La hija equivocada

THE WRONG DAUGHTER (TV MOVIE 2018)

BASIC PLOT: Kate (nm122354) and Joseph (Jon Prescott) have almost everything they need to make their life complete. They're in love, successful, and Kate is finally fulfilling her dream to open a restaurant. There's just one thing missing, a child. After multiple unsuccessful IVF attempts, they've finally given up on having a family of their own. But, there's still one possibility, Kate gave up a child at 16. She thought the baby went to a good home, but due to a medical issue, her baby was returned to foster care. Danica (Sierra Pond) has been living in group homes ever since. Unfortunately, she doesn't live there alone. She shares a room with a troubled young woman named Samantha (Sydney Sweeney). Samantha has broken so many rules, she's been asked to leave. On her way out, she steals Danica's laptop, and her identity. If Danica doesn't want to reach out to her birth mother, Samantha will. She's determined to have a family, and will remove anyone who stands in her way, including Danica. Will Kate realize she's brought a homicidal maniac into her life in time to save those she loves?

WHAT WORKS: *This is a decent melodrama, with only one major plot hole. It's well acted, well paced, and is an enjoyable ride, for the most part.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *Knocking a few books off a bookshelf at someone, wouldn't knock them out. That's a bit ridiculous.

*It is a ludicrous plot device to have the police arrest Melissa (Kelsey Griswold) for breaking down in grief when she finds Ivan's (Jesse Pepe) body. It would open the police up to false arrest charges, and lawsuits. I fast forwarded through the cops speech about assaulting an officer, as it was the officer who assaulted Melissa. This movie was a great melodrama, up until this agregious plot hole. Jesenia Ruiz and Carlee Malemute know how to write quality melodramas, so why add a plot hole so big, they fall in it? They needed a plot device to delay Melissa from reaching Kate. Fine. There are a million ways she could be delayed that do not suspend my disbelief. She could be sedated, have to wait for Ivan's parents, anything but a false arrest. In this litigious day and age, police air on the side of caution. They would check out Melissa's story, and treat her with the respect most police officers give the grieving.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would recommend this to people who understand and enjoy the art form of melodrama. This is a step above the usual made-for-tv movie faire, so enjoy!

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a Made-For-TV movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews. Hope I helped you out.

An unruly 18 years-old orphaned girl (Sydney Sweeney) leaves a group home and worms her way into a young couple's life by pretending to be the long lost daughter given up for adoption by the mother (Cindy Busby).

"The Wrong Daughter" (2018) is a television production that understandably lacks the artistry of Drew Barrymore's "Poison Ivy," yet it works well enough for a family-oriented drama with some crime thrills, prosaic though it may be.

Since it came out, Sweeney's star has risen and most people will consider her the main attraction. She was almost 20 during shooting (or just turned 20), but she's a little too thin here. As far as I'm concerned, Cindy Busby is the real highlight on the feminine front; she was 34 during shooting. (Be sure to check her out in "Behemoth" from seven years earlier, if you haven't already).

The flick is successful in making you root against the manipulations of the troubled young lass with the middle portion causing tedium and frustration. Yet the last act delivers the goods IMHO. She's a psycho, but some sympathy is cultivated for her, even if it's just a little. She executes evil deeds, indeed, yet the writers wisely keep it within plausibility. Less is more.

It runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-

For one of the many "Wrong" movies, this one got it right. Hardly any complaints about it at all. The acting was fine, particularly the antagonist. Nothing happened that was outrageously stupid. The very end was a little questionable, but still pleasing and entertaining. The only complaint I have is not really a complaint. Every actress looked more or less alike, attractive blondes with long hair. (Except one was a brunette.) Now, since they all looked good, that's really not a complaint.

I have to be honest and say that I figured that this 2018 movie was most likely going to be another generic crime thriller since it was a TV movie. Sure, I had never even heard about it prior to watching it, but I still opted to give the movie a fair chance. Maybe it would be a nice surprise of a movie.

Writers Carlee Malemute and Jesenia Ruiz put together a fair script. Sure, one can argue for it being a bit generic and predictable, but it still proved to be an entertaining enough movie.

I wasn't familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list. But I will say that the acting performances were actually good, and they had a good cast ensemble put together for the movie.

"The Wrong Daughter" was actually a fairly enough entertaining movie. Sure, you know the outcome of the movie from the very beginning, but it was still an enjoyable movie to watch.

My rating of director Ben Meyerson's 2018 movie "The Wrong Daughter" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This movie has a nice plot of a crazy girl impersonating a former roommate who she used for (likely) years. The acting isn't bad, but a few issues. One the foster family of the real Danica come off as cruel to me and finally the police making an arrest on a woman for no reason also made little sense. So the bad police procedure hurt this