The Sweetheart (TV Movie 2018) Poster

(2018 TV Movie)

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6/10
Decent late-night suspicion movie
blueskys-5801114 September 2018
If you like suspense and having some scary moments, then The Sweetheart might be the late evening movie for you. There was no gore nor extreme violence-which fit me perfectly.

This is a film with a teen lead, and I felt that the actress did a fine job portraying a teen whose family Life' has devolved into a broken home with Mom dating a younger, suspicious man.

The movie was not perfect; it had some flaws. However, I liked it. It's a fun movie to see when you have a big tub of popcorn
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6/10
If you treat it as a comedy, you'll enjoy it.
aprilsfriendorin14 October 2018
This is a trash movie, but it's a good trash movie. It has all of the elements of a cheesy TV movie thriller, from the obviously manipulative villain to the ridiculously overboard teenage scheming, but the plot and acting aren't that bad. If you take it seriously, you won't enjoy it, but it's the perfect movie to watch when you can't decide between a comedy and a suspenseful movie.
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5/10
This Netflix Movie is below Lifetime standard
phd_travel27 September 2018
Netflix has some Lmn type psycho movies too. This one has a wacko boyfriend of an oblivious separated mom. Her daughter begins to suspect things aren't right. The cast is quite watchable. The story is as expected.

Ok for one watch.
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3/10
So Bad. It's Awful Bad, Mild Spoilers, But Who Cares, You've Seen This 1000 Times!
Mehki_Girl25 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Moms don't move uncle daddy in with your teen daughters and then let them make decisions against you're own better judgment, even though you're halfway through a bottle of wine every night. Then sleep like a log, while he creeps around your sleeping young daughters.

Both of the parents were brain dead. When the daughter nearly threatens mom to give her, her pills, um, mom maybe there's a problem.

And then letting him tuck the youngest in at night? Oh hell, no!

These are movies where everyone's so stupid, you hope the bad guys knock everyone off.

Anyway, the bad guy likes rich older women, so a mother with two kids??? He wants to be daddy now? Motives made zero sense.

Don't waste your time. This is right up there with Plan 9 from Outer Space. But at least that's a classic!
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1/10
Beyond Bad
dequalizer10 September 2018
Do you want to watch a really bad movie, with bad acting, bad script and unstructured dialogues?

Well, you just came to the right place, this is the one.
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1/10
Lol too funny
Saracen786 September 2018
This was a waste of time, it was so bad I would consider this a comedy.. the acting was horrendous, and it's a really repetitive plot. This is time you can't get back., I watched it for the laughs, I think I can make a better movie with my smart phone.
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Sam the sl@t irresponsible cougar!
haroot_azarian7 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Ok so straight down to the chase: it was bad because after everything cougar mom did to keep the family broken. Basically an unfit sl-t of a mother, who even let boytoy carry her young daughter to bed! The husband should have filed for divorce and taken the kids with him! He should have let her drown! I seriously despised the irresponsible selfish sl@t Sam!

It was only good because of the happy ending, otherwise, it was terrible! Kudos to Jane who was the real adult in all of this! Oh and the dad has a striking resemblance to Colin Firth!
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1/10
Sweet Jesus this is Bad; Morally Bad
eh-8193329 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Ok, mom's a drunk, and distracted dad crashes car and injured daughter, allowing for mom to finally make getting some strange a public thing. The way it's presented, it appears mom was cheating on dad the whole time.

Then, mom can't wait to giggle like a school girl and shove her new daddy down everyone's throat.

The only thing that would have made this a more typical Lifetime movie would be if the mom was glorified and made a heroine somehow for "following her happiness" or some such nonsense.

Jessalyn Gilsig is a good actress. She deserves better.
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1/10
Lol
smitchell-5479610 September 2018
So awful its beyond words. Its gotta be a comedy, right? If not, I'm surprised they showed the credits.
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6/10
It Was The Final Act That Won Me Over...
talentest23 April 2024
I don't know if its just that for the past month I've been binging far too many of these "Seducing A, Dating A, Married A, Stalked By A", "Wrong, Deadly, Killer, Good, Fatal", "Family Member, or Occupation" "In The Suburbs" movies, but this one really surprised me. Pleasantly surprised me in fact.

Typically the way this story goes in every other incarnation of this plot is mom's psychotic new beau gaslights everyone into thinking the main protagonist is out to get him, succeeds in sabotaging her credibility with her friends and her schooling, frames her for something, needlessly spree kills half the cast associated with the family in some way without the mom ever even batting an eye, and then somehow the bad guy evil-genius his end scenario, monologues with a gun, and is only finally taken out by some surprise gunshot from a character who has been opposed to the protagonist the whole movie until now.

This movie does none of that (except for the attempted sabotage with her medication). I was very much NOT enjoying the film and annoyed by just about everyone (including the daughter) UNTIL... Until the moment the daughter talks to her dad after she concludes that her mom's new boyfriend just tried to kill her.

Suddenly, I am engaged.

A protag capable of connecting dots?! Resourceful enough to gameplan, execute, and avoid the usual cliched pitfalls of these type of films (i.e. Bad guy suddenly appearing out of nowhere, bad guy conveniently within earshot of key dialogue, bad guy able to supervillain random acts of plot in his favor).

Every time the movie deviated from what typically happens I was even more in:

-- When she locks and barricaded her door -- ensured that any conversation about the bad guy happened while she was far from him -- created the "family movie outing" scenario; told her dad to NOT act impulsively and get himself arrested...

-- When the movie refrained from having the bad guy suddenly and randomly appear outside after her best friend plants a tracker onto his car -- and even the end (aside from the bestie parking her car out in the open on the one road leading to the bad guy's house) with how it utilized the youngest sister.

So despite my praise, my rating is entirely for the final 40 minutes of the movie. Because the plot itself is pretty ludicrous, honestly. Like this con man had a history of targeting single older women who meet untimely ends thus leaving him with their riches... So how does scamming a woman his same age, with kids, and potentially in the midst of an expensive divorce work out for him?
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3/10
Typical of it's kind
ChrisStavroulis14 October 2018
A very predictable movie with a simple plot.Not any different from many others of the same type.
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10/10
Best movie I have seen in a long time.
matlock-1121616 September 2018
Best movie I have seen in a long time. It has no blood and gore, but great story and plot. Very thrilling and dramatic with a possitive edge. Also gives purpose to meaning, always be aware of new people you bring into your childrens lives.
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1/10
Awful
patrice_flett14 September 2018
The acting in this movie is so bad it's laughable and the storyline is a lame ass recycled one done 100x previously only with better acting. Total waste of my time, would not recommend unless you wanted to watch your own eyes roll to the back of your head.
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The Sweetheart aka Dating a Sociopath?
CranberriAppl11 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Mother of the Year we got here. Bringing a strange man around. Not letting a father see his children. The father's bad choice was not taking the girls when he moved out. The mom was just one bad decision after another. I can't tell if it's meant to be that way but they're trying so hard to make Dad look irresponsible, but all of Mom's terrible decisions are on full display. It was ironic that her bad judgment caused her to need rescuing by him. Doubly ironic that her poor judgment almost got the whole family wiped out.

I agree with another reviewer: it did seem like the mom was already dating that guy. Fighting with her husband, a daughter in the hospital, an elementary-aged daughter who she's trying to "keep things normal for," and yet she has time to date. LOL, ok. She was forcing that guy on her daughters, but also pushing their father away from them. Who lets their flavor of the month provide PT for their daughter? Springs it on her, but then yells at their father for bringing her home unannounced? Allowing your new boyfriend who just met your daughter yesterday take her places? Was Mom that desperate?

Flimsy motivations for the villain. Unless I wasn't paying attention, it wasn't clear that the family had "money" to begin with. A better movie with similar themes was Her Deadly Groom. The mom was still an idiot, but there was more suspense in that one.

Background noise for one watch only. This really isn't going to be one you want to see multiple times. It's just not that good. In re: to my review title? How in the world do those two titles sync with each other? Typically the US title and the Canadian titles at least have a theme. Such as My Father's Other Family aka Deadly DNA. If the image wasn't the same as on my tv, I wouldn't have known this was the same movie.
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2/10
EW
violalover20 February 2019
It was so bad. I didn't even get 10 minutes through and I already knew it was going to be a cheesy movie. The trailer was decent, but gave the whole movie away. I thought the movie would be good based on the trailer, but obviously that was not the case. Should have looked at the reviews before I watched it. Do not recommend!!!!
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1/10
Lousy Lifetime type movie
davewinn-6365818 September 2018
Pretty idiotic Lifetime type movie except the final knife scene only lasted two minutes. Subplot involving opiate addiction was never resolved.
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2/10
This REALLY surprised me!
prickly1011 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
From a past diet of similar movies, my early conclusions were: "Dad gets murdered" - coz he has, before; "Black friend gets murdered" - coz people of colour die early, right?

I was delighted to have my own prejudices demolished, so- I really enjoyed this: stress, strain, fear,, impending horror - but brilliant ending
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8/10
A Well-Used Bracelet
lavatch9 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The best scene in "Dating a Sociopath" (a.k.a., "The Sweetheart") took place in a jewelry store where the manager confronts the film's villain Brian McGavin. The jeweler recognizes a returned bracelet as one that he had sold to Brian years ago when Brian was living with an older woman who died under suspicious circumstances. Brian then made a gift of he bracelet to second woman. The jeweler becomes especially concerned when Brian had gifted bracelet to yet third woman, Sam. It was this scene in the jewelry store that first revealed the twisted mind of Brian McGavin.

Sam is the mother of young Jane and little Tilly (Till). She had a falling out with her husband Paul after his reckless driving led to a serious leg injury for the older daughter Jane. Paul has now moved into a hotel, and Sam has moved Brian into the family home.

The most intriguing character in the film is the quick-thinking Jane, who recognizes right away that Brian is a phony. She eventually catches on as well that Brian has substituted placebos for her painkillers, making her recovery process slow and miserable. The actress playing Jane does a good job moving ambling around on crutches and using a cane, which will figure prominently in the physical action of the film.

The filmmakers moved the narrative along at a brisk pace. It was interesting to watch the dissolute father Paul strive to redeem himself after his disgraceful conduct. Jane's bestie Karli added an important tracking device on Brian's car that led to an old hideaway for the grand climax.

The bracelet was a useful metaphor for the shallow behavior of Sam, who fell too fast and too hard for a gold digger as a new sweetheart. It was due to the heroics of Jane limping noticeably through the action that put greater focus on greater the genuine family values that triumphed in the end.
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