted by the entire cast, especially the front-and-center lead character played by Julie Benz. I remember her in the 'Dexter' series years ago playing a (fictional) character the exact opposite of Celeste.

Yet another riveting twisted true tale of greed, lust, and cold-blooded murder at which LMN seems to excel, for some reason...

Grade B - 8 out of 10.

This is a docudrama. Julie Benz plays Christine Beard, the gold digger who marries multimillionaire Steven Beard, played by Eli Gabay.

I saw this case profiled on another network. I saw the real people in this case. I wish LMN had stuck to some of the details. Celeste's two girls are 17 year old twins. Roan Curtis (Kristina) is about twenty five years old at the time of this movie. Georgia Bradner (Jennifer) is about twenty seven years old. Neither of them look even close to seventeen years old. Surely they could have found actors who look close to the ages of the characters they play. Julie Benz at almost 50 years old, is almost believable in the role of a 32 year old. But her real age shows quite often. However, you can kind of understand that she would look older than her biological age. She's a woman who has gone through many men, many marriages and plenty of hard times.

If I erase these details from my mind, the movie is entertaining.

Julie Benz shines as Celeste, a single mom who's a waitress with 2 kids who wants a better life for herself and them. Enter Steve Beard, a millionaire regular at the bar who falls hard for Celeste, ties the knot with her and ends up being shot in his own mansion. Did Celeste kill him? This one is not as predictable as some movies and a supporting Canadian cast makes this one worth a watch. Definitely recommend!!!