Lifetime Film Review: My Wife’s Secret Life (dir by Jason Bourque)

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, let’s say that your husband has cheated on you.

Now, obviously, the easiest thing to say is that you should just dump his ass but reality is always a bit more complicated. The fact of the matter is that you’ve got two kids with him. You two share a big suburban home. He’s got a successful career as an attorney. You’ve got a successful career of your own. And he says that he’s sorry. He says that he’ll never stray again. Even if you’re not sure that you’ll ever be able to trust him again, you do love him. So, you say that you forgive him. You say that you’re giving him a second chance. But the doubt and the pain still lingers.

What do you do?

How about having a one night stand with a near-stranger?

That’s what Laurel Briggs (Kate Villanova) does at the beginning of My Wife’s Secret Life. She’s at a business conference. Oddly, the hotel somehow screwed up her reservation and, as a result, she’s been separated from her colleagues. She meets a handsome and charming man (Matthew McCaull). One thing leads to another and Laurel ends up spending the night with this man. (If you’re wondering why I’m not telling you the man’s name, that’s because he uses several over the course of the film). That morning, when she leaves his hotel room, she makes it clear that she doesn’t want to see him again. Laurel just wants to return home to her husband, James (Jason Cermak), and move on with her life.

Of course, this is a Lifetime movie so it’s not going to be that simple. At first, Laurel’s one night stand doesn’t seem like he’s capable of taking the hint. He’s the type of guy who shows up at your office unannounced and tries to guilt you into spending the day with him. Then, eventually, he become the type of stalker who breaks into houses and leaves behind roses and poems by Lord Byron. Soon, he’s not only stalking Laurel but he’s also pursuing a relationship with Laurel’s sister (Marnie Mahannah).

It turns out that our Lord Byron-obsessed stalker is more than just the typical type of obsessive who regularly shows up in Lifetime movies. He’s got his own reasons for specifically targeting Laurel and her husband and it turns out that he’ll stop at nothing to accomplish his sinister goals….

Sounds pretty melodramatic, right? Well, I supposed it is but that’s kind of the point. I mean, that’s why we watch Lifetime films. We watch them for the infidelity and the dangerous men who have secrets and the women who make one mistake and then have to spend the entire movie dealing with the consequences. Enjoying a Lifetime film is all about embracing the melodrama and this is a film that cries out for a hug. This is a film that celebrates everything that we love about Lifetime. Director Jason Bourque keeps the action moving at an enjoyably quick pace and he’s aided by a cast who keeps the action grounded in reality. Villanova and Cermak have exactly the right chemistry to be believable as a couple struggling to keep their marriage alive and Matthew McCaull is a wonderfully magnetic force of chaos and destruction. It’s an enjoyable film and, since it’s a Lifetime film, it will probably be aired multiple times between now and 2021. So, keep an eye out for it!

Cleaning Out The DVR, Again #15: Stranger In The House (dir by Allan Harmon)

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 15th film on my DVR was Stranger In The House, which premiered on the Lifetime Movie Network on April 10th.

Stranger In The House opens with a stab at relevance by including news reports of Wall Street bailouts and footage of Occupy protesters running around in their Guy Fawkes masks. (Though I’m sure they would probably call them V For Vendetta masks.) I have to admit that, when I first saw that footage, I was worried. I didn’t know if I could particularly take a Lifetime version of The Big Short.

Fortunately, the rest of the film has nothing to do with any of that. Instead, it’s a rather enjoyable and somewhat over-the-top Lifetime melodrama, one that makes no pretense of providing anything other than wonderfully sordid entertainment.

Super-rich businessman Wayne (John Novak) has been crippled in a car crash and, now confined to a wheelchair, he goes out of his way to make everyone else miserable. He’s nearly impossible to live with and his daughter and chief caretaker, Jade (Emmanuelle Vaugier), desperately needs a vacation from him. On top of that, she’s just married the handsome but somewhat mysterious Marco (Matthew McCaull) and they want to take their honeymoon. So, jade hires a caretaker to look after Wayne while they’re gone.

At first, Wayne doesn’t much like his caretaker. Sure, Samantha (Jordana Largy) may be attractive and enthusiastic but she’s into stuff like yoga and Wayne’s too cantankerous for all that. However, we then get a five-minute montage in which we see Wayne slowly start to lower his defenses. Soon, he and Samantha are smiling and laughing and kissing. When Jade and Marco return, they are shocked by just how close Wayne and Samantha have become…

Then Wayne mentions that he and Samantha have gotten married and all Hell breaks loose.

Jade is convinced that Samantha only married Wayne for his money and she grows even more frustrated when Marco suggests that maybe she should give Samantha a chance. Wayne certainly appears to be happy and he’s even washing his hair again! But then one day, Wayne is found dead at the bottom of a cliff and it turns out that he’s left all of his money to Samantha!

Jade believes that Samantha murdered Wayne. It doesn’t help that Samantha isn’t acting like a grieving widow. Instead, she’s laughing and drinking and constantly complaining about having to wear black all the time. If that’s not strange enough, Samantha and Marco seem to have suddenly grown very close.

How close?

Close enough that they’re ducking into a bedrooms and broom closets so that they can make out…

And that all happens in the first forty minutes! Now, I’m not going to spoil the rest of the movie but I will say that this is one of those Lifetime movies where things just keep getting stranger and stranger. In fact, it’s almost ludicrous how melodramatic things get but that’s why it’s fun! This is one of those films that is so over-the-top and fun that you would have to be a real killjoy to complain about whether or not it actually makes any sense.

After all, logic really isn’t the point here. Stranger In The House is all about style and that’s something that it definitely has. This is a sleek, fun melodrama and one for which I would suggest keeping an eye out.

Film Review: Black Fly (dir by Jason Bourque)

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“It’s just another fond memory of country living.”

— Noel Henson (Matthew McCaull) in Black Fly.

Black Fly, an intense psychological thriller from Canada, tells the story of two brothers.

On an isolated island, Noel Henson (Matthew McCaull) lives on the farm that was once owned by his parents. He has a mullet, he loves his dog, and he ends each workday with a cold beer. And maybe it’s because I’ve got plenty of country in my background as well but, as soon as I saw him, I immediately recognized Noel’s type. He’s outwardly friendly but definitely prefers to have space of his own, the type who likes to live by his own rules and will probably never forgive you if you break one of them. You would definitely want to help build your house but you might not necessarily invite him to come inside of it afterward.

Noel’s younger brother is Jake (Dakota Daulby). Maybe because I’ve always had a weakness for sensitive and artistic loners, I felt that I immediately knew Jake’s type as well. He’s the guy who has been let down one too many times by everyone around him. He’s got a sketchbook full of drawings of monsters and fantasy girlfriends. When it comes to someone like Jake, you’re torn between feeling sorry for him and fearing what will happen if he ever truly loses control of his anger. When we first meet Jake, he is escaping from his abusive uncle. When he shows up at the island, Noel is there to greet him. It’s been years since the two brothers were together but it quickly becomes obvious that Jake idolizes Noel.

At first, everything appears to be perfect between Jake and Noel but slowly, cracks start to appear. Jake and Noel’s childhood was hardly ideal. Their abusive father was shot while hunting. Their mother committed suicide. Noel is overly possessive of his girlfriend, Paula (Christie Burke), and she appears to have some secrets of her own. A violent motorcycle gang has recently shown up on the island and is trying to intimidate Noel into leaving his home.

And, of course, one of the brothers is a murderer.

Now, I’m not going to tell you which brother is a murderer. One of the best things about Black Fly is that, up until we witness the film’s first murder, we are kept guessing as to which brother will turn out to be the murderous one. At first, it’s easy to imagine either one of the two brothers turning out to be a murderer. Both McCaull and Daulby give totally believable and authentic performances. At first, they’re both likable but, as the film progresses, we get small clues of trouble underneath the surface. And those small clues become bigger and bigger until the violence finally explodes on-screen.

Black Fly was written and directed by filmmaker Jason Bourque. That name should be familiar to our regular readers because he previously wrote the script for End of the World, a film that I enjoyed so much that, two years after it originally aired, I’m still taking advantage of any excuse to link to my review of it. Bourque’s direction of Black Fly is atmospheric and suspenseful, making great use of some truly desolate locations. Whether it’s the trailer park that Jake flees at the start of the film or the dilapidated farm that Noel calls home, the locations in Black Fly are just as important as the characters, with the decay of the island neatly mirroring the decay of Noel and Jake’s relationship. As the film reaches its violent conclusion, Bourque’s direction keeps the audiences off-balance and throws us straight into the tension-filled world of the characters.

Based on a true story, Black Fly is a potent and visceral look at guilt, violence, and family secrets. It will be having its U.S. premiere at the Arizona Underground Film Festival on September 25th, followed by two showings at the San Diego Film Festival on October 1st and October 3rd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vv8QiCHVhA