A girl meets a man and sets him up with her mom. He's the titular evil step dad. Initially the dialogue is quite good and the story is well paced and unfolds realistically. It isn't just men who can get totally whipped. Mom here wins prize for the most irritating Mom in the world. These wack job step parent thrillers have been done on Lifetime before. Things deteriorate in the last part when the mom suddenly wakes up from her stupor and sees him for the financial scam artist he is. Feels like the ending was hastily put together. Too bad.
5 Reviews
Human Gullibility
lavatch18 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Tracy is about to become an empty nester residing in Chicago after the death of her husband. Her daughter Ashley is following in her dad's footsteps as a photographer, and she has been accepted at the NYU school of photography. But before she leaves for college, Ashley sets her lonely mom up with a date with Jared, who has just invented a new ap for investors' portfolios. Of course, Jared is a con artist scheming to use his ap to fleece Tracy of all of her assets.
"My Evil Stepdad" (a.k.a., "The Husband") seemed more and more far-fetched at every turn. It was not credible that the "Sleepless in Seattle" widow would allow Jared to move into her home so soon, and there was not even a marriage scene described or depicted. Suddenly, Tracy and Jared are not only a couple; they are man and wife!!!
Without any discernible motivation, Tracy distances herself from Ashley, who begins to suspect Jared's motives. One of the most absurd scenes was the police arriving at the home on an anonymous trip to discover drugs in Ashley's room. The young woman is summarily taken out of the home in handcuffs. Tracy seriously entertains Jared's idea of booting her daughter out of the house!
Part of Jared's scam is to slowly poison Tracy with cyanide laced in her drinks. Tracy begins to have migraines and stomach aches and seems like she is in a daze, as she signs over her home to Jared. But Tracy has an inexplicable, full, and immediate recovery as she finally confronts Jared!
One of the better characters was Phil, the business associate of Tracy. But Phil becomes a casualty when he finds out that Jared is a scammer. Phil makes the mistake of standing alongside Jared at the top of a staircase, and Phil takes a tumble down the stairs and out of the script. One extraneous character Jessica is an appraiser apparently having an affair with Jared. But Jessica's character was grossly underwritten, and she drops out of the film in the home stretch.
The climax of the film was a wild and inconceivable roller coaster ride in which mother and daughter reform their bond and Jared accidentally hits his head on a stereo speaker. The best line in the film was spoken by Ashley's boyfriend Marcus, who refers to Jared as being "9.5 on the 'creep scale'." Alas, the film rating is closer to 1.5 due to its overly contrived and head-scratching choices in character development.
The filmmakers wanted desperately to dramatize how a vulnerable widow fell prey to human gullibility in her instant attachment to a charlatan. But that theme never coalesced due to the over-the-top and erratically motivated behavior of a set of cardboard characters.
"My Evil Stepdad" (a.k.a., "The Husband") seemed more and more far-fetched at every turn. It was not credible that the "Sleepless in Seattle" widow would allow Jared to move into her home so soon, and there was not even a marriage scene described or depicted. Suddenly, Tracy and Jared are not only a couple; they are man and wife!!!
Without any discernible motivation, Tracy distances herself from Ashley, who begins to suspect Jared's motives. One of the most absurd scenes was the police arriving at the home on an anonymous trip to discover drugs in Ashley's room. The young woman is summarily taken out of the home in handcuffs. Tracy seriously entertains Jared's idea of booting her daughter out of the house!
Part of Jared's scam is to slowly poison Tracy with cyanide laced in her drinks. Tracy begins to have migraines and stomach aches and seems like she is in a daze, as she signs over her home to Jared. But Tracy has an inexplicable, full, and immediate recovery as she finally confronts Jared!
One of the better characters was Phil, the business associate of Tracy. But Phil becomes a casualty when he finds out that Jared is a scammer. Phil makes the mistake of standing alongside Jared at the top of a staircase, and Phil takes a tumble down the stairs and out of the script. One extraneous character Jessica is an appraiser apparently having an affair with Jared. But Jessica's character was grossly underwritten, and she drops out of the film in the home stretch.
The climax of the film was a wild and inconceivable roller coaster ride in which mother and daughter reform their bond and Jared accidentally hits his head on a stereo speaker. The best line in the film was spoken by Ashley's boyfriend Marcus, who refers to Jared as being "9.5 on the 'creep scale'." Alas, the film rating is closer to 1.5 due to its overly contrived and head-scratching choices in character development.
The filmmakers wanted desperately to dramatize how a vulnerable widow fell prey to human gullibility in her instant attachment to a charlatan. But that theme never coalesced due to the over-the-top and erratically motivated behavior of a set of cardboard characters.
Stupid!
haroot_azarian10 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
How gullible can a woman get to the extent of turning on and hurting her own daughter. Oh and the taser comment was spot on! And Ashley's stupid boyfriend constantly making light of things! But at the end of the day it was Ashley's fault for the lethal matchmaking in the first place! Minus 10 from me! At least the villian snuffed it in the end!
VIEWS ON FILM review of The Husband
burlesonjesse522 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"Yeah he's seriously evil". Yup, Gumby-ed stepdads in movies can get that way. That's especially evident when cyanide, power of attorney, and life insurance policies are involved. "Seriously", you need to check out 2019's The Husband. It's frustrating, calculating, and "hubby" bubbled.
Featuring one of the great villains in the history of TV vehicles, a PSA on identity theft, and raw performances from everyone involved, "Husband" secures its place as one the best entries in the over-churning, Lifetime Network canon.
Inspired by stuff like The Stepfather, 2001's Domestic Disturbance, or even an old school version of a Forensic Files episode, "Husband" is a suffocating thriller about a woman who marries a psycho that is set up by her daughter (oops). Talk about poor judgement by an astute eighteen-year-old who's on the college outs.
"Husband" while risible, builds tension with every careful inch and makes every cinematic girl dad cliche its own. You have the teenager that eventually disapproves of mama bear's other half, the wife that's oblivious to the concept of evil, the cops who are on autopilot, and the accidental death of someone falling down the stairs. Somehow The Husband still manages to make it all feel fresh, re-inventive, and engaging. Add modern day social media as a plot device, a realtor hook, and a setting that's sterile and suburban and you've got something nastily special. My rating: A "consorted" 3 and a half stars.
Featuring one of the great villains in the history of TV vehicles, a PSA on identity theft, and raw performances from everyone involved, "Husband" secures its place as one the best entries in the over-churning, Lifetime Network canon.
Inspired by stuff like The Stepfather, 2001's Domestic Disturbance, or even an old school version of a Forensic Files episode, "Husband" is a suffocating thriller about a woman who marries a psycho that is set up by her daughter (oops). Talk about poor judgement by an astute eighteen-year-old who's on the college outs.
"Husband" while risible, builds tension with every careful inch and makes every cinematic girl dad cliche its own. You have the teenager that eventually disapproves of mama bear's other half, the wife that's oblivious to the concept of evil, the cops who are on autopilot, and the accidental death of someone falling down the stairs. Somehow The Husband still manages to make it all feel fresh, re-inventive, and engaging. Add modern day social media as a plot device, a realtor hook, and a setting that's sterile and suburban and you've got something nastily special. My rating: A "consorted" 3 and a half stars.
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