Deine Tochter und mein Mann

Okay, I usually love the movies on Lifetime because they are heartwarming and emotional. This movie was neither.

A husband cheats on his wife with her best friend's daughter. Drama ensues. The best friends are at each other's throats. The acting is pretty bland throughout the entire movie.

The main problem with this movie is that it alludes that the wife will probably end up taking the husband back. WHAT??? Never, not in this lifetime (pun intended) do you take a man back who cheats. It made the wife seem desperate and pathetic.

I didn't feel anything for any of the characters in this film. They all could have died in a massive fire and it wouldn't have mattered to me.

Also, the ending of this movie was so terribly stupid I just couldn't believe it. One of the worst films I have ever seen.

Sometimes you have to approach a story in the spirit it is offered. This film makes no grand claims, and although it purports to be about three women, it is actually about two,Amanda Nelson,played by Meredith Baxter and Joan Bixler, played by Swoosie Kurtz.At 106 minutes the running time is a quarter of an hour longer than the classic 90 which permits plot anomalies in the interests of pace. Nonetheless the double hander that the two women frequently play works.

Amanda's stereotypical upper middle class world and family is an unambitious setting, understandably she is not impressed when her best friend, Joan's, daughter beds her husband.However there is a chemistry and dynamic which works between the two of them "Cagney and Lacey" style.The third woman, Joan's daughter Dana, has a curiously underwritten part much of which i suspect was left on the cutting room floor. Amanda's two sons have some cleverly written cameo roles and the erring husband Paul Nelson has almost a walk on part.

So what makes this film work? Its not about marital infidelity, it is about the loyalty between two women as friends.the message that friendship is important and that sometimes people let you down resonates throughout the tale.There are some fairly corny set pieces, but the film always lifts when Amanda and Joan are on screen together. there is even an elegiac moment in the "kitchen scene" at the end when Joan implores Amanda to discard the hopes and dreams of the past for the reality of today.Too few films these days are narrative driven,and this deserves praise for a solid effort in that regard.

Well, what can you say? Betrayed: A Story of Three Women is about as prototypical of a Lifetime movie as you could possibly expect. I'll try my best not to spoil all the details... but honestly, does it really matter? All of these story lines are essentially the same. Here's the scenario - an attractive middle-aged housewife has the perfect life... she's married to a wealthy, attractive and successful businessman, has two wonderful children and lives in a huge house in the middle of an upscale neighborhood. What else could you possibly ask for, right? Well, her perfect lifestyle comes to a screeching halt when she finds out that her husband is sleeping with her best friend's 20 year old daughter, who's home from college. And really, that's all the plot you need. Light the torches and start beating the war drums, because it's man-bashing time!

I'm not sure how many Lifetime masterpieces I've watched over the years, but I think it's safe to say that I can count the number of times ( on one finger ) where the doting housewife is actually the culprit and not the victim. More often that not, instead of heart-warming, positive films about love and relationships, we're always treated to the deepest, darkest fears of every American woman - her husband/boyfriend/uncle/brother/"insert your own male presence here" is a slime ball of the highest degree. Obviously, this is what women want to see, or else the network wouldn't keep churning this garbage out on a weekly basis. It's pathetic, really... and sad. In the movie, one of the characters points out that middle-aged husbands sleeping around with college girls, and best friends punching each other out at the supermarket is, "completely normal.. and just a part of every day life." Sorry, hon.. maybe it's considered normal behavior in Orange County, California but not where I reside.

The only people I could recommend this film to, are angry lesbians or desperate housewives who want to spend an afternoon sulking around the house and reconfirming their belief that men are scum.

Does anyone else wonder why some psychiatrist or clinical psychologist hasn't written a book entitled:

•••"A View of All the Problems Women Can Experience and Endure - from Marital Infidelity, to Being Menaced by Psycopaths, Along With Every Conceivalble Type of Problem Imaginable In-Between - as Depicted by Made-for-Television Movies Starring Meredith Baxter" ???????•••

In this movie, Meredith is blind-sided by the fact that her best friend's daughter has been having a protracted affair with her husband (she works for his law firm).

The husband, portrayed by John Terry, may not be the least-sympathetic, as well as completely "dull" character in the history of this genre (or any other, for that matter) - but he certainly is a contender.

Swoosie Kurtz's daughter (Swoosie is the inevitable "best friend") is also wholly-unsympathetic, and presents no qualities whatever which would make one like or care about her in the least.

It's also difficult to care much about Birney's character, and Swoosie Kurtz is the only one, whose widowed-mother-of-the-adulterous-daughter, and best-friend-of-the-betrayed-wife is remotely "realistic" and completely sympathetic in this Lifetime extravaganza.

As in most of the movies, the women have varying amounts of strength (even the daughter has a modicum), but the male characters schlep around like Woody Allen on downers. But at least Woody's characters are intended to be as he presents them, and are engaging.

and yes, there is a great cat-fight scene wherein they have it out at the local supermarket. Clare Carey is the other, younger woman.

Yes, a common story that ends up better than real life...John Terry is an attorney who has an affair (if we check for this theme on IMDb there would probably be 300 more movies made this year with the same theme). Still, there is a sub-plot with Kurtz and Baxter, and they manage to pull it off.

Swoosie Kurt is underrated as an actress. She is always believable, and never appears shrill or fabricated, which is more than can be said for standard television fare. Just look at media hype like Jessica Simpson or Paris Hilton, to see what an actor is NOT. However, I digress.

If you enjoyed films like Adrian Lyne's "Unfaithful", think of this as an amusing TV version. The performances are decent, John Terry and Nicholas Pryor are also good, and the sub-plot about Baxter's husband not living up to her standards is realistic, while Kurtz tries to repair their damaged friendship.

Meredith Baxter lends a realism to the story, and I would certainly hope to see Kurtz and Baxter in similar TV movies. 8/10