SPOILERS AHEAD:
Strange movie, in several ways:
Why use all British actors to make an American movie where they must drop their natural Brit accents and force themselves to speak with American accents throughout the movie? What's the point in that?
It's so frustrating when movies forget to tie up loose ends, such as the life or death of 2 important characters in this movie: the ex-boyfriend and the babysitter. Did they survive their attempted murders by the female psycho?? Did the babysitter survive the attempted poisoning and did the ex survive the stabbing??
The lead actress/Kathy (common old-fashioned name) was apparently a minimalist actress because she was soft-spoken and under-acting throughout the movie. And was that her natural hair or a wig? It looked fake.
The baby was beyond adorable but his parents treated him like a temporary football, practically tossing him back and forth to each other and the babysitter. Speaking of the sitter, she looked too young to babysit a baby -- she looked to be in her early teens, at most. And her name - Fran - is also very old-fashioned.
The premise/plot was one of the most commonly used by Lifetime: psycho ex-girlfriend/wife comes after current wife in sneaky, conniving, crazy ways -- first subtle and hidden, then blatant and no-holds-barred. If you're going to use the same old formula over and over, at least make it interesting in other ways, and don't leave the audience hanging when it comes to whether certain secondary characters survived or not.
I tried to care about the wife/mother (Kathy) but just couldn't. The dialogue between most characters was flat and sparse. The only one conveying any warmth whatsoever was the ex-boyfriend. I shook my head in disgust at the blatant stupidity of the sitter when she actually walked far enough away from the house and stayed outside long enough for the female psycho to sneak into the house and then wreak havoc until the end of the movie. Was she not warned by the parents about the female psycho and told to stay inside and keep the doors locked, no matter what? Guess not. Too contrived, as is the case with most Lifetime movies.
I give the overall acting 6/10 and the movie itself 5/10.
5 Reviews
Crazy Ex thriller with a British cast
phd_travel9 October 2019
A woman returns from maternity leave and find her temp has usurped her. There is a reason why her wacko temp is there.
One unusual thing is this is a Lifetime thriller with a mostly British cast acting as Americans. No wonder everyone is a bit paler. But don't expect RADA quality acting. It's done alright production quality wise and the story is okay as a moderately diverting thriller but not too different from this kind of thriller.
One unusual thing is this is a Lifetime thriller with a mostly British cast acting as Americans. No wonder everyone is a bit paler. But don't expect RADA quality acting. It's done alright production quality wise and the story is okay as a moderately diverting thriller but not too different from this kind of thriller.
Perils of a Chief Strategy Officer
lavatch5 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
In "A Working Mom's Nightmare" (a.k.a., "Lie of You"), Kathy Hartman returns to work at the Parr Collective after delivering her baby, only to learn that a new employee has been hired as Chief Strategy Officer, in effect, taking over Kathy's operation. The new executive is Hannah, who will attempt to undermine all of Kathy's efforts. She also will try to invade her personal life and endanger Kathy's baby.
Hannah is in fact Susan Mulroy, the ex-girlfriend of Kathy's husband Mark. When Mark finally reveals to Kathy that the crazed Susan has returned to his life, there is a false ending to the film. Kathy and Mark attend a lavish party to celebrate the Parr Collective's new venture with Pleasant Gateways. Unbeknownst to them, Susan is about to strike again.
My favorite character was the smooth-talking Eddie Kane, the author of a new novel called "Harrod's Daughter" and the ex-boyfriend of Kathy. Eddie provides some much needed levity to an otherwise by-the-numbers thriller.
In the film, there was far too much violence and collateral damage from Susan. In addition to killing the beautiful family dog, Max, Susan pushes Kathy's dedicated assistant Aisha down the stars and into the hospital. She poisons the nanny, Fran. And she inflicts serious knife wounds on both Mark and Eddie. A major shortcoming of the film was the absence of a denouement to inform the audience whether or not Aisha, Fran, Mark, and Eddie survive.
While the actors strove diligently to rise above the average script, the film was mired in clichés and predictability. Susan's otherworldly abilities to take over Kathy's job and to invade her home lacked credibility, and the history of her sociopathic behavior was never made clear. Did she truly believe that she could reclaim both Mark and the baby he sired with Kathy? We will never know due to the abrupt ending.
Hannah is in fact Susan Mulroy, the ex-girlfriend of Kathy's husband Mark. When Mark finally reveals to Kathy that the crazed Susan has returned to his life, there is a false ending to the film. Kathy and Mark attend a lavish party to celebrate the Parr Collective's new venture with Pleasant Gateways. Unbeknownst to them, Susan is about to strike again.
My favorite character was the smooth-talking Eddie Kane, the author of a new novel called "Harrod's Daughter" and the ex-boyfriend of Kathy. Eddie provides some much needed levity to an otherwise by-the-numbers thriller.
In the film, there was far too much violence and collateral damage from Susan. In addition to killing the beautiful family dog, Max, Susan pushes Kathy's dedicated assistant Aisha down the stars and into the hospital. She poisons the nanny, Fran. And she inflicts serious knife wounds on both Mark and Eddie. A major shortcoming of the film was the absence of a denouement to inform the audience whether or not Aisha, Fran, Mark, and Eddie survive.
While the actors strove diligently to rise above the average script, the film was mired in clichés and predictability. Susan's otherworldly abilities to take over Kathy's job and to invade her home lacked credibility, and the history of her sociopathic behavior was never made clear. Did she truly believe that she could reclaim both Mark and the baby he sired with Kathy? We will never know due to the abrupt ending.
Obvious Plot Twist is Obvious but Oblivious to Her...
talentest2 June 2024
I had intended to list out all of the many gripes I was accumulating with this film, but by the end the idiotic characters just miffed me way too much to want to bother.
The movie is very disarming in how it is presented as it almost lulls you into thinking you're watching a smart auteur movie. With its professional crisp cinematography, overall atmosphere, the ambient soundtrack, deliberate editing, a suitable enough cast, and actors making choices.
You'd never imagine the characters here to be such ignoramus dimwits.
Watching it you'd be forgiven to believe the main protagonist lady was sharper and smarter than usual since the movie really wants to give us that impression... Much of which is really the actress's doing who honestly succeeds in looking like she's always putting the puzzle together behind those eyes of hers...
Except she isn't. She's not. As new scenes and developments build on top of old ones and the movie continues to chug along toward the end, we're left to discover that she hasn't grasped onto anything. The only certainty she knows and acts on is "I don't like that Hannah lady." Every single other twist, surprise, sabotage, backstab, and reveal all come as a OMG shock to her.
Just one example:
She hears the nanny's suspicions that her husband may be seeing someone in NYC, then in the next scene her husband tells her he has to leave on a surprise "work trip" to NYC for a few days, and then the very next scene after that her work rival Hannah also tells her that she is going out of town for a few days having just made last minute plans to NYC...
The look on the wife's face says she is suspicious...
...But nope.
She literally pieces NOTHING together the whole movie. Not until her husband finally drops an obvious plot twist bombshell on her with about 20 minutes left to go in the movie. The sudden realization dawning on her leaves her so shellshocked that the movie (literally) time jumps to...
2 WEEKS LATER.
Now the cast of idiotic characters are all happy and acting as if the credits were about to roll, despite everybody knowing that the movie's villain is still out there and was never caught. And in those 2 weeks, no one has taken any precautions, added any protections, involved police at all, or ensured that their baby and nanny were somewhere safe instead of being left home alone. Nothing. They've done nothing...
Then they're all blindsided and somehow shocked when the psycho lady returns and kills some people and steals their baby. If only they could have foreseen something like this happening.
................. MY RATING SCALE .................
The movie is very disarming in how it is presented as it almost lulls you into thinking you're watching a smart auteur movie. With its professional crisp cinematography, overall atmosphere, the ambient soundtrack, deliberate editing, a suitable enough cast, and actors making choices.
You'd never imagine the characters here to be such ignoramus dimwits.
Watching it you'd be forgiven to believe the main protagonist lady was sharper and smarter than usual since the movie really wants to give us that impression... Much of which is really the actress's doing who honestly succeeds in looking like she's always putting the puzzle together behind those eyes of hers...
Except she isn't. She's not. As new scenes and developments build on top of old ones and the movie continues to chug along toward the end, we're left to discover that she hasn't grasped onto anything. The only certainty she knows and acts on is "I don't like that Hannah lady." Every single other twist, surprise, sabotage, backstab, and reveal all come as a OMG shock to her.
Just one example:
She hears the nanny's suspicions that her husband may be seeing someone in NYC, then in the next scene her husband tells her he has to leave on a surprise "work trip" to NYC for a few days, and then the very next scene after that her work rival Hannah also tells her that she is going out of town for a few days having just made last minute plans to NYC...
The look on the wife's face says she is suspicious...
...But nope.
She literally pieces NOTHING together the whole movie. Not until her husband finally drops an obvious plot twist bombshell on her with about 20 minutes left to go in the movie. The sudden realization dawning on her leaves her so shellshocked that the movie (literally) time jumps to...
2 WEEKS LATER.
Now the cast of idiotic characters are all happy and acting as if the credits were about to roll, despite everybody knowing that the movie's villain is still out there and was never caught. And in those 2 weeks, no one has taken any precautions, added any protections, involved police at all, or ensured that their baby and nanny were somewhere safe instead of being left home alone. Nothing. They've done nothing...
Then they're all blindsided and somehow shocked when the psycho lady returns and kills some people and steals their baby. If only they could have foreseen something like this happening.
................. MY RATING SCALE .................
- 1. Reserved for Poorly Produced/Amateur Video
- 2. Utterly Terrible
- 3. Really Bad
- 4. Mediocre
- 5. Perfectly Average
- 6. Surprisingly Entertaining
- 7. Very Good
- 8. Incredibly Good
- 9. Exceptionally Great
- 10. Reserved for my Personal Favorites.
Not a good movie at all
cassandrdelvegablanco20 December 2019
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