Dangerous Child

Someone had better give Ryan Merriman a frickin' Golden Globe or something for his performance as Jack Cambridge. WOW!!! What a diverse and very powerful performance. This kid is an excellent actor, and it is way, way past time someone realizes this! You can feel the anger his character feels. Especially anyone that has been a 16 year old boy (Merriman is 18 in real life). Icicle are evident with every angry stare, or sneer he give to his mother (Delta Burke). I don't know if enough can be said about Ryan Merriman. His acting is such a powerhouse, he upstaged Delta in my opinion. He electrifies the screen with his presence, and could send a small animal running with that stare( chills)!!!! Unfortunately, this movie does play very formulaic to a made for tv movie. Especially one on Lifetime. Delta Burke does give a very emotion and excellent performance of a battered mother. Protecting her son from the world, knowing that he would be taken from her if it came out that he was the abuser. Very believeable! There is defintely no room for Miss Susan Sugarbaker here. One thing I really liked about the movie is how much Ryan and Delta look like mother and son. It was perfect casting. Set in Illionis, filmed in Canada, this movie is standard made for TV, but the performance by Delta and more so by Ryan make this movie more than it really is.

What would you do if your child was a danger to you? This is the question that Sally Cambridge (Delta Burke), a divorced mother, must face when her 16-year-old son Jack who is very violent. Sally lives in fear, should she turn Jack in before its to late, or dose he accidentally hurt his younger brother badly while fighting with his mom? Dangerous Child is a WONDERFUL movie and the acting was great, I think everyone should watch this move on Lifetime TV.

The thing that struck me about this TVM were the two leads . Delta Burke looks like Monica Lewinsky`s older sister while Ryan Merriman looks like David Duchovny`s kid brother . It`s uncanny it really is.

The problem I had with this issues based TVM is that it pulls its punches . Jack doesn`t actually come across as the twisted tortured youth that lyricists like Roger Waters or Matt Johnson write about , nor does he make a convincing mother beating thug . And being a TVM you just know it won`t be ending in a graphic and senseless murder

And there seems to be an element of people coming onto this IMDB site in order to give a DANGEROUS CHILD 10 out of 10 . Almost a quarter of people who voted for it gave it a ten . It`s by no means the worst TVM ever but it`s not LORD OF THE RINGS either . I gave it a four out of ten

I just have to agree with all of you - Ryan's play in the movie is just brilliant. All the rage and violence in one moment, and the regret and tears in the other, all very strong and pure. As a whole it is interesting to see how the story goes, but there isn't even the slightest shadow of impatience, because you just don't know what he'll do next. and the look, his eyes, filled with such hidden anger and even evil... just makes you shake...it's so real...

besides, you can almost feel the confusion that's happening in that boy's mind, just by the look on his face.

a great movie no less than 10 out of 10

The film is exactly what the synopsis says, "mother is accused of abusing her children, when in reality her son is the abuser." Of the 90 minutes of the films runtime, 80 of them is just various scenes of the oldest son acting out, then being abusive towards his mother.

Since the movie spent all of it's time (and budget I assume) on mentioned above, the ending is rushed and lackluster. The movie tries to fit some emotional scenes in here, one's that if they actually had time would've made their mark, but they fall flat. The very ending scene skips six months ahead without telling the viewer and, while cute, really makes you go "that's it??"

You'll save yourself the time if you just read the synopsis paragraph.