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OK. I sort of get it. Lifetime wanted to make fun of itself by doing a very typical Lifetime movie starring two comedic kingpins, but play it deadpan so that nobody will actually know what's what. The result? Nobody really knows what's what. Although there are a few moments that seem to be a parody of a Lifetime movie, mostly it is just played straight and the result is just a really poorly written plot orchestrated by two very talented actors. If only it would have decided which it wanted to be: a comedy or a serious drama. But it lingers somewhere in between so that at the end, it's really just another Lifetime movie, and if you don't get the jokes, a very poor one at that.

There seems to be a lot of people struggling over 'the point' of this movie. Is it a spoof or is it just a regular cruddy Lifetime movie?

With a plot that is so tiresome that I'm not going to bother detailing it, I say it's undoubtedly the latter. This is no spoof and Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell are merely playing a standard Lifetime script totally straight. They're not winking at the audience and I'd be very surprised if this was written specifically for them. I imagine it was an off-the-peg script that was lying around in the Lifetime offices.

And *that* is the joke. That's why Wiig and Ferrell were keen on doing this. Everyone else involved was just doing their regular job, safe in the knowledge that the film would be seen by a far wider audience than their usual output because of the curiosity aspect. The currently awful rating on IMDb will be of no surprise to either star and I doubt either of them will be losing any sleep as it drops even further.

So... the point? To get lots of viewers. To give Wiig and Ferrell a bit of fun. To get people talking.

And they succeeded.

But should you watch this movie? No, because the joke isn't for anyone's amusement other than the two stars - and a joke that has to be explained is really no use to anyone.

This is a slightly dull movie that happens to star two A-list performers - and that's hardly unique.

After much speculation it turned out the movie wasn't at all a comedy/parody, although some moments could've been interpreted in a funny way(the garage door opening being one of them), it is actually a Lifetime tribute with essential elements of their movies that have been popular with its audience: a life-altering accident, a fresh start after couple of months/years(it occurs twice in perfect sync at the beginning and ending of the movie), alcoholic husband, naive partner/wife, dark past that gets everyone in trouble, a crazy ex-lover, best friend who knows too much for his own good, phone that stops working in a crucial moment, police getting involved all too late, saving the day ending and lets not forget the classic handgun shooting happening between almost all characters in a row.

For a Lifetime casual fan this will a great movie of their beloved genre full with all the dramatic bits that they enjoyed throughout the years involving 2 A+ listed actors who attracted attention, in order to celebrate their 25th anniversary of hilarious clichés.

For non-lifetime viewers this will be a new and enjoyable experience which they could find funny in some scenes given the 2 comedy Gods involved in it, but you need to have seen at least 1 Lifetime movie to understand the replicated elements that are included in this anniversary. Its not a parody per-se because they didn't had to exaggerate the already overly-dramatized bits which are usually found in Lifetime movies and which some of their casual viewers find hilarious, its simply a replication of those but bunched together in a single movie.

10/10

"I really think another baby will bring the old Robert back." Robert (Ferrell) and Sarah (Wiig) are happily married and expecting a new baby. When Sarah has an accident and they lose the baby their lives are changed. Years later Sarah thinks that if they can adopt Robert will return to his old self. They find a pregnant mother who is willing to give them their baby and allow her to move in with them. This is when the obsession is revealed. First of all if you don't already know this is a spoof of a Lifetime movie. This is not a Scary Movie over the top spoof but it does poke fun at the Lifetime movie genre. Ferrell and Wiig play this straight and that is what makes this work. The script and the acting are purposely horrible and just about every cliché is in this. The movie is predictable, but what Lifetime movie isn't. I will admit this wasn't as funny as I was hoping, but what it is is a perfectly done send up of this genre and for that reason this is worth watching. Overall, a serious spoof of an extremely melodramatic genre. I enjoyed it. I give it a B-.

It isn't exactly clear what the heck this Lifetime movie is. The trailer, with over dramatic music and scenes so intense they were ludicrous, was quite funny. Two stars for the trailer! However, whether the complete film is meant as a parody, satire, comedy, or straight drama, it's pretty darn bad. Awkward, uncomfortable, or poorly done is not necessarily funny. Neither is just plain awful. Will Ferrell is not a very good dramatic actor and in this masterpiece he comes off as if he's doing a deadpan skit from SNL without the twinkle in his eye. In fact, watching this is like sitting through a sketch from that show that's terrible and the audience is silent. That's very similar to the pain caused by this misguided production. Kristin Wiig is actually a very good straight actor but if she's really going legitimate here, she can't overcome what she has to work with. No one's that great an actor. Deadly Adoption is a mystery without a solution. If it's all some sort of elaborate practical joke, it's the kind of prank that pisses off the victim of it and no one ends up laughing. Yes, the joke's on us and there is nothing remotely humorous about this thing at all.

Robert Benson (Will Ferrell) is a best selling author and financial guru. His wife Sarah (Kristen Wiig) suffers a miscarriage after a dock accident. Five years later, Robert is a recluse and a recovering alcoholic. Sarah is an organic food vendor. He's overprotective of their diabetic daughter Sully (Alyvia Alyn Lind). They're looking to adopt and they meet expecting mother Bridgette Gibson (Jessica Lowndes). They invite Bridgette to stay with them rather than going back to the women's shelter. The problem is that something ominous about Bridgette.

Is it a spoof? Yes, sort of. This is a fascinating odd little Lifetime TV movie. These are great comedians playing it somewhat straight. Yet the dialogue is read with a (pardon the pun) pregnant pause. They are acting sincere but they seem to be doing it with a nudge and a wink. It is serious but it is not at all serious. It opens with a ridiculous dock accident. There's no way this is being treated as a serious drama. Just look at Will Ferrell's hair. That's insanely wrong. But nobody is playing this for easy Wayans brothers' parody laughs. I laugh when Sarah and Bridgette fight but they are not doing a fake comedic fight. This is a fun weird movie.

This movie was beyond awful. It was almost like watching an SNL skit and waiting for the satire to kick in but it never happened. All I can say about this actually making it on air ( even for Lifetime) is that somebody must've owed someone a huge favor. Either that or they were so far into budget that they had no choice but to air it and hope curiosity would draw enough viewers to save it. This movie was so bad I actually found myself laughing near the end. The ridiculousness of seeing Wil Ferrells character shot twice (once two inches above the heart) and then get up and carry on with the energy of a marathon runner was priceless. A first year film student would've been advised to switch majors if they tried to put something like this on a roll of digital tape. And as for the acting throughout? I can only blame the director, because I know Ferrell and Wiig have talent. And as lousy as the actual dialogue was, the only thing worse was the delivery. For the director to not yell "cut" every ten seconds was a travesty. Rest assured if there's a Razzy category for this work, the staff should blow the dust off their tuxedos. Because you're a shoe-in. I normally wouldn't exert this much time in a negative review, but after subjecting myself to two hours of torture delivered by two of my favorite comedic actors, I was compelled to rip this tripe apart!!!

Now here is something you don't see everyday, or at least in a long while: a deadpan, totally serious, almost (sometimes) dramatic take on Lifetime movies-of-the-week on Lifetime. If what my wife tells me is correct, A Deadly Adoption actually has practically the same plot as another Lifetime movie not too long ago - a pregnant woman with nefarious intentions gets her way between a husband, wife and their child and wreaks havoc while seemingly about an adoption scenario. This is, I'm sure, intentional on the parts of executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay; they not too long ago made Casa de mi Padre, a stone-faced take-off on Spanish tela-novellas with Ferrell playing Mexican full-tilt, and Wiig herself was in a series on IFC, The Spoils of Babylon, which was also a take on soaps (the writer of this film, Andrew Steele, was one of the writers for Babylon).

But what a strange, entertaining beast this is. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it - is this really trying to be *serious*? How much of this is supposed to be a joke or a comedy? One may go into A Deadly Adoption with Ferrell and Wiig at the top of the cast and wonder what's up, if this is going to lampoon Lifetime movies. I should say it does, but not as much as I thought it would, or rather it's in small doses. There are lines and scenarios that are very funny, such as referring to the main couple's daughter's condition: "You know the dangers of diabetic ketoacidosis!" Or the fact that Ferrell's character, Robert Benson (like Bob Benson from Mad Men, I wonder, maybe just a coincidence), is now a reformed alcoholic who used to go on benders during his book tours... for books on financial advice.

And to be sure, at first, seeing Ferrell and Wiig delivering such earnest dialog, and just how they look is funny (Ferrell with a beard that could have easily been pasted on). But all of the other actors are the people who you would usually see in a Lifetime movie, and the director, Rachel Goldenberg, is not a Hollywood pro exactly. She has a wild mix of credits, from Asylum movies (Sherlock Holmes, to tie in with the 2009 movie) to actual TV movies of this ilk (Escape from Polygamy) and more recent comedy work. Steele has more of a foot in comedy, as a writer and collaborator on SNL, though he, the director, and the actors do a remarkable thing: they completely commit to the scenario, the drama around this crazy 'new woman' who comes in to turn everything upside down and cause violence and kidnapping and affairs revealed and shocks galore. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

I thought about other made-for-TV cable movies that come out, like the Sharknado movies and the like on the SyFy channel, which probably have about the same self-awareness as A Deadly Adoption. But I never see the actors in those movies - many of them are all but winking at the camera as they go to collect their quick paychecks to get eaten by CGI sharknados or Megapythons or whatever. Ferrel, Wiig and company aren't out to make anything cheap or silly here (though maybe the last scene is goofy, perhaps just like a Lifetime movie). The funny thing is, because Ferrell and Wiig and co-star Jessica Lowdnes play everything completely straight - and Ferrell and Wiig are better actors than a Lifetime movie should ever deserve - and it's all believable, sometimes verging on maybe, kinda, sorta being dramatic in a *good* way... until one realizes what they're saying, more often than not, is absurd, as are the situations they get themselves in.

The tropes are all recognizable if one is into Lifetime movies, and that's also the idea, from the happy white family and the "bad" girl that comes in to make things chaotic. It's not something that can be easily parsed into 'Oh, it's just a parody' or 'Oh, it's actually just another Lifetime movie with these actors'. I found myself laughing many times during A Deadly Adoption, if not during every scene. It's a wholly clever, successful experiment in poker-faced absurdism.

The main difference between this movie of the week and the amazingly wonderful Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom, which was also a movie of the week and based on a true crime story...is that The PTAATC-MM was done with a highly skilled crew of professionals. While watching A Deadly Adoption it is so PAINFULLY clear that the script is rotten, the performances are rotten and can not hide behind the guise of "camp". "Camp" is one of my favorite genres. And this ain't "camp"...it's more like "CRAMP" because of the feeling i got in my gut from wasting time watching it....or more precisely...CRAP. Don't believe the spin doctors who are trying to pawn it off as classic camp. It is merely a situation where a writer (from SNL) got his actor pals (from SNL) to agree to make a little cash real quick-like...all on Lifetime's dime.

Absolutely brilliant. Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig play it completely straight. Critics of this movie are looking for jokes when the real punchline is the fact that two of the funniest people on the planet made a freaking Lifetime movie! And it's 100% Lifetime. They've strictly followed the Lifetime formula and the result is the perfect parody. The entire thing is underscored with a subtle irony that really works. It's cheese with a side of cheese. And it's perfect.

Oh, and Will Ferrell's hair deserves it's own Emmy.

If you watch Lifetime movies of the week you know they tend to be overwrought, supposedly true life melodramas with a cookie cutter story.

The script and acting are no great shakes.

A Deadly Adoption could had gone for the parody route like Scary Movie, Austin Powers or Naked Gun films. Instead they have de-constructed the typical Lifetime film and made a better version of it.

The film has the usual tropes and clichés with just a hint of a knowing wink here and there. As one character states:'I found an unopened box of chocolate today. You know the dangers of diabetic ketoacidosis.'

The biggest difference is that this television movie of the week has two A list cinema stars. Will Ferrell plays a financial management guru with a string of successful books.

Kristen Wiig is his wife who sells organic food in market stalls in their small town. They have a five year old daughter Sully to whom they are overprotective towards especially as she is diabetic.

Right at the beginning we see Wiig falls over from a dilapidated boat dock into the river which results in a miscarriage. Some years later as the story progresses they meet Jessica Lowndes who is homeless and giving her baby up for adoption however she is not all sweet and innocent and her path has crossed with Ferrell before.

Ferrell and Wiig play it straight. Ferrell also has what looks like a fake beard and recites the corny lines likes it is Shakespeare. You get a hint that he might be sexually attracted to Lowndes as he looks down her cleavage and Lowndes has a hoot playing the femme fatale role.

Yet it is surprisingly zippy, it moves along at a fast pace, it has a fair amount of cheesiness, bad stunts and ludicrous plot developments.

Still there is only so much you can do when you try to polish a turd.

The movie that killed his future "serious" drama career. No doubt, like must other comedians they desire to do serious rolls, now with this crap no one's going to believe he ever does anything except "ironically". No one will take him seriously. I know he's trying "to take the stuff (word prohibited" but he's a seriously bad actor, in a so far dull movie. Someone really thought this was an "insane thriller"? You have really got to have a desire to want this to be funny. It certainly isn't so bad it's good. DULL. I'm surprised anyone got to the end of this snooze fest, I'm half way through and writing this hoping it gets better. You people must be crap junkies or whats-his-face junkies. You must be of the ilk that thinks Troma movies are great. Only thing funny in this movie is the name of the kid- means dirt, filth. You who loved it, I truly suggest the watching paint dry channel, I'm sure you'll be amazed. I'm not really sure Ferrell is intelligent enough to realize this wasn't serious. Finally, maybe just a tiny research about diabetes. I'll give you the very end was laughable but it takes a big desire or a really dumb person to get to the end of the 2 hour waste of time. I'm betting the reason no one related to the movie gave any interviews was because they were hoping someone wouldn't laugh at it and it would be their 1st step to be taken seriously. But, he can't act.

Not a Will Ferrell fan of his blockbusters. But I really appreciate most of his experimental work from this era. The non-spoiler here is that they never break the "Lifetime format" while including every made-for-TV thriller tripe. So it is a Straight-faced satire that is entertaining on it's own. Fun to watch. You can't help but crack-up at many of the close-ups of Will Ferrell's "straight-face".

Worth seeing, because I cannot think of anything else like it. Until Frequent Collaborator James Franco would also experiment with the genre with the "Mother, may I sleep with Danger" remake.

This is just a recommendation review. Because, none of these experiments were a lasting success, and not on physical media. Anyone who appreciates this Lifetime love letter film should seek out Ferrell's "The Spoils of Babylon" & "The Spoils Before Dying". Both fairly unknown with a big cast. Ferrell also appeared in James Franco's "Zeroville", a 1970's Hollywood love letter which nobody liked or saw for some reason. These little gems all got lost in streaming-era over-saturation.

Maybe the 2023 writer/actor strikes will last forever, and all this "lost content" will premiere again.

Will Ferrell is simply awful in this dramatic role as a father. Kristen Wig is only a little better.

I know it is a Lifetime movie and we expect less because the plots are predictable, the acting less than stellar but we usually adjust because we know the actors aren't A listers.

Will Ferrell is great as a comedic actor and one of his best movies was "Elf". He should stick w/comedy or procure A LOT of acting lessons as a dramatic actor.

His performance in this movie was stilted, awkward and unbelievable. It was painful to watch.

This is typical Lifetime fodder, neither good nor bad; pretty much middle of the pack. Nothing unique about this. Yes, when you watch Ferrell, you expect him to do something "over the top" to legitimize it as a spoof but that doesn't happen. It's not great or even good drama. It is mediocre. I know of what I speak because I have seen a lot of the Lifetime original movies.

Stating that, it can't be stated as satire. It is far too subtle to be considered satire. It can have a life of it's own as bad Lifetime but it's not really bad enough.

I don't know why Ferrell and Wiig did this movie.

I will say, however, that Lifetime, had a coup with this because it is has created a stir in social media and that may have been the outcome desired all along.