Tag Archives: Stephanie Bennett

What Lisa Watched Last Night #142: Are You My Daughter? (dir by Jason Bourque)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime movie premiere, Are You My Daughter?

top-promo-are-you-my-daughter-460x290

Why Was I Watching It?

Because it was on Lifetime, of course!  Of course, I was only able to watch the 1st hour before I had to change the channel over to SyFy so I could watch They Found Hell.  But, fortunately, Lifetime always shows their movies twice so, once They Found Hell was over with, I was able to turn back to Lifetime and catch the final hour of Are You My Daughter?

What Was It About?

14 years ago, Laura Paddington’s (Brooke Langton) 3 year-0ld daughter disappeared.  In the years since, Laura has suffered from a lot of guilt.  She’s also seen her marriage to Richard (Mike Dopud) end in divorce.

At first, when Laura meets Jacob (Peter Benson) is a support group, he seems like the perfect guy.  Jacob tells Laura that she has to move on from the disappearance of her daughter and, under Jacob’s guidance, Laura finally decides to clean out her daughter’s old bedroom.

However, when Laura attempts to donate her daughter’s clothes to the local shelter, she is shocked when she meets Rebecca (Stephanie Bennett).  Rebecca not only looks like a teenage version of her daughter but she also has the same birthmark on the back of her neck!  After Rebecca gets a DNA test, it is confirmed that she is Laura’s daughter!

Or is she?  When Richard meets her, he is immediately suspicious of both Rebecca and Jacob.  Is Richard being paranoid or is Laura the victim of a very cruel con?

What Worked?

There are certain directors who I’m always happy to see listed in the opening credits of a Lifetime or a SyFy movie.  Whenever I see that a film was directed by Doug Campbell, Grant Harvey, or Griff Furst, I always know that I’m going to see a movie that’s better than the average Lifetime melodrama.  The director of Are You My Daughter, Jason Bourque, is another one of those directors.  He’s directed and written his share of films for both Lifetime and SyFy and his films are always very entertaining and well-done.  That’s definitely the case with Are You My Daughter, which is a fun and twisty little melodrama.  (Bourque also directed a film called Black Fly, which I reviewed on this site a few months ago.)

As well, Stephanie Bennett did a good job as Rebecca/Zoe.  She kept you guessing.

What Did Not Work?

It all worked.  This was a fun and enjoyable Lifetime movie.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

I’m not a mother yet but once I am, I am going to be so overprotective.  Seriously, my kids are never going to be out of my sight.  It’s hard for me to think of anything more terrifying than having your child disappear.

Lessons Learned

Keep an eye on your children.

 

So that was the Unauthorized Full House Story…

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

0

So, last night, after months of nonstop promotion, Lifetime finally aired The Unauthorized Full House Story and…

Meh.

I have a confession to make.  I am 99.9% sure that I have never seen a complete episode of Full House.  I’ve seen bits and pieces, of course.  But I don’t think I have ever watched a single episode from beginning to end.  And yet, despite this, I still feel like I know everything about the show.  I know that John Stamos was obsessed with his hair.  I know that the Olsen Twins played Michelle.  I know about “Oh mylanta!” or “Cut it out” and “you got it, dude,” and all the rest.  I know that Dave Coulier may have inspired Alanis Morissette.

And, though I’ve never seen an entire episode of Full House, I have seen The Aristocrats, a documentary that features Bob Saget telling an incredibly long dirty joke.  And, of course, I’ve also seen Half Baked, which featured Saget asking if Dave Chapelle had ever “sucked dick for coke.”

So, naturally, I figured that The Unauthorized Full House Story would feature a lot of cocaine being snorted backstage while an actress meant to Alanis went down on Coulier in a theater.  I mean, it had to be unauthorized for a reason, right!?

But no — much like last year’s Unauthorized Saved By The Bell, the Full House movie was notable largely for how little drama it featured.  Apparently, there were no scandals.  There was little to no conflict behind the scenes.  John Stamos was apparently a little stand-offish at first.  Bob Saget occasionally forgot there were children around and made an off-color comment.  Dave Coulier apparently was just happy to be there.

In other words, it was all pretty boring.  But, I still had fun live tweeting the film and apparently, a lot of people enjoyed reading my tweets.  So, in honor of what the Full House movie was truly all about, here’s a collection of my best tweets from last night.

Hell yeah!  But, before they get to Unauthorized Degrassi, Lifetime will be showing Unauthorized 90210 and Unauthorized Melrose Place in October!  Now, those shows will be worthy of being unauthorized!

What Lisa Watched Last Night #120: Text to Kill (dir by George Erschbamer)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest Canadian-made Lifetime original film, Text to Kill!

Lifetime-movie-Text-to-Kill-April-2015Why Was I Watching It?

I was watching both because it was on Lifetime and it was a Canadian production.  I love Lifetime and I love Canada.

What Was It About?

High school senior Taylor (Emily Tennant) has a lot to deal with.  It’s been two years since her father was killed in a tragic car accident.  Her overprotective mother (Dina Meyer) is a cop.  Her former best friend, Hannah (Stephanie Bennett), is now her enemy.  Her current best friend, Barbara (Sarah Desjardins), is dealing with a secret of her own.  And now, out of nowhere, she has started to get threatening texts from someone calling himself “Truth & Lies.”

Who could be behind the evil texts?  At first, Taylor suspects that it’s Hannah.  But could it be Brandon (Kurt Ostland), the school weirdo?  Or maybe it’s Cody (Keenan Tracy), Taylor’s enigmatic new boyfriend who somehow had her number before she ever gave it to him.  Or could it be someone else entirely?

What Worked?

Text to Kill was actually a pretty fun little thriller.  It kept me guessing, all of the actors gave good performances, and — perhaps most importantly — there was not a single character who didn’t live in a big and tastefully decorated house.  (One of the pleasures of watching movies on Lifetime is that you get to see how everyone decorates their home.)  Sarah Desjardins especially did a good job in the role of Barbara, bringing a bit of social relevance to what otherwise could have just been a standard Lifetime thriller.

What Did Not Work?

From the minute Text to Kill started, I knew that it was going to be one of those thriller that ended with a totally implausible twist, the type of twist that it’s best not to think too much about.  And that’s exactly what happened!  Unfortunately, the twist was revealed when there was still 15 minutes of film left to go.  That left the audience with 15 minutes to think about how little sense it all made.  If the film had waited until the final 7 minutes to reveal that twist, it wouldn’t have been an issue.  But 15 minutes is too long an amount of time to know about the twist without thinking about all the unanswered questions and issues raised by it.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

I related to the character of Hannah and I especially admired the fact that she was less scared by the stalker and more just annoyed by all the inconvenience.

Lessons Learned

When your mom’s a cop, there’s nothing you can’t get away with.