La Double Vie de Samantha

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 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.

It's strong point is also its weak point. For an hour and a half film, it checks all the right boxes, a half decent plot, a somewhat decent ending, nothing really sticks out like a sore thumb. However, with the little time it has, some parts of the film felt too rushed, without enough time to really soak in the emotions of the characters, what they might have been going through and all.

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.

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!