Grossesse sous surveillance

Having never heard of this film prior to watching and also not realizing that this was a "Lifetime television" movie until after seeing several comments and looking further into the film.

Found it quite different and actually enjoyable. It is predictable and the "twists" are quite obvious but given the situation it's a solid film to pass the time.

We see Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig (two comedians) in a rather serious dark film and at points we suspect that the film to be a joke or a parody but they seemed to play it straight throughout.

A Deadly Adoption is a short enough film where everything seems to happen rather quickly, so it doesn't necessarily drag. For a Lifetime movie starring two big actors it's solid.

Not a Will Ferrell fan of his blockbusters. But I really appreciate most of his experimental work from this era. The non-spoiler here is that they never break the "Lifetime format" while including every made-for-TV thriller tripe. So it is a Straight-faced satire that is entertaining on it's own. Fun to watch. You can't help but crack-up at many of the close-ups of Will Ferrell's "straight-face".

Worth seeing, because I cannot think of anything else like it. Until Frequent Collaborator James Franco would also experiment with the genre with the "Mother, may I sleep with Danger" remake.

This is just a recommendation review. Because, none of these experiments were a lasting success, and not on physical media. Anyone who appreciates this Lifetime love letter film should seek out Ferrell's "The Spoils of Babylon" & "The Spoils Before Dying". Both fairly unknown with a big cast. Ferrell also appeared in James Franco's "Zeroville", a 1970's Hollywood love letter which nobody liked or saw for some reason. These little gems all got lost in streaming-era over-saturation.

Maybe the 2023 writer/actor strikes will last forever, and all this "lost content" will premiere again.

Now here is something you don't see everyday, or at least in a long while: a deadpan, totally serious, almost (sometimes) dramatic take on Lifetime movies-of-the-week on Lifetime. If what my wife tells me is correct, A Deadly Adoption actually has practically the same plot as another Lifetime movie not too long ago - a pregnant woman with nefarious intentions gets her way between a husband, wife and their child and wreaks havoc while seemingly about an adoption scenario. This is, I'm sure, intentional on the parts of executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay; they not too long ago made Casa de mi Padre, a stone-faced take-off on Spanish tela-novellas with Ferrell playing Mexican full-tilt, and Wiig herself was in a series on IFC, The Spoils of Babylon, which was also a take on soaps (the writer of this film, Andrew Steele, was one of the writers for Babylon).

But what a strange, entertaining beast this is. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it - is this really trying to be *serious*? How much of this is supposed to be a joke or a comedy? One may go into A Deadly Adoption with Ferrell and Wiig at the top of the cast and wonder what's up, if this is going to lampoon Lifetime movies. I should say it does, but not as much as I thought it would, or rather it's in small doses. There are lines and scenarios that are very funny, such as referring to the main couple's daughter's condition: "You know the dangers of diabetic ketoacidosis!" Or the fact that Ferrell's character, Robert Benson (like Bob Benson from Mad Men, I wonder, maybe just a coincidence), is now a reformed alcoholic who used to go on benders during his book tours... for books on financial advice.

And to be sure, at first, seeing Ferrell and Wiig delivering such earnest dialog, and just how they look is funny (Ferrell with a beard that could have easily been pasted on). But all of the other actors are the people who you would usually see in a Lifetime movie, and the director, Rachel Goldenberg, is not a Hollywood pro exactly. She has a wild mix of credits, from Asylum movies (Sherlock Holmes, to tie in with the 2009 movie) to actual TV movies of this ilk (Escape from Polygamy) and more recent comedy work. Steele has more of a foot in comedy, as a writer and collaborator on SNL, though he, the director, and the actors do a remarkable thing: they completely commit to the scenario, the drama around this crazy 'new woman' who comes in to turn everything upside down and cause violence and kidnapping and affairs revealed and shocks galore. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

I thought about other made-for-TV cable movies that come out, like the Sharknado movies and the like on the SyFy channel, which probably have about the same self-awareness as A Deadly Adoption. But I never see the actors in those movies - many of them are all but winking at the camera as they go to collect their quick paychecks to get eaten by CGI sharknados or Megapythons or whatever. Ferrel, Wiig and company aren't out to make anything cheap or silly here (though maybe the last scene is goofy, perhaps just like a Lifetime movie). The funny thing is, because Ferrell and Wiig and co-star Jessica Lowdnes play everything completely straight - and Ferrell and Wiig are better actors than a Lifetime movie should ever deserve - and it's all believable, sometimes verging on maybe, kinda, sorta being dramatic in a *good* way... until one realizes what they're saying, more often than not, is absurd, as are the situations they get themselves in.

The tropes are all recognizable if one is into Lifetime movies, and that's also the idea, from the happy white family and the "bad" girl that comes in to make things chaotic. It's not something that can be easily parsed into 'Oh, it's just a parody' or 'Oh, it's actually just another Lifetime movie with these actors'. I found myself laughing many times during A Deadly Adoption, if not during every scene. It's a wholly clever, successful experiment in poker-faced absurdism.

If you watch Lifetime movies of the week you know they tend to be overwrought, supposedly true life melodramas with a cookie cutter story.

The script and acting are no great shakes.

A Deadly Adoption could had gone for the parody route like Scary Movie, Austin Powers or Naked Gun films. Instead they have de-constructed the typical Lifetime film and made a better version of it.

The film has the usual tropes and clichés with just a hint of a knowing wink here and there. As one character states:'I found an unopened box of chocolate today. You know the dangers of diabetic ketoacidosis.'

The biggest difference is that this television movie of the week has two A list cinema stars. Will Ferrell plays a financial management guru with a string of successful books.

Kristen Wiig is his wife who sells organic food in market stalls in their small town. They have a five year old daughter Sully to whom they are overprotective towards especially as she is diabetic.

Right at the beginning we see Wiig falls over from a dilapidated boat dock into the river which results in a miscarriage. Some years later as the story progresses they meet Jessica Lowndes who is homeless and giving her baby up for adoption however she is not all sweet and innocent and her path has crossed with Ferrell before.

Ferrell and Wiig play it straight. Ferrell also has what looks like a fake beard and recites the corny lines likes it is Shakespeare. You get a hint that he might be sexually attracted to Lowndes as he looks down her cleavage and Lowndes has a hoot playing the femme fatale role.

Yet it is surprisingly zippy, it moves along at a fast pace, it has a fair amount of cheesiness, bad stunts and ludicrous plot developments.

Still there is only so much you can do when you try to polish a turd.

After much speculation it turned out the movie wasn't at all a comedy/parody, although some moments could've been interpreted in a funny way(the garage door opening being one of them), it is actually a Lifetime tribute with essential elements of their movies that have been popular with its audience: a life-altering accident, a fresh start after couple of months/years(it occurs twice in perfect sync at the beginning and ending of the movie), alcoholic husband, naive partner/wife, dark past that gets everyone in trouble, a crazy ex-lover, best friend who knows too much for his own good, phone that stops working in a crucial moment, police getting involved all too late, saving the day ending and lets not forget the classic handgun shooting happening between almost all characters in a row.

For a Lifetime casual fan this will a great movie of their beloved genre full with all the dramatic bits that they enjoyed throughout the years involving 2 A+ listed actors who attracted attention, in order to celebrate their 25th anniversary of hilarious clichés.

For non-lifetime viewers this will be a new and enjoyable experience which they could find funny in some scenes given the 2 comedy Gods involved in it, but you need to have seen at least 1 Lifetime movie to understand the replicated elements that are included in this anniversary. Its not a parody per-se because they didn't had to exaggerate the already overly-dramatized bits which are usually found in Lifetime movies and which some of their casual viewers find hilarious, its simply a replication of those but bunched together in a single movie.

10/10