A Lista de Clientes

Samantha Horton (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Rex (Teddy Sears) are struggling facing foreclosure. Former beauty queen Samantha uses everything in her arsenal to keep afloat. Rex is a former star running back who can't even keep his construction job with his bum knee. Then she gets a job at a massage parlor in the next town, but she soon finds out that she could earn more if she does more.

It's a Lifetime movie of the week. It's not that I have any moral objection to the characters or the story. I just find it very boring. I guess some may find the subject matter titillating or controversial. It's not much of either. It just seems that the struggle for Samantha is mostly one of image. Maybe a short scene in the beginning showing the couple at the top of the world would be very helpful.

I went into this just looking to kill a couple of hours, but really it isn't bad for what it is. Yes, some of the Texas traits are stretched ("hotter than a fur coat in Marfa"), but not as much as most Texas movies and some of the people and scenery actually felt familiar. (I'm from Texas.)

I found the main character to be believable. She was not portrayed as a victim or as a demon, but as someone who made a bad decision in difficult times and then continued that bad decision due to her own flaws. Watching her when she feels guilt seems very real to me. Her mother was also a fully developed character and her friends and some of the other characters had some moving scenes. I thought it was well acted and well paced. Two of the last scenes were hard to believe and were quick reminders that this was a TV movie.

I must say that I found this movie highly amusing and entertaining. Americans are bound to criticise it but the concept of the story strikes at the heart of family life and when the chips are down and you are broke, a woman will do anything to feed her children and keep the family home. That is what Samantha does in the story line and full credit to her. the film is good in my opinion because it treats the subject in a light hearted way (a bit like Stepford Wives if you can imagine) and is an eye opener for us all, there is no bad language and actually no sex either, given the nature of the film. It is not a compelling film and of course it is a wee bit predictable but it should be seen and enjoyed.

Client List, The (2010)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly silly drama from Lifetime about a Texas mother of three (Jennifer Love Hewitt) who finds herself about to lose her house after she's laid off and her husband is injured on the job and can't find work. She goes to work in a massage parlor but soon learns that the best way to get tips is through prostitution. When it comes to any made-for-TV flick you just know there are going to be certain amounts of melodrama but this film here must think its viewers are some of the dumbest people in the world. There are so many problems with this film's screenplay but the final twenty-minutes are rather insulting. Again, some might say I'm a man and this movie wasn't meant for me but I honestly don't see who could watch this ending and feel good about anything they've seen. I'm not going to ruin anything but this film is so full of sugar that the entire thing seems like a bad school play without a single thing going for it. I think one of the biggest problems with Hewitt who just isn't believable in the role. Not only does her Texas accent go in and out throughout the film but there wasn't a single second where I believed she was a mother of three. She didn't look like someone from a small Texas town and the screenplay doesn't do her any favors by having her shout she's too pretty to be poor. With dialogue like that it's impossible to feel sorry for her or her situation and it doesn't get any better when the screenplay tries to make her out to be some sort of victim in a world of bad men. Hewitt does come off well in the more sexual side of the role but the drama falls flat on its face and really kills anything the film is going for. Cybill Shepherd plays her mother and pretty much just sits around throwing out bad one-liners. I'm not sure if it was because this was made for the Lifetime Network but it seems that even in the most dramatic moments there's enough time to throw out penis jokes. I'm really not sure what could have saved this movie but a little bit of honesty probably would have gone a long way. The husband's reaction, the poor ending and how they try to turn the event into some new sensation just never works and in the end there's really not much this film has going for it. I'm also not quite sure what the filmmakers were trying to say in the reasons the character did what she did as there are thousands of people in the same situations and they're not inviting in hundreds of men.

There are a lot of very pretty faces out there that cannot act at all. It has been a while since I have seen Jennifer in anything. I was really glad to see that she can act a lot better that some of the other bigger box office cuties out there. The acting ability of some of those other hotties is insulting. I found this movie interesting in that Jennifer portrayed a girl who in desperation tried to do something to rescue her and her families situation without realizing the outcomes. Very human situation and she showed real sensitive emotions right from the beginning, wanting to run the other way being turned off by the whole idea and then being consumed buy desperation and greed as is a major story of what is really going on in this country. She played the part very well, so much so that I wanted to take time out and write this review. This is not easy subject matter and lots of people will be reviewing it personally rather than subjectively. The flick is not perfect, but think about how it would have been without Jennifer? She made the movie, and it really grabbed my attention with all the real emotion in the situation between her and her husband and having to try and start over in life. This is a typical real life story with a bit sticky subject matter. But Jennifer did a great acting job with it. For what it was it was well done!