Trappola in rete

After watching this predictable, made-for-TV film about technophobia and the internet I was puzzled about what message the movie intended to impart to its audience. Is the internet a bad ersatz form of communication, replacing familial bonds or is it a gateway to a better world? Do high-flying career women and divorces go hand in hand? Do children need their mothers at all times? What is the role of the father? This movie throws all these questions in the air as a hidden agenda, and refuses to answer any. Many questions are left unanswered: how will the daughter cope after her ordeal? Will the mother get her top job back? Will the family unit be reunited? By refusing to adopt any position, this movie is a failed exercise in sociological analysis - yes, that was not its intention, but why raise these issues and then abandon them?

I caught this movie tonight on Lifetime and I have to comment. The internet is NOT a toy and I wish this movie were shown more often. I say that because I see kids online all the time who drop their names, locations, email addresses and IM names like people drop business cards. I know they think that this sort of stuff will not happen to them but as this movie showed, it can happen to anyone. I reinforce these realities whenever I need to and have no problem doing so. Cyberspace crawls with pedophiles, stalkers and people who have nothing else to do but play online all day. I think this movie was good and I wish it were shown more often. If any parents are reading this.......PLEASE keep the computers out of the kids rooms. Otherwise, you never know what sort of trouble can come of just "innocently" talking in a chat room to someone. The internet is not a toy and should not be treated as one. Just my two cents.

Not a lot of reason to watch this unless you are curious to see hotty Cheryl Ladd work with her daughter, hotty Jordan Ladd, or are interested in seeing if Ted McGinley can act against type as the brainy yet sick bad guy in this one. If anything, Cheryl showed me that sometime since "Charlie's Angels" she actually picked up a few things about acting and is pretty convincing, despite the weak script. The most unbelievable thing about this is that Jordan as Martha, would seek to find guys on the internet after her boyfriend breaks up with her. I mean, come on, take a look! She would not be lonely for long.

Interestingly the script is the last by John Robert Bensink, and deservedly so. The dialog and story just aren't very good. I checked his other credits and he seems to have been a bit of a one trick pony, doing this same theme in "Netnapped". Don't know that one, but this one definitely is a nap inducer.

I definitely think this movie is worth watching.. and a good one to watch with your kids to help them realize that there are dangers on the internet. While not every person on the internet is a sicky looking for prey, they ARE out there!

While some of the chat scenes left a little to be desired, I think it summed it all up quite well.

Note: this movie is based on a true story (it stated something to that effect at the beginning of the movie)

This is a surprisingly well done and enjoyable if slightly dated made for TV movie. Yes you can pull the plot apart if you so wish but you can do that with any movie ever made.

A young girl goes missing and it becomes clear she has been kidnapped after meeting up with a guy she chats to over the net. It's not a far fetched scenario as there are many examples of this.

Where this film succeeds is that it keeps your interest throughout as the mother and police search for the missing girl. There are a number of tense scenes and the abuse scenes though mainly just hinted at are effective. The acting for a TV movie is pretty good with both Cheryl and Jordan Ladd putting in convincing performances.

It is no classic but compared to many TV movies this is a pretty good effort.