Michelle Borth | Through the Shattered Lens

On Friday night, I turned over to the Lifetime Movie Network and I watched the latest Lifetime premiere, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!

Why Was I Watching It?

Because it was on Lifetime, of course!

Usually, I make it a point to watch every single Lifetime film. Unfortunately, last year, I got a bit sidetracked and I missed quite a few. I’m determined to not let that happen this year. I’ve got quite a few curretly on the DVR and since I’m going to be working from home for at least next month (thank you very much, Coronavirus panic), I’m looking forward to getting to watch them all. Since No Good Deed Goes Unpunished was the first Lifetime premiere since I returned home from my vacation, there was no way I was going to miss it.

What Was It About?

Karen (Michelle Borth) has some problems. Her husband just recently died and, despite the help from her sister-in-law Sophie (Cristina Rosato), Karen is having trouble holding it all together. She’s struggling financially, to the extent that she’s actually had to take in a border, Calvin (Oliver Price). Calvin has taken over the room that used to belong to Karen’s resentful, young son, Max (Noah James Turcotte). Karen is up for a big promotion at work but everyone but Karen can see that the obvious favorite for the job is the sleazy Lance (Jason Deline). Lance is an old friend of the boss and, of course, he’s also a man.

One night, while Karen’s at the grocery store, she finds herself in the middle of an attempted robbery. When the robber points the gun at another shopper, Jeremy (Mark Rendall), Karen steps in and basically saves Jeremy’s life. After the police show up, Karen just wants to forget about the whole thing and move on with her life. However, Jeremy is now obsessed with Karen and he has decided that he’s going to do whatever it takes to become a part of her life….

As the title says: No good deed goes unpunished!

What Worked?

So, I absolutely loved this movie.

Seriously, this was one of the best psycho stalker films to ever premiere on the Lifetime Movie Network. Not only did the plot fully embrace the melodrama (which is always the key to any successful Lifetime film) but it featured some pretty good performances from Michelle Borth, Mark Rendall, and Christina Rosato to boot! Mark Rendall played Jeremy with a creepy smile and an unhinged eagerness to please and it was a lot of fun to watch him and wonder just how far he was going to go to try to get close to Karen and Max.

One thing that I really liked about this movie is that, from the minute she first met Jeremy, Karen was like, “Okay, this guy is weird.” So many Lifetime films are overly dependent on everyone acting like an idiot until the final third of the movie. Not so with this one. Karen suspects that Jeremy has issues from the start. What makes Jeremy an effective villain is that, even though almost everyone wants him to leave, they somehow can’t ever seem to make it happen. Jeremy slides into their lives and basically just refuses to go away.

I also liked Oliver Price’s performance as the hilariously entitled Calvin. Calvin was like every boomer’s nightmare of what my generation is like and Price appeared to be having a lot of fun with the role. His incredulous look of shock when Karen demanded that he actually pay his rent was one of my favorite moments.

What Did Not Work?

It all worked! This was a great Lifetime film.

“Oh my God! Just Like Me!” Moments

I totally related to Sophie, who had a good attitude and absolutely no fear of suggesting that a young child walk home and cook his own dinner. I know that some people would say that was irresponsible on her part but I like to think that she was preparing Max for life in the real world. You can’t always depend on your wacky aunt to come pick you up after karate class. When she has things that she would rather do, you need to be able to get back home and make yourself something to eat without burning down the apartment.

My other favorite Sophie moment was when her sister demanded to know if she was high and Sophie waited like two minutes before replying that she was. Seriously, if someone asks you if you’re high and you hesitate by answering, you might as well just say “yes” because everyone knows.

Sophie deserves her own movie.

Lessons Learned:

Don’t ever save anyone’s life. It’s just not worth all the trouble afterwards. Don’t be a hero as the movie villains like to say.

Last night, I turned over to the Lifetime Movie Network and I watched Devious Nanny!

Why Was I Watching It?

I’ve got a long history with Lifetime nanny films. I’ve watched films about Bad Nannys, Betrayed Nannys, Nightmare Nannys, Evil Nannys, Killer Nannys, and Dangerous Nannys. So, how could I resist something called Devious Nanny?

(Actually, it was apparently also called both The Nanny Betrayal and The Au Pair. Devious Nanny, though is an improvement on both of those.)

What Was It About?

Elise (Michelle Borth) and Brian (Antonio Cupo) have it all. Elise works at an art gallery. Brian works in … well, I think it was advertising but I could be wrong. All I know is that he worked in an office and he was worried about landing a big account and he wore a suit to work. Isn’t that what they do in advertising? Anyway, it’s a good job. Brian and Elise have a nice house and an adorable son. All they need to complete the picture is … an au pair!

Enter Amber (Olesya Rulin), who appears to be the perfect nanny. She loves kids and she’s even okay with cleaning up around the house! Of course, Amber did lie a little to get her job. And she didn’t tell her new employers that she grew up in the foster system and that she has a history of mental instability. Soon, Brian and Amber are exchanging lustful glances and people are turning up dead.

But here’s the thing. I’ve seen enough killer nanny films that I immediately realized that it was probably significant that the film never actually showed Amber killing anyone. So, is Amber the murderer or is it someone else? The film is full of suspects!

What Worked?

It all worked. This was the type of Lifetime movie that made me fall in love with the unique Lifetime aesthetic in the first place. Well-acted and full of snarky lines, Devious Nanny also featured a rather clever last-minute plot twist. The end of the film also features a line of dialogue that is perhaps the coldest sentiment over to be offered up in a Lifetime film.

Needless to say, this was a fun movie to live tweet. Those of us on twitter last night had a blast trying to figure out who the killer was and who was going to be the next victim.

All in all, it was a very entertaining movie.

What Did Not Work?

It all worked! At first, I was worried that the film would turn out to be just another Lifetime Nanny film but the script, by Adam Rockoff, was full of unexpected plot twists. I’m going to guess that Rockoff has seen enough nanny films that he knew exactly what most people would be expecting and he very skillfully manipulated those expectations.

In fact, my only issue is that Lifetime aired this on Friday night and it didn’t really seem like they made much of an effort to publicize it. Sometimes, I think Lifetime doesn’t truly understand just how many people love watching their movies. They’ll promote the Hell out of some forgettable (and often regrettable) celebrity biopic but entertaining thrillers, like this one, rarely get the fanfare that they deserve.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I’ve been lucky, in that I’ve never had to work as an au pair. I’ve also never been suspected of murder. I guess I’ve just lived a sheltered life. However, if any of that did happen to me, I would hope, when it was all over, that I could be as snarky about it as Amber.

Lessons Learned

Life’s not easy when you’re a nanny.