Les liens du mariage

We have seen the cliché plot (woman marries perfect husband but turns out to be a psychopath) many times.

In the 70s, 80s and 90s we were inundated with this theme in the true stories category, in which the story was almost always told one-sidedly from the female perspective and in which the perpetrator was usually portrayed in a very two-dimensional way without a satisfactory backstory.

This was of course to demonize the perpetrator as much as possible and to portray the victim character as sympathetically as possible.

But why not some more backstory for the perpetrator? That could give the story a lot more depth and make for a much interesting film.

Here too it is actually very cliché. The fact that the couple gets married after 4 months does not make it much more believable.

Of course this is a 13 in a dozen thriller, but still, there were moments in the film where I thought: boy, is this all you could come up with in terms of text dialogue? Such as in the dinner scene in which TY shows up uninvited and they ask him how he comes up with his characters in his books.

Funny that Michael Riley plays this role, I had seen him play alongside Brian Dennehy in To Catch a Killer and he played really well in it, even though Dennhy was superior as gacy.

This movie had two big strikes against it from the get-go.

First of all, whoever thought of putting Michael Riley and Tracy Nelson together ought to have their head examined. They are the most mismatched pair I've ever seen. On-screen chemistry was zero, and the disbelief that they would ever fall in love kept me from getting into the story.

Secondly, Sophie Gendron was just horrible. Not only is her acting completely wooden, but her lips take up half the screen. She unfortunately shows the consequences of cosmetic surgery addiction, and has done it to the point of not looking normal anymore. Granted, she's not as bad as Joan Rivers, but she's lost any natural look. (And after her last scene, I felt so guilty thinking oh good, she won't be in any more shots!)

On the up-side, Michael Riley was creepy enough to believe he could play Ty. And Thomas Calabro was the only actor worth his salt. I enjoyed every scene he was in.

My suggestion: tape it, and watch only the Thomas Calabro scenes. Then go out and rent a movie where he has more camera time.

How many times have I seen this movie. Must be 500 of them at least! Og course I have seen even worse movies but holy crap they can't make movies like they did back in the Years from ca. 80 '-97'. After that it have gone downhill. And When the actors look stupid you can't take the movie serious either. 2,5 Rating is correct after my opinion. It's like the director's today can't think anymore!! The old movies early 90's are Incredible compere to these new Life Time movies. The location,plot, camera Work and dialog and acting back then was 100 times better then these New movies today.

Lisa meets widowed author Ty Kellington and it's not long before they marry. At first, everything seems fine, but then Ty begins to resent all intrusions to their relationship and attempts to eliminate them. He's suspicious and possessive and is even unhappy about Lisa's pregnancy. When Lisa hurts her ankle during an argument, she becomes a prisoner in her own home. Ty becomes more and more controlling, unbalanced, and dangerous.

The reporter Lisa (Tracy Nelson) meets the famous writer Ty Kellington (Michael Riley) in an interview, and sooner they get married. Their common life is perfect, almost a dream, until Lisa is invited by her old friend Matt Thompson (Thomas Calabro) to work with him in a radio show. The paranoid hidden side of the personality of Ty is unfolded, showing a deranged man capable of killing and threatening the life of Lisa, her sister Beverly (Andrea Roth) and close friends. "The Perfect Husband" is a forgettable and predictable festival of clichés, a low budget movie where is possible to guess the next scene. The performance of Tracy Nelson is horrible, in the lead female role, but Michael Riley and Andrea Roth have a good acting and at least I did not sleep along this foretold plot. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Perigo Dorme ao Lado" ("The Danger Sleeps SidebySide")

This is my favorite Lifetime movie! It's the king of wacky Lifetime! Ty Kellington is hilarious and played to absolute perfection by Michael Riley. For such a typical premise (insecure, jealous controlling husband) it could've been dull but there's twist and turns and you're never bored.