Helene Udy | Through the Shattered Lens

Y’all know that I usually avoid politics like the plague but this is just something that needs to be said:

The U.S. Government could stand to learn a little from a good Lifetime film. A good Lifetime movie is not expensive (and usually can be viewed for free). A good Lifetime movie does not demand that the audience watch it but instead, provides a good reason for you to sacrifice 90 minutes of your time. A good Lifetime movie does not attempt to rob you of your individual freedoms and, in fact, it celebrates your right to talk back to the screen. A good Lifetime movie delivers exactly what it promises. A good Lifetime movie does not talk down to its audience. A good Lifetime movie goes out of its way to keep its audience entertained. If the U.S. government was more like a Lifetime movie, we wouldn’t have spent the past 17 years dealing with one tedious situation after another. If the U.S. government was more like a Lifetime movie, life would be a lot more fun and twitter far less annoying.

I found myself thinking about this as I continued to clean out my DVR by watching The Wrong Student. I recorded The Wrong Student off of Lifetime on March 11th. I’m glad I did because The Wrong Student epitomizes everything that I love about Lifetime.

Add to that, it’s a film that proves something that I’ve always suspected — soccer is the source of all evil.

Maddie (Evanne Friedmann) is a teenager who loves two things: soccer and the new soccer coach. The new coach is Dominic (Jason-Shane Scott), who has amazing pecs and abs. How in love with Dominic is Maddie? Well, she’s so in love with him that she’s willing to do almost anything to keep him around. Does that mean that Maddie is willing to poison the old soccer coach? It sure does. Does that mean that Maddie is willing to fake an injury so she’ll have an excuse to get naked in the locker room while a mortified Dominic hides his eyes? Of course! What about pretending to get drunk at a party and then begging Dominic to give her a ride home? Hey, who hasn’t done that? In fact, Maddie is so obsessed with Dominic that she’s even willing to murder her ex-boyfriend.

Maddie’s pretty, intelligent, and apparently her family has some money but she sure does have some issues. Personally, I blame the soccer.

Amber (Kennedy Tucker) is also on the soccer team. Amber is living with her Aunt Kelly (Jessica Morris). Obviously, Amber knows that Dominic is too old for her but he’s exactly the right age for Kelly! When Maddie realizes that Kelly and the coach are getting close, can you guess what happens?

Anyway, The Wrong Student is a lot of fun. David DeCoteau has directed a lot of “wrong” films for Lifetime, including The Wrong Roommate and The Wrong Child. He knows exactly how to make one of these films entertaining and The Wrong Student is an enjoyably self-aware melodrama. Evanne Friedmann is wonderfully unhinged as crazy Maddie and Jason-Shane Scott looks great without a shirt on. The Wrong Child is a wonderfully entertaining example of just how much fun a Lifetime movie can be.

Everything should be more like a Lifetime movie.

(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!? Well, I guess she did since this is the 40th review!!! YAY!)

Finally, we have reached the end. Two and a half weeks ago, I started the process of reviewing all forty of the films that I recorded between the start of March and the end of June. It hasn’t always been easy, within the two and a half week time frame that I set for myself, to watch and review all of these films but I’ve managed to do it. As soon as I publish the review that you’re reading right now, I will be able to say that I have officially cleaned out my DVR.

So, what was the final film waiting to be watched on my DVR? It was The Wrong Child, which originally aired on June 26th on the Lifetime channel.

In The Wrong Child, Vivica A. Fox plays Renee. Like many Lifetime heroines, Renee would appear to have it all. She has money, glamour, a teenage daughter, and a tragic backstory. (Her first husband was killed several years ago in a traffic accident.) She also has a wonderful house, which regular Lifetime viewers might recognize as being the same house from The Wrong Roommate. She has recently remarried. Her new husband is Charles (Gary Daniels), an architect who may or may not have a few secrets of his own lurking in the past.

One day, Andrew (Robbie Davidson) shows up at the house. Andrew is a handsome and apparently normal teenager. He explains that his mother has recently died of stomach cancer but, before she passed, she informed him that Charles is his father. Charles is skeptical but Renee and her daughter welcome Andrew into the family.

Of course, it turns out that Charles was correct to be suspicious. Andrew is a sociopath, the type of guy who takes pictures of strangers while they’re out jogging and who also is totally willing to murder anyone who might have any evidence that his name is not actually Andrew. Andrew may be crazy but he has a very specific reason for tracking down Charles and his new family.

The Wrong Child is a pretty standard Lifetime B-movie but director David DeCoteau always brings a certain flair to even the most predictable of thrillers. You know that Andrew is crazy as soon as you see him but Robbie Davidson still gives a really good and rather chilling performance.

Add to that, there’s the house! I loved the house when it appeared in The Wrong Roommate and I loved it even more in The Wrong Child. Here’s hoping that the house appears in another wrong film soon!