Gone Mom

There's a real absence of dramatic tension here.

It feels like the story could have been told in 30 minutes. At around 90 minutes, the characters just amble along and events unfold so very slowly. It really feels like this goes on for hours and hours and hours. And it's such a boring and formulaic story, even if it is based on real events.

Based on a true story, Jennifer Dulos, an Ivy League-educated mother of five and an aspiring writer living in a gated mansion in tony New Canaan, Connecticut, seemed to lead a charmed existence. Her enviable lifestyle was cushioned by a substantial trust fund. Behind that comfortable life, she was far from happy.

Jennifer vanishes after dropping her kids off at school. It didn't take long for all suspicions to point to her charming, if mercurial, ex-husband, real estate developer Fotis Dulos, with whom she had been in the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle. But shortly after being charged with her murder in January 2020, Dulos committed suicide. Jennifer still hasn't been found.

This is all depicted well in a fairly gripping thriller that doesn't have the campiness and farfetchedness usually prevelant in a Lifetime production. It's well-acted by all. A bit slow and flat in places, but it's intriguing enough to make those points not too much of a viewing hindrance.

When I was in 2nd grade, Jennifer Dulos went missing. The Dulos family lived in my town, and I knew the family. All 5 of the Dulos children went to my school, one of them was in my class. We were very good friends. I remember everyone being distraught, we had seen Mrs. Dulos probably the day before she went missing. There were missing posters up for her, and in a town park, there is now a memorial. This whole thing is so horrible and if you really find this movie to be an enjoyment to watch, think about a family with 5 kids, a dad who committed suicide, and a mom who was killed. How do you feel watching this movie and knowing that the only way they were able to make this movie was for a family to be completely destroyed, traumatized, but there are people out there that are enjoying it.

If you knew these people, you wouldn't be watching this movie. Why are we becoming so entertained by others' downfall? Just imagine being in 2nd, 5th, or 6th grade. Your mom is dead, your dad killed himself. Your lives are ripped apart. Now there is a movie being made about your family's tragedy all for people's entertainment. Sure, true crime is an industry, but once it happens to you, and they make films about how your family was wrecked, would you still support it?

The movie about Jennifer Dulos, the Connecticut mother of five who vanished in 2019, falls short of expectations. While the real-life case is gripping and tragic, the film struggles to do it justice. The acting is average, and the storytelling lacks the emotional depth and suspense necessary to convey the complexity of the case, including the contentious custody battle and the investigation into her husband, Fotis Dulos. Overall, the true story is far more compelling than this lackluster adaptation. I suspect there's a 20/20 or Dateline documentary out there that is actually better. Oh well; made a decent snow day movie.

Not much here, just very slow story telling. Lots of questionable lines uttered by the characters and the acting resembles a high school drama. I made it 25 minutes before fast forwarding to skip ahead to an ending that doesn't make sense at all.

Plays like a rich wife who loses her husband to cheating and isn't shown to have any qualities other than being a trophy wife.