Grossesse sous surveillance

Having never heard of this film prior to watching and also not realizing that this was a "Lifetime television" movie until after seeing several comments and looking further into the film.

Found it quite different and actually enjoyable. It is predictable and the "twists" are quite obvious but given the situation it's a solid film to pass the time.

We see Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig (two comedians) in a rather serious dark film and at points we suspect that the film to be a joke or a parody but they seemed to play it straight throughout.

A Deadly Adoption is a short enough film where everything seems to happen rather quickly, so it doesn't necessarily drag. For a Lifetime movie starring two big actors it's solid.

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.

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.

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.

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.