Every Woman's Dream

Steven Schachter knows how to tell a story and keep up the appearances of a rich, good-looking man who surprisingly develops into a criminal. Step by step you discover the real Mitch Parker (Jeff Fahey) behind the curtain. Not only he deceives his second wife Liz Wells (Kim Cattrall) by being at the same time in the same town (!) with two women, but also his friends among whom there is a senator (Bob Belding played by John Sumner). The movie keeps up the realistic touch until the end and you feel that the script-writer (Martin Davidson and others based on a novel by Karen Kingsbury) and the director want to deliver us a message: never trust people who talk too well and too much.

OK, so a guy ends up married to two women. The women, who are both smart, attractive, and successful, are utterly clueless about his double life. He practically does handstands and jumps through hoops to keep up the deception. A potentially amusing situation in other stories. But in this case, the rapid turn of events crescendoes to such a tragic outcome that the viewer feels slammed by a jolting deceleration, from any humor, to horror.

Every Woman's Dream is a very interesting story. If it were true, who were the characters upon whom it was based. Would love to know more about what happened to the character of Mitch - is he still on death row? What happened to his first wife, Candy? Does anyone know? Did this story take place in Florida and California? There are probably thousands of self-centered narcissists like Mitch and it is an important movie for all women to watch. No man is that perfect and it is surprising that his first wife took so long to figure out that he was such a liar. The movie starts out by claiming it is a true story, but I don't recall ever hearing anything about this. What about the senators and congressmen with whom Mitch had dealings? What happened to them?

I enjoyed this drama. It was well written and acted and absolutely easy to follow. It was particularly well developed in terms of how women can be seduced into a web of deception without a clue. These were bright, successful, women who went down the rabbit hole. I'm not sure what the mystery was since, to me, it was apparent that Mitch was a smooth talking conman-perhaps because I have a long history with such people-who moved much too fast. I have one criticism: where exactly was the comedy? The story held together well, as a true drama, but there was literally no comedy whatsoever. Was that just put in there to attract more viewers? Is so, it wasn't necessary.

I think every young woman looking for the "perfect man" should watch this movie and learn from it. I recorded it for my 2 daughters, both of whom have had their hearts brokens by a smooth-talking "Mitch." Jeff Fahey is the perfect antihero. He's got Mitch's charming, albeit narcissistic, personalty down so well that the viewer can easily get caught up in his lies. In a scene where he practices telling the truth, I found myself cheering him on, hoping he would ultimately fess up and redeem himself. The film is true to reality here... these types never do,even when confronted with the overwhelming evidence of their lies. Underscored by the use of a whimisal soundtrack throughout the first 3/4 of the film, men like Mitch are often perceived as harmless and entertaining. The startling end brings us to the reality that Liz (wonderfully played by Kim Cattrall)never quite gets until its too late, reminding us how dangerous these seductive types really are.