I give all my Lifetime movies 5-star reviews. No Lifetime movie will ever win an Oscar, but neither are most of them the complete schlock 1-star reviewers say they are. This one is no exception.
So, here's the movie, in a nutshell: It's Secret Brother Day on Lifetime. All day. Every movie. Right away, you have the basic plot. Or do you?
It's a troubled marriage. Husband and wife (wannabe novelist/successful jingle writer) squabble before going kayaking on a river. He paddles off in a huff without her and disappears. She calls the police, who conduct a fruitless search. The husband walks into an emergency room a week later with no memory of what happened to him. He's a different guy. It's almost like he's an identical but evil secret twin or something! He fudges on stuff he should remember or manages to turn his lack of actual knowledge into weird compliments. Worse, he can cook! And he's super-horny, all the freaking time. The wife knows something is off.
There is a lawyer, murdered early in the movie for reasons that totally escaped me by someone we never see (my attention may have wandered for a moment, which is sometimes all it takes in a Lifetime movie--sorry.)
There is a female stalker (as there almost always is in this particular plot, although she turns out to be a "court-appointed psychiatrist".) She confronts the wife in the garage and says, "check his right ankle" before vanishing. There is a tattoo he never had before. Oh no! She tricks the obvious imposter with a previously unliked western omelette calls the stalker/psychiatrist, who kindly left her number. He's a fraud! He's an evil psychotic hitherto missing unknown twin! But can we call the police?!?! Nooooo..... they would never believe this, not even from his court-appointed psychiatrist. So the wife sticks with the stalker/psychiatrist, whom she secretly witnesses being assaulted by the wicked twin. The wife takes her for a coffee, as you do. They decide to stalk the husband. The wife finds a key to a storage unit and they check it out. OMG!! Her dead husband is in it! Just. Don't. Touch. Him. They leave to call the cops (I know these women have cell phones--they're always using them--but for whatever reason, they leave. Separately.)
There is a reasonably competent detective. Stern, no nonsense, but not a jerk. Don't see enough of him. He gets the call to the storage unit. Surprise, surprise, no body. The cops find the psychiatrist. She denies having ever met the wife and knows zipola about the unit or a body. And she's a massage therapist. And there is no tattoo on hubby's right ankle. Let's lock the crazy wife in the nuthouse, because, of course!
Because what evil twin wants is conservatorship over his wife's company that's about to go public. The wife gets wind of the plan and bails out of the police station. Only she goes home and catches the stalker and the evil twin in flagrante delicto, or just about. She charges in and gets caught, hears the whole evil plan, and realizes there is no evil twin, this is her dear husband who just wants all the money and a cute, malleable massage therapist. She brains him with a baseball bat, and the stalker/court-appointed psychiatrist/massage therapist turns state's evidence. The wife sells the company for a tidy profit and finally finishes her novel. The end.
All I can say is, I'm shocked Eric Roberts wasn't cast as the murdered lawyer. That would have made this movie perfect.
So, here's the movie, in a nutshell: It's Secret Brother Day on Lifetime. All day. Every movie. Right away, you have the basic plot. Or do you?
It's a troubled marriage. Husband and wife (wannabe novelist/successful jingle writer) squabble before going kayaking on a river. He paddles off in a huff without her and disappears. She calls the police, who conduct a fruitless search. The husband walks into an emergency room a week later with no memory of what happened to him. He's a different guy. It's almost like he's an identical but evil secret twin or something! He fudges on stuff he should remember or manages to turn his lack of actual knowledge into weird compliments. Worse, he can cook! And he's super-horny, all the freaking time. The wife knows something is off.
There is a lawyer, murdered early in the movie for reasons that totally escaped me by someone we never see (my attention may have wandered for a moment, which is sometimes all it takes in a Lifetime movie--sorry.)
There is a female stalker (as there almost always is in this particular plot, although she turns out to be a "court-appointed psychiatrist".) She confronts the wife in the garage and says, "check his right ankle" before vanishing. There is a tattoo he never had before. Oh no! She tricks the obvious imposter with a previously unliked western omelette calls the stalker/psychiatrist, who kindly left her number. He's a fraud! He's an evil psychotic hitherto missing unknown twin! But can we call the police?!?! Nooooo..... they would never believe this, not even from his court-appointed psychiatrist. So the wife sticks with the stalker/psychiatrist, whom she secretly witnesses being assaulted by the wicked twin. The wife takes her for a coffee, as you do. They decide to stalk the husband. The wife finds a key to a storage unit and they check it out. OMG!! Her dead husband is in it! Just. Don't. Touch. Him. They leave to call the cops (I know these women have cell phones--they're always using them--but for whatever reason, they leave. Separately.)
There is a reasonably competent detective. Stern, no nonsense, but not a jerk. Don't see enough of him. He gets the call to the storage unit. Surprise, surprise, no body. The cops find the psychiatrist. She denies having ever met the wife and knows zipola about the unit or a body. And she's a massage therapist. And there is no tattoo on hubby's right ankle. Let's lock the crazy wife in the nuthouse, because, of course!
Because what evil twin wants is conservatorship over his wife's company that's about to go public. The wife gets wind of the plan and bails out of the police station. Only she goes home and catches the stalker and the evil twin in flagrante delicto, or just about. She charges in and gets caught, hears the whole evil plan, and realizes there is no evil twin, this is her dear husband who just wants all the money and a cute, malleable massage therapist. She brains him with a baseball bat, and the stalker/court-appointed psychiatrist/massage therapist turns state's evidence. The wife sells the company for a tidy profit and finally finishes her novel. The end.
All I can say is, I'm shocked Eric Roberts wasn't cast as the murdered lawyer. That would have made this movie perfect.