The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater

I'm a big fan of Shannon Brown and I've seen a lot of this work. When he shared this on facebook I was excited to check it out. It wasn't at all what I anticipated as I assumed Shannon was the star of the movie as I've grown accustomed to seeing him as the lead in most things he's cast in. It's very clear from the jump that the star of this movie is Lorissa Julianas. And when I say star, she explemplifies this in every way possible. I've seen her before in a few of the films featuring Shannon, but not like this. She leaves no doubt that she is more than capable of carrying a movie. She is strong, vulnerable and funny and she plays the overqualified genius to perfection. The male lead O'Sullivan is strong as well, a very likeable character that you want to pull for that is worthy of leading man status and I have no doubt we'll be seeing more of him. Then Brown's character which is more of strong supporting role but a role I've never seen him play before as he plays the heroin's gay best friend. This would be an easy role to play campy, over the top and cheap but there is nothing cliche' about his portrayal. Brown showcases his range once again as his choices are very refined, nuanced and still hysterical which meshes wonderfully with the high brow comedy, high society theme of the overall story. I assume the gay community will appreciate that. But as much as I am a fan, Julianas clearly steals the show and I have no doubt we'll see her carrying a movie again in the future. I commend her and her husband, first time director Cj Julianas, for creating a perfect piece to showcase Lorissa's immense talent while still delivering high quality indie fare. There is very little to criticize with this movie. A couple of the performances didn't quite hit home and the pacing could use a little boost in some areas but these are minor issues that barely take away from the overall viewing experience. This will certainly be one of those movies I watch again.

I sat down to watch the 2020 movie "The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" in 2021, without ever having heard about it. But the title of the movie and the synopsis made it seem like a movie that could be interesting.

Turns out that "The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" was an incredibly slow paced and monotonous movie. It was a movie that offered very little in terms of proper entertainment value for me.

And it was a shame, because the concept idea behind the movie was definitely interesting. But the execution and transition from script papers to screen just didn't fare all that well.

This is definitely not a movie that I will recommend you sit down to watch as a first choice of movie for an evening, because the movie just fell short of really being interesting. Nor is it a movie that I will ever be returning to watch a second time, as it was painful to get through it the first time around.

The characters in the movie were, for the most parts, adequate. It wasn't a character gallery that overly prompted me, as a viewer, to take a particular liking or anything to any of them. Why? Well, simply because the characters were lacking background stories and motivation. It felt very superficial with the character that were milling about.

It should be noted, though, that they had put together a relatively good ensemble of actors and actresses to perform in the movie. Just a shame that they had so little to work with.

Ultimately then "The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" just failed to be a well-rounded and fulfilling movie. My rating of this 2020 movie from writer Lorrisa Julianus and director C. J. Julianus lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

Well its low budget movie but why its almost 2 hours long and many boring unwanted scenes. some has really weird n awkward acting which should be edited. maybe because of bad direction ? ..

In start or cover of movie , it seems like it would be somekinda SEX comedy but nothing much in it. not even a nude scene .

anyhow, she is really hot n good looking actress, i hope she get some good movies in future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this indie-romantic-action comedy. Why? It's easier to explain when I discuss reasons I don't enjoy films categorized similarly.

Camp vs Cringe: There is nothing worse than secondhand embarrassment when watching a comedy. I will quickly give up on a film if it becomes cringey rather than funny. Mistress Maneater is definitely over the top and troupe-y at times, but they were self aware enough to stay firmly in the camp category. There was one moment in particular that I howled with laughter due to the subversion of expectations.

The audience is treated as intelligent: I will be the first to say, I hate comedies that are solely low-brow/gross out style. Mistress Maneater has elements of art history, religion, and lesser spoken about world history/events framing the story. And it's delivered in a way that assumes the audience doesn't need their hands held to understand it. It grounded many of the character motivations in a broader reality, which was appreciated.

Foreign language: I happened to watch this with a friend who is a native Russian speaker. He confirmed that while some of the accents were a bit off (and 1 spot on), the dialog was actually Russian instead of "film Russian" - a common complaint for him. Many major studio films do not make the effort, so kudos for making the effort!

Is this the best film of 2020? Of course not - it wasn't trying to be. It's a fun romp! And in 2020, something to just enjoy is very welcome.

Ava Moriarty is a really memorable, bigger-than-life character, convincingly and luminously portrayed by Lorrisa Julianus.

I think Ava should star in her own Hallmark Movies & Mysteries series, with emphasis on her as academic prodigy and art/history expert. Unfortunately they, i.e. the Hallmark brand, would probably shy away from her striking and hilarious dominatrix dimension.

Impressive how the artwork featured in the plot was done by the lead actress herself.

Not really satisfied with both main characters' backstory, "big reveal's." Came off as forced and unbelievable. The overall resolution of the plot was another head-scratcher--WTF! It felt like the writer or production ran out of time/money and just threw away the ending.

I do hope though to see more of and by Lorrisa Julianus. She's a real talent.