Lifetime Film Review: Sinfidelity (dir by Tamar Halpern)


So, imagine that you’re living the life of Angela (Jade Tailor).

You’re married to a successful businessman.  You’ve got a nice house.  You’ve got attractive friends.  Really, you’ve got everything that most people are conditioned to want out of life.  And yet, you can’t shake your suspicion that something is not right.

Part of the problem is that your husband, Greg (Mark Jude Sullivan), has cheated in the past.  And even though he says that’s all in the past, it’s hard for you to trust him.  Your anniversary is approaching and Greg doesn’t appear to have made even the slightest of plans to celebrate it.  Instead, he’s spending all of his time at work.  Plus, you instinctively mistrust his assistant, Lisa (Caroline Cole).  Maybe you’re being silly but then again, deep down, you know that no one can resist someone named Lisa.

(That’s just the burden that we Lisas have to deal with.)

You notice that Lisa is wearing expensive earrings.  The next day, you find one of those earrings in your house.  You immediately decide that Greg and Lisa must be having an affair.

What do you do?  Do you file for divorce?  Do you change the locks and kick your husband out of the house?  Do you blow up his car?

Those are all good options but Angela decides that the best way to get back at Greg is to have an affair of her own.  She ends up hooking up with Franco (Aidan Bristow), a handsome photographer.  Angela does this despite the fact that Franco gives off obsessive stalker vibes from the minute that she meets him.  Then again, it’s not like Angela’s looking for a relationship.  Angela’s looking for revenge and you do strange things when you’re looking for revenge.  Still, I would have gotten out of Franco’s place as soon as I saw all of the pictures he had taken of a woman who superficially resembled me.  Franco claims that the pictures are of his sister, who died under mysterious circumstances years ago and …. yeah, it’s time to leave.

Still, Angela doesn’t leave.  She spends the night with Franco.  When she leaves the next morning and returns home to confront Greg, Grey can’t understand why she’s so upset.

“I know!” Angela says.

“About the trip to Italy?” Greg asks.

Yes, that’s right!  Greg was actually being a good husband.  He bought Angela earrings and a trip to Italy for their anniversary and he’s been working late to make sure that they would have enough money to afford it.  He had Lisa set up the trip and he also had her deliver the earrings.  Lisa thought it would be fun to wear the earrings before dropping them off which …. well, okay, that doesn’t make much sense but hey, whatever.  What’s important is that Greg is not cheating and that they’re going to Italy and their marriage is not in trouble!  Yay!

The only problem, of course, is that Angela’s already had a one night stand with Franco and Franco is not only obsessive but apparently a bit psychotic as well.  That means that Franco’s not just going to take no for an answer….

You can probably guess where all of this is heading.  This is a Lifetime film and any fan of Lifetime knows what happens when you get an obsessed stalker.  Sinfidelity doesn’t exactly break any new ground as far as Lifetime thrillers are concerned but Jade Tailor gives a good performance as Angela and the film opens with an genuinely creepy sequence that’s set at a roller disco.  Any film that features a roller disco is automatically going to be better than any film that doesn’t have a roller disco.  That’s always been my philosophy.

In the end, Sinfidelity has a worthwhile message.  Don’t cheat on your spouse unless you have all the facts first.  Otherwise, your act of revenge might lead to you getting stalked by a psycho photographer.  Seriously, the more you know, right?

Cleaning Out The DVR, Again #35: A Father’s Secret (dir by R. D. Braunstein)


(Lisa is currently in the process of trying to clean out her DVR by watching and reviewing all 40 of the movies that she recorded from the start of March to the end of June.  She’s trying to get it all done by the end of July 11th!  Will she make it!?  Keep visiting the site to find out!)

Father's Secret

(MINOR & MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!)

The 35th film on my DVR (only 5 more films to go!) was A Father’s Secret.  A Father’s Secret originally aired on the Lifetime Movie Network on June 19th.  It’s about a father who has a secret!

Actually, it’s about more than just that.  It’s also about an attorney named Carrie Evans (Willa Ford).  Carrie would appear to have everything.  She has great hair, a great job, a great apartment, and a great boyfriend.  What she does not have is any knowledge of who her mother was.  She’s close to her father, however.  Or, at the very least, she’s close to the man who she thinks is his father.  He’s not actually her father but that’s all a part of the secret.

Carrie is also close to Cagswell Foxx (Daniel Hugh Kelly), the senior partner at the law firm.  Cagswell is rich, old, white, and politically ambitious so we already know that he’s going to turn out to be a bad guy.  Cagswell has assigned Carrie to defend an oil company in a wrongful death lawsuit.  (Boooo!  Oil company!  Hissssssss!)

One night, Carrie is shocked when she receives an envelope that is full of pictures of her undressing.  At first, Carrie assumes that it must have been sent by environmental activist, Greg (Aidan Bristow).  However, Greg tells her that the picture were sent by Cagswell.  Why?  Because Cagswell wants to have something on her, just in case he needs to use it in the future…

Wow, that Cagswell is really evil!

Carrie decides to take a closer look at the details of that wrongful death case.  As she illegally goes though the files in Cagswell’s office, she comes across a picture of a youngish Cagswell with a woman who seems oddly familiar to her.  Carrie decides to discover the woman’s identity and soon learns that the woman has been missing for decades.  And the last person she was seen with?  Cagswell Foxx!

Of course, Cagswell isn’t just interested in covering up crimes and helping out the oil companies.  Cagswell is also running for the U.S. Senate!  Do you think all of this could possibly lead to Carrie challenging Cagswell right in the middle of a political rally?

Of course, it could!

A Father’s Secret is predictable but well-done.  Daniel Hugh Kelly is properly sleazy as Cagswell, while Willa Ford is surprisingly credible as a lawyer.  Director R. D. Braunstein brings a surprising amount of visual flair to this Lifetime film, with the film’s opening montage being especially well-done.  A Father’s Secret is full of melodrama and silly plot twists and, in the end, it’s a lot of fun!

What more can you ask for, really?