Il gioco della mantide

Why do I even watch this dribble? Sometimes the films are soooo bad and the actors (mostly the leading ladies) are soooo bad it makes you watch. Sort of hypnotizes you into seeing the movie. Once again Janie Luner never disappoints me in being the worst actress on television. Here she prances around in outfits that don't flatter her rather overweight torso and hair all over the place. Her hair makes me want to throw up. Totally out of style for a woman her age. And believe me she's over 40. Her scenes with Sophie Gendron (in a flattering short hair style and looking much prettier then Luner) show her up as an older person. Then we have William R. Moses, who is always stuck in these hopeless and clueless husbands, playing opposite Luner. He does what he can with terrible lines. I liked Lawrence Dane as his father. He had some good scenes. James Wilder as Luner's lover, is sooo young she looks like his mother. Funny watching him making love to her. He must have acted with all he had to make it look believable. Lisa Langloria and Allison Graham in smaller roles fared better than our leading lady. Terrible flick due mostly to writing and Luner in it.

If Marianne's marriage to Richard is so perfect, why does she need to have an affair with Christopher? Or is it Brent? There's a lot Marianne is keeping secret. The movie starts with a couple of chilling scenes from Marianne's past.

Richard's secretary Carrie worked hard to plan a party, but Carrie isn't even invited and she doesn't feel appreciated. This will become important later. At the party Marianne meets Tia, the head of public relations, and her "date" Kendra. Tia's boyfriend resents that she considers her work more important than her relationship, so she brings her sister. Marianne invents a past, but Tia and Kendra later find they must investigate that past to protect Richard.

Richard and his father run the company, and Marianne has the chance to kill the father and get a big inheritance. Actually, Richard has a heart attack, and Marianne could stand there and do nothing, but the company is on the verge of a major deal which will mean the company is worth even more--provided the father lives. Later, Marianne can once again use the poison we saw her use earlier, and no one will know the difference. We know it will make people think the person had a heart attack but leave no trace. That's IF she gets to use it.

The plotting and the investigating are quite interesting, and there is real excitement toward the end. There are romantic scenes as well, but I didn't enjoy those as much.

I have seen clips of Jamie Luner in other shows, but I have only seen full episodes of "Just the Ten of Us" and "Growing Pains", from which the sitcom spun off. Both are regarded as evidence that TV is garbage, but I enjoyed them. I would not have recognized the girl who I knew as the adorable brainless teen who wasn't as hot as her sister. She's actually quite good. Not over-the-top nasty, but deceptively ordinary.

There are a lot of good performances here. Sophie Gendron is gorgeous, especially in that hot dress she wears to the party, but also when dressed professionally. But the important thing is she has brains and determination. And the father (apparently Lawrence Dane) does an impressive job as well.

A very good effort.

...not a bad movie either. Just mediocre. Nothing happened that was real exciting, no plot twists. But also nothing so bad to make me mad. It held my interest for the most part. Not bad acting or anything, just a typical generic Lifetime movie.

These Lifetime flicks are a lot like your favorite junk food. Big Macs, Twinkies, Oreos, etc., are satisfying while they're going down, but they don't provide much in the long run.

Movies like this one can provide a couple of hours' entertainment on, say, a bleak Sunday afternoon - but there is little with which to empathize or recall or reflect upon after they're over.

However, this one did provide an added bonus. William R. Moses is to the male side of this genre what Meredith Baxter is on the feminine counterpoint -- both have played the betrayer and "betrayee," both the villain/villainess and the one being menaced. Seeing either of them on Lifetime (as well as a few others whom we may recognize by sight if not name) is like meeting an old friend.

If I were an actor, I'd rather be Mr. Moses than, say, Tom Cruise, or Harrison Ford or Tom Hanks. You wouldn't be on the "A" list, getting $20-mil or more per picture. But you'd still make, probably, something around low-7 figures, get to have a lot of expense-paid trips to Canada, and be able to move around with minimal bother from the paparazzi.

As far as the plot of this particular offering - it contains a "plot" which is one of the two main staples of "Lifetime" dramas: the spouse with the hidden past, which comes-up to bite everyone in the ass {the other, of course, is the neighbor (or student or teacher or co-worker) who turns out to be a raving, dangerous, obsessed psychotic sociopath}.

Again, two decent hours on a gloomy Sunday afternoon.

A few years ago, still sexy Jamie Luner (as Marianne "Annie" Grayson) was in love with seductively sleazy James Wilder (as Brent Richter). They conspired to kill her husband and collect $250,000. After Mr. Wilder loses most of the money on "debts," Ms. Luner wises up and decides to start a new life. She marries successful businessman William R. Moses (as Richard Danforth) and settles down in Philadelphia. Of course, her past catches up with Luner. Wilder finds her and proposes they murder Mr. Moses, and his father, to collect $30,000,000. Getting tangled with the potentially lethal twosome is Mr. Moses' faithful full-lipped associate Sophie Gendron (as Tia Montgomery).

***** The Perfect Marriage (5/22/06) Douglas Jackson ~ Jamie Luner, James Wilder, William R. Moses, Sophie Gendron