Hitched - Senza via di scampo

Gorgeous Sheryl Lee needs to get a better agent. As the trade magazines for movie theater owners used to say in the 1950s: "For the lower half", meaning suitable only as the poorer half of a double-bill. It would have made a boring, standard half-hour TV show. But stretched out to 1.5 hours, it is painfully redundant and repeatedly-telegraphed (except for the ending, which is not telegraphed, but is totally unmotivated). To make things worse, Sheryl does not even get to do anything sexy in the film.

I watched this movie the other night because, well, it was on, and I was too lazy to get up and change the channel. I'm glad I stuck around to watch all of it! This was a deliciously bizarre little story, which basically revolves around a cheated wife who exacts her revenge on her offending husband by chaining him to a post in the sound-proof basement of their Craftsman home (the basement is a holdover from back in the day when the house served as a speak-easy during Prohibition days).

The movie was well-acted and well-filmed, but I think what really glued me to the tube was, throughout, there was this palpable weird tension going on. Now what did this remind me of...? I couldn't quite place the feeling, nor could I quite place where I had seen the lead lady, played by Sheryl Lee Diamond. I even got motivated, after seeing the credits, to go look her up on IMDb and whaddya' know - it was our good friend Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks! Oh, now I get it... this movie has that same delightfully bizarre, twisted, slightly whacked-out David Lynchian romp through the dark side of urban middle America feeling to it. Watch this movie, and think Twin Peaks.

And yes, that was Anthony Michael Hall playing the part of the husband. I was forced several times during the movie to do a double take upon seeing him playing this role, of the bad-boy husband who gets thrown down into "underground storage", courtesy of wife Laura Palmer (oops I mean Sheryl Lee). Like the previous commenter noted, it was surprising to see him play this part. I will always remember him as the barely post-pubescent teenager with that famous blurt-out line, "I've never bagged a babe", in 16 Candles (or whatever teen movie that was where he said those lines). And yet here he was, "all growed up," playing quite the chaser. How times change. It's amazing. All in all quite a nice movie, and in many ways much better than feature films you see at the theater.

This excellent drama had me engrossed from start to finish and deserves top marks. From the moment the concerned wife reported her husband missing at the police station, to the end of the movie I was riveted.

The film is really a tale about adultery, and the lead actress gives a terrific performance as do all the supporting cast.

There is an enormous amount of very funny scenes in the film, such as when a married couple go for a civil marriage but the person performing the ceremony is overjoyed as his divorce decree has just arrived; another scene where a husband seeking to justify his marital infidelity claims his "tool" has no conscience!

And there is a hilarious episode with one of the characters and his love of "Disc Golf".

Also there is a first rate, amusing and thoughtful script and the direction of the picture is professional and kept me watching throughout.

What a strange film. It's entirely watchable, and entertaining on a night when you've got nothing else to do. There were some pretty good performances by Sheryl Lee, but what really struck me was Anthony Michael Hall's role in this. Am I the only one who has Hall's loveable, scrawny dork image burned into my brain? His role as the cheating husband was certainly a different one and quite amusing, actually. But I'll always remember him as that hopeless nerd in all of his 80's movies. ("I've never bagged a babe...I'm not a stud...") I honestly wish he could have retained this image, because the heavyset, brawny abusive husband doesn't really suit him, so it made Hitched that much more fake. While watching, I felt myself searching this buffed-up version for signs of the dork we all know and love.

As for the plot, it was lukewarm and a bit unbelievable. Your typical TV movie. Certainly not the best, but then again, not bad.

This tv movie addressed a cheated wife's revenge in a rather fun way. I'm sure many viewers found a thousand reasons this was for entertainment only and not something that would have actually have panned out. A some what predictable ending that was slightly reeking a breath of Hitchcock. The biggest surprise was seeing Anthony Michael Hall as an adult. Especially after just recently seeing him as the geek in 16 Candles. Almost didn't recognize him.