Sex, Lies & Obsession

in this film portraying an actual couple, Cameron and Joanna Thomas. Having remembered Rinna from "Melrose Place",(she was the only one I would watch for) I watched this with expectations that she could raise the story to a higher level. She can, and does.

Although Cameron is a successful surgeon with all the accoutrements, something is missing. He fills the void in his life with an addiction. The story has been done many times before, but the specific subject of sex addiction has not. Lisa Rinna is excellent as the conflicted wife, angry and hurt by his addiction. Harry Hamlin is believable, doesn't overact, and still looks as good as he did in the 80's on "L.A. Law".

I hope that Ms.Rinna and Mr.Hamlin do more films of this genre, many films about addiction and family discord can work if they are done by talented, responsible actors not just concerned about their wardrobe or publicity stills.

This is a film about a man WILLFULLY engaging in poor choices and then having his actions be labeled as sex addiction. This movie basically teaches women, if your husband sleeps with prostitutes, it's okay, take him back. Be his door mat. Tolerate his disrespect for the sake of appearances and the family.

Absolute garbage. Just like the actresses lips.

Lisa Rianna is simply unbearable to watch. Her collagen filled trout lips simply dominate the screen. It is hard to take her seriously plus her acting is wooden, she has a very limited range of emotions that she can express with her trout lips.

It's a wonder she's on the screen at all. The answer, of course, is that her husband Harry Hamlin acts as the male lead plus also produced the movie.

Nepotism is alive and well in Tinsel Town.

There is no depth of acting or emotional ability, no sense of trauma or affliction rather sex addiction is viewed as being a "problem" that can be cured, with the emphasis on being a "survivor".

Movies that can present the extremes as mundane are dull indeed and this is one of them.

This story is supposed to be very engaging and seríous, and the subject and dilemma (sexual addicition) may very well be just one. However, the way the characters are portrayed here is quite strange and too often become ridiculous - perhaps from trying too tell too much in too little time. I suppose the intention is to explain the background of the sex addicts and the way they can be treated (in very much a US-style therapy manner), but it all becomes too shallow and 1-dimensional, almost like a 40s comic book series. And the lie-detector scenes - these could be an insult to anyone intelligence! Albeit the ludicrous dialogue the film is packed with a very much sympathetic intention and that´s why this is such a cute little piece of melodrama.

Cameron Thomas is an orthopedic surgeon who seems to work long hours, to the frustration of his drama teacher wife Joanna. We don't know where they live, but it's far enough from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that Cameron has to fly there.

Cameron sure does seem to be having a good time in the early scenes of the movie, and his blonde wife is hot. Wait ... that's NOT his wife! And she is not the only woman he goes to. In fact, he goes to the bad section of town as often as possible. This man has a serious problem, and Joanna eventually figures it out. He's bored with her, and nothing she could do would help. Therapy might help. Would you believe they have 12-step programs for this sort of thing?

Eventually, the movie does inspire. It takes falling down--a lot--to get addicts of whatever type to really work on their problems. As one might expect, that happens here.

Lisa Rinna does an okay job as Joanna, but nothing really makes this movie any better than the typical Lifetime offering. Or at least what network TV used to do when movies like this were made for broadcast, not cable. Harry Hamlin has a few good scenes, but he's kind of boring. There's a variety among actresses playing Cameron's women. The first one was easy to like (though not in the sense we should be liking her, I suppose) and I could have enjoyed a movie with her as the female lead.

Just another disease of the week, but not that bad.