L'intouchable Drew Peterson

Drew Peterson: Untouchable (2012)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

In today's age where people are convicted by the media before there's even a trial, Lifetime comes out with this film, which aired just before the real trial of Drew Peterson (Rob Lowe) started. In the film we see his relationship with his fourth wife Stacy (Kaley Cuoco), which starts out great but slowly falls apart and things get media attention when she goes missing under mysterious circumstances. You know, it would be incredibly easy to sit here and bash the heck out of this movie because for a "drama" there were certainly many unintentional funny things here. However, I guess if you go to a Drive-In trash flick you know not to expect a masterpiece so perhaps watching Lifetime TV movies like this one you should just expect silly things. As far as TV movies go, this here really isn't too bad as it at least gets the main job done, which is that it's never boring and it does keep your attention from start to finish. As someone fairly familiar with the original media outburst, the film managed to have some nice suspense sprinkled throughout and this is especially true towards the end once the net around Peterson started to get tighter. Lowe does a pretty good job with his performance as he manages to make you understand why these young girls would fall for him but he's also good showing why they'd be afraid of him. Cuoco is also good as the fourth wife and we get some nice support from Catherine Dent as her neighbor and James Karen as a priest. As I said, there's quite a bit of stuff here that comes off with unintentional laughs including a sequence where Drew catches his wife having dinner with an old friend. Other issues with the film include what every TV movie does and that's make everything over-dramatic to the point that it nearly reaches camp. Still, for a TV movie this is worth watching if you're into this type of thing.

(rated on LFM curve) This movie tells a compelling, whether the real story was exactly like this, I don't know. You've met someone kind of like the lead character (but less extreme). He lets you know that he's God's gift to women, he smiles all the time but then suddenly gives you chills because you get a glimpse of his dark side. He is controlling and you wonder what kind of spell he casts on these beautiful women who can and should do better. He's not physically abusive (except for the mercifully off screen deaths) but the verbal manipulation is evil, well done and makes you sad and angry. This movie reveals a dark side in our culture because there is a large faction that enjoys this company and seeing his antics. It looks like his police buddies look the other way covering up serious episodes. You see reporters abandon women asking for help just to flock to the narcissist as soon as he emerges from his lair.

This movie never becomes a farce. The crimes are serious and the contrast to his buoyant behavior was so off putting. It held my interest throughout the entire movie.

In strange manner, he is the lead motif for see the film. like many movies inspired by real facts, something missing in story. for give to it nerve, interest, emotion. and , the good point becomes the performance of actors. in this case, exploring in inspired manner, the nuances of his character, Rob Lowe gives more than a good job. but a realistic portrait of a man of profound ambiguities.

This was definitely one of the better true-life murder mystery movies on Lifetime. Rob Lowe did a great job of capturing Peterson's creepy and egotistical personality. When I saw the previews, I was a little cynical over how his performance would play out. To be honest, the previews made him look "silly", physically. But, once I got into watching the story, and learning more about the back story... Lowe delivered a fine performance. Great supporting cast. Kaley Cuoco was a refreshing choice for the role of Stacy Cales. And, Catherine Dent played a great supporting role, as well. Really showed the comradery that can exists between members of law enforcement. Kept me watching and interested the entire time.

This was a pretty accurate movie from what I've read from the real incident. Overall, it's a decent movie and it was a bit extreme and over dramatic in some parts, but it was still good.