Secret Lives

Sometimes I feel like slumming, and I watch one of these Lifetime-type movies just out of curiosity. This one has a decent premise, but it rates a 10 on the implausibility meter. This is one of those films in which you just sit there and count the absurdities, shaking your head in disbelief that a screenwriter was actually serious about this. Or maybe he wasn't....? A women discovers that her husband, thought to be killed in a fire 10 years ago, has recently turned up dead in an adjacent state. Apparently, he faked his death and has been living off of money he embezzled from his company. The cops get involved. The woman goes to the crime scene in the woods where her husband's body was discovered. She immediately finds her husband's pendant on the ground. The cops have had dozens of crime scene techs all over this spot, and they missed it? She goes to his house, wanting to look for clues. The cop at the house says he can't let her disturb anything in a death investigation. She begs him to let her in, so he shrugs and says OK. She opens drawers, riffles through letters and papers....Give me a break. No cop on earth would allow this. She hacks into her husband's bank account online and finds that he withdrew half the money he embezzled, $5 million. So the guy embezzles money and puts it in a bank account? Did a 10 year old write this? She gets romantically involved with the insurance investigator who is involved in the case. She does nothing to verify who he is. You can guess the rest. I just expended a lot of words on a grade Z film that is so stupid, it will insult your intelligence. Perhaps I can save some viewers from wasting their time. You're welcome!

Although modern in it's time frame, there is something haunting and unsettling from the opening scene, as in a classic Hitchcock movie of yesterday. Excellent performances by Daphne Zuniga and Duncan Regehr whose art work adds a lot of class to the movie. The cinematography is stylish and the music is haunting and first rate, more like you would hear in a cinema than on TV. The cops are not clever, but are they in Aruba? The twist in the end is a real shocker, and unexpected. Although the movie is definitely a Lifetime formula, what separates it is the style and performances, and a definite spooky atmosphere which is not often seen on TV. Finally, if you have ever been to the Pacific North West, this movie captures it beautifully and accurately. A classic!

I am sorry, but this is not entirely convincing. The actors are good and almost perfect, the cinematography is outstanding, the music is fine, but there are many flaws in the script. Daphne Zuniga makes an excellent performance, but you must wonder at her lack of cleverness approaching stupidity. Duncan Regehr is more convincing, but he is too reassuring not to raise misgivings, which warning signs Zuniga misses altogether. It is a fine plot, but George Mendeluk commits a deadly mistake which Hitchcock never would have made: he doesn't put the audience into the whole picture, keeping it insufficiently informed. Of course, Zuniga should have confided in the police from the beginning and told him everything, but instead she would trust the police even less than that insurance agent, which was her greatest mistake and the greatest flaw of the script. But then of course the course of action would have been less dramatic. It's a good thriller but not entirely satisfactory.

Jill Thompson (Daphne Zuniga) lost her husband ten years ago, leaving her little except debts. Insurance agent Mike McCoy tells her that her husband had actually died a week earlier. She discovers that he lived a life of comfort and secrets. Shelby (Lisa Ryder) is her lawyer friend.

It makes no sense that she would trust Mike or not call the cops after the various incidents. At the very least, an insurance agent would want whatever money as a matter of good business. Even an honest agent can't be on her side. She's too stupid. In these movies, the protagonist never calls the cops. That's bad writing. The turn is not inevitable but it's not compelling. As for the ending, her car makes no sense unless the girlfriend sabotaged it. In which case, he wouldn't know that and his slow walk would make no sense. It's a bunch of non-sense anyways.

'Secret Lives' With Daphne Zuniga and Duncan Regehr.

A great movie, pretty pretty good. Daphne Zuniga is a very awesome actress. 'Secret Lives' is directed by George Mendeluk.

I think 'Secret Lives' it's a pretty movie, thrilling, and a really great plot. Excellent acting, ALL THE WAY !!

When art professor Jill Thompson (DAPHNE ZUNIGA OF "AMERICAN DREAMS" AND "MELROSE PLACE") receives news that her hubby has just been killed, she is stunned — she thought he had died more than 10 years ago! Now she goes digging into her spouse's secret past and discovers infidelity, embezzlement and other horrors. You'll never guess how this thriller turns out...watch and see!

**** / 5