User Reviews

English-accented blonde Tushka Bergen (as Gillian) gets a job as "nanny" for an affluent family. Head of the household Victor Garber (as Tim Beeman) works in their luxurious home. Attractive wife and mother Rita Wilson (as Annie) tends to her children, especially doting on "Maggie". The other two children are precocious Mae Whitman (as Rebecca, affectionately nicknamed "Doc") and youngest David Dorfman (as "Sam"). The plot concerns the five-year-old middle child "Maggie", who doesn't exist. She is the "Invisible Child". Due to some unspecified mental illness, Ms. Wilson has created Maggie, from birth, and is the only one who can see the little girl. Because she needs the job, nanny "Gillian" agrees to go along with the fantasy. The family fears Ms. Wilson would be declared unfit or committed to a mental institution, if "Maggie" is discovered to be imaginary...

This "Lifetime" TV Movie is ultimately unsatisfying because it offers too little background and never properly addresses the mother's mental health problems. We are led to believe she has handled the situation for years, without being labeled the village idiot. This seems highly unlikely, although the script advises that Mr. Garber and the other two children have helped enable the ruse. This teleplay, written by David Field and directed by Joan Micklin Silver, does have some fun scenes; these are when the characters go out in public places with the invisible "Maggie". Best is when Wilson declares "Maggie" has a fever and must be rushed to the hospital. Also noteworthy is the performance of young Whitman, especially her scene in the "Agency for Child Protection" office with suspicious Freda Foh Shen. Her manipulation is not at all believable, but it is well-played.

**** Invisible Child (3/8/99) Joan Micklin Silver ~ Rita Wilson, Tushka Bergen, Mae Whitman, Victor Garber

I just don't know exactly what to say about this film except that I didn't enjoy it half as much as my invisible friend Dave did. We sat together this Saturday on our invisible couch eating our invisible popcorn(which by the way, is really low in fat and cholesterol) and watched one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen in my life. You know a movie is bad when the best performance comes from the invisible child herself. Watch this if you just want a good laugh at these poor actors expense. And to think that Rita Wilson is married to two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks.(Then again, he also spent a whole movie talking to a volley ball!) Could he not have given her some advice? I have some, Read The Script Next Time Before You Sign The Contract!!!!

I can't believe IMDB even bothered to list this!!! I saw this awhile back on Lifetime and it stands as one of the worst/best things I have ever witnessed in my life. Rita Wilson plays a demented mother who imagines she has another daughter in one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, unintentionally so naturally. TOTALLY INSANE. I've told friends about it and they don't believe me. Now I have proof with this IMDB listing! I have to track this thing down and throw my own Mystery Science Theatre party....

Okay, here is a Lifetime movie at its CHEESIEST! This was such a terrible concept - I can't believe that someone would write such a script.

That out of the way... okay Rita Wilson, I love ya to death. But, your husband Tom Hanks is winning Oscars and you are making movies about invisible kids?!?! Thank the Greek Gods you happened upon Nia Vardalos & her Big Fat Greek Wedding!

This movie wasn't worth the 1.5 hours I spent watching it...actually, it was on in the background while I was cleaning the house. (Not all of us are lucky to have a nanny. ;) Then again, I didn't see Gillian doing any of cleaning?!

If Lifetime had an award for worst script, this would win...! Please, don't waste your time...unless you have some housecleaning to do.

This movie is ridiculous. The adult characters are unrealistic and selfish. Someone in need of this much mental help would have to had given themselves away at some point. Where are the other relatives? Where are the neighbors? It took five years for someone to step in? I don't think so. Any husband who would let his wife remain untreated for this serious of a mental disability is selfish and should be locked up himself. This film was a complete waste of my time as well as the filmmaker's. Shame on Lifetime for making such garbage. My rating? A big fat 0.

Once in a while, comes a movie that can really be appreciated just for the story. This movie is definitely one among the category. I started to watch on a lousy Monday afternoon, when i had nothing better to do & on a channel i just discovered existed!!!! But, yeah it reminds me of beautiful mind, except that it stops with hallucinations & does not deal into schizophrenia. Being a psychology student, i have to say that its been well handled, with special mention to Rita Wilson's acting. She's made gr8 efforts to bring out the hallucinations & the normal person in her. Well..... she is normal, in the movie. Overall, a good movie with a great insight into the relationships among family members & how they always try & support each other, esp. in times of crisis. And yeah, its always not possible for family members to keep intervening in the other member's crisis or depression. Sometimes, there has to be a third person or sometimes, like in the movie, its just time that heals....

Mind-boggling! What were they thinking?? "The Invisible Child" is even WORSE than it sounds! I can't believe I watched the whole thing. I *thought* that Victor Garber was a pretty good actor--but in my mind, he will always be "tainted" for having appeared in "The Invisible Child." I feel sorry for Rita Wilson, and if I never again see the child star who played the non-invisible daughter, it'll be too soon. This is not even in the "so-bad-it's-funny" category. Watch it, if you must--but you'll be sorry you did. This is one of the dopiest scripts to ever reach the (small) screen. The Lifetime channel shows a lot of junk, but "The Invisible Child" really takes the cake.

It surprises me that so many people have such negative reactions to this movie. It isn't the usual Lifetime story with dramatic betrayals and heartbreak. It is not a documentary about mental illness. But it is a sweet almost-fantasy about love and loss and families and the the difficulty of balancing being supportive and being an enabler. Rita Wilson has dignity and grace as the delusional mother of three children, one of whom happens not to exist except in her imagination. It is not too far removed from what families do all the time on a smaller scale. Jimmy Stewart saw a big rabbit-ish pooka, for goodness' sakes.

This movie could have been better than what it is. When you get to know the reason why the woman sees an imaginary child, you know you don't want bother watching the rest of the movie. It's just stupid. I think I know the reason why the woman sees a imaginary child: she doesn't work, she doesn't know what to do with her time, she lives in a big house, she is too comfortable in her world, and so she got crazy. I liked the acting of the little girl and that's it. I wish I could have learn something from this movie, but no one won't, except maybe how to decorate your house. Also, did the woman never noticed that the kid never eats the meals? I wish I was on the movie so I could eat the dinner of Maggie. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

From the title I was expecting some sort of crisis-of-the-week TV drama concerning child molestation or neglect, but INVISIBLE CHILD was nothing of the sort! Remarkably original, sophisticated production concerned with how people create their own private fantasies & how those fantasies sometimes come in conflict with the external world, rather like *HOUSEKEEPING*. My only complaint is that, unlike HOUSEKEEPING, the style is not idiosyncratic & moody enough to complement the content, but other than that, a fine movie!

First off, Invisible Child had the chance to be a brilliant movie, but the direction is just plain awful, and seems very amateur. But what saves this film is a flawless performance from a young Mae Whitman as Rebecca "Doc" Beeman, who shows up mediocre portrayals from leading stars Rita Wilson, Victor Garber and Tushka Bergen. I will admit that the story is a little far fetched, but it is sweet. The script is laughable at times but does offer some poignant dialogue and very sweet moments. While i liked the film i was disgusted by the way Mr Beeman makes his daughter play along with the fantasy, and how nothing feasible is done for this woman's fantasy. I would recommend to watch this film, but only for the open minded consensus.

First off, watch the trailer on-line somewhere, and you'll get a pretty good idea of the badness therin.

Now, the sinister edge implied in the trailer isn't there ("Driven to the edge of insanity..."), instead there's a lot of absurd God talk and touchy-feely understanding. But that's what one expects from these dark suburban Lifetime- style movies.

That said, there is no beating the scene where the have a showdown with the evil Child Protection Services woman (as they all are, you know). She questions one of the other kids about her mom's craziness: "When somebody has a fantasy that nobody else does, that's a very dangerous thing." The precocious child's reply: "Oh, like Martin Luter King. He had a dream that no one else had." Ha! Take that!

The movie's ending is not touching as it is meant to be, but rather an even more insane cure for the problem - though not in any wild knife-wielding way. It that were the case the movie would be amazing instead of just absurdly amusing.

Rita Wilson is just...just...hideous in all ways. She is just a small piece of the larger puzzle that works to make The Invisible Child a masterpiece for those who love jaw-dropping crap-tastic television.

From the title I thought that this movie would be some drivel about latch key children or what not. I was surprised by what I saw. The plot was original, extremely original considering that this is a Lifetime network movie.

Basically the invisible child is the middle child in a family. The mother created her, and spends as much time caring for her as for either of the other children. The treatment of Maggie, the imaginary child, is not shallow. Maggie has strong character traits and a personality. She is a dynamic character and is truly a member of the family.

Problems exist within the family because of Maggie. The nanny is understandably bothered by Maggie. The youngest child was born after Maggie, and he believes that she is real.

This movie is worth seeing. It is an interesting concept.

First off, it should be noted that this is NOT A LIVE DOCUMENTARY! It appears that it is a story about a woman who was venturing into madness, but then recovers. Why did she recover? Possibly because she began to realize the pain she was causing her family; and possibly because an outsider (the nanny) had entered the picture and somehow this triggered Mrs. Beeman towards reality. One really does not know why or how she recovered, but she does.

The plot involves a family of four, an imaginary child, and a nanny. The story focuses on the heartbreak of mental illness. A woman (The wife and mother of the movie) believes she has three children, when in reality, she only has two. Her husband, two children, and eventually a nanny, pretend along with her. The make-believe child is called "Maggie." Mrs. Beeman (the wife and mother of this story) has a gentle and kind personality so this may be the reason why others in the family simply go along with her and act as though it is true concerning a third child.

Everyone one of the actors and and actresses gives a heartfelt performance, especially Rita Wilson (the woman with the illness) and "Doc."

If one is looking for a tender and heartfelt movie with a good ending, they may want to try watching this movie. It will bring out the compassionate side of some who feel the pain of others, and best of all, it has a good ending.

Yup, it's as bad as bad can be. I agree that sometimes you need to suspend disbelief and just enjoy - I love disaster movies, for example, and hardly ever quibble about the ludicrous plots and nonsense science. But this is not bad enough to be fun. It's rubbish.

We caught this TV-movie quite by accident, and not having any prior knowledge of it, and really enjoyed it. Very creative and original story. And the performances, especially that of Jane Edith Wilson as Mrs. Woods, were very good. Wilson was right on target. A real breakthrough for this newcomer. We can't wait to see her in her next outing.

This movie supports the individualist ,not the mass medias' attempt to dictate. It also departs from the overdriven theme of man being the cause of all bad ,and women are the only family oriented being. This story treats a family as a whole. The story does reference religion ,which is something I overlook ,but it isn't fanatical. There isn't any SEX ,VIOLENCE ,TREACHERY ,POLITICS ,nor EYE SNAPPING GRAPHICS. This is a fine movie ,and all of the cast are excellent. From the previous reviews on this website ,about this movie ,it makes me wonder just what kind of people write reviews. And whether I am standing in a pile.

Thank you.

I've watched thousands of movies.

This is the worst TV movie I've seen EVER! The constant repetition of the sound track, the needless camera pans of `Maggie', the awful casting, and ludicrous plot made it unbearable to watch. If you ever come across this movie in a TV guide, avoid it at all costs, better yet, do something totally unrelated to watching movies.

(0 of 5 stars)