Falling for a Killer

The first hour or so of this movie was pretty good- up until about the time of the duck dinner. We have heard a lot of killers go off on a tangential soliloquy about their reasoning for why they are doing what they are doing, but Thomas in this movie takes the cake. On and on and on he goes. Maybe he had to explain everything because the movie was disjointed.

And then the poison that worked so well on the maid barely slowed Thomas down. At least it gave the mother a chance to throw in some really ridiculous one-liners.

Finally, the last little segment introducing viewers to Thomas's brother- well, that was over the top and they had Darcy go all ga-ga over him.

One can only pray that this was not a setup for a sequel.

"Her Fiance's Double Life" (that's the title under which I saw the movie) is a Lifetime dud. I watch Lifetime movies all of the time but even by Lifetime standards (you know what I mean) this movie is pretty bad. The cast is okay at best. Olivia Buckle does a nice job. Aubrey Reynolds is pretty dreamy looking but her performance is a little uneven. Jonathan Stoddard and Mike Gassaway both needed stronger direction. Gassaway's character is mostly a goofball who's out of place in this movie. The script is also pretty weak. The cast can only be expected to do so much with such material. Overall, I wish I skipped this weeks Lifetime movie.

It's not very often these days that you see real character actors on screen, but Jonathan Stoddard definitely brings so much variation to his different roles. Whilst I prefer his rom-com personas, because I need feel-good tractor at the moment, he really is excellent at being a menace from the get-go here, and nothing like either of his parts in A Prince and a Pauper Christmas comedy thriller which I also saw recently. I haven't watched the whole of this movie yet, so can't comment on it overall, but I hope the prolific Mr Stoddard sticks to this career as he excels is in all the various performances I've seen so far.

Assistant DA Darcy Young. She's come home to her estranged parents' country dwellings due to her sister's pending nuptials to Thomas Schure. It's supposed to be a happy occasion, but Darcy is suspicious of the man. She can't help but poke holes in the whirlwind romance her sister is caught up in and Thomas isn't helping matters with his erratic behaviour. It's enough for Darcy to feel convinced that something isn't right about Thomas and he presents a danger to her whole family.

Will she be able to convince everyone of her suspicions or will it be up to Darcy to save the day before someone loses their life on her watch?

The first hour really sucks you in, but switches into a diversion as the killer shows his hand after the duck dinner. It makes a change from the usual cat and mouse, and the feeling of dread is heightened. The family are a little dense in not realising there was something wrong with the guy. Thomas Stoddard is very convincing in his role as the killer but he does go over the top. The rest of the cast is fine - it's an above average thriller, though the heroine blurting out at the dinner that he's a killer was an unwise thing to do.

The acting was appalling. The story was dire and so very predictable. The characters don't have a single redeeming feature and every word and movement could be anticipated. No idea who wrote it, but they were having just the every worst day and obviously had a quota to fill. The music was dreadful. It was like watching a B-movie from the 1940s - the sort of film churned out to accompany the main feature (yes, they used to do that). Don't waste your time even watching a little - it just doesn't get any better. I watched it so you don't have to. Amazon seems to be showing some real dross at the moment.