Deadly Exchange (2017) TV Movie
BASIC PLOT:
Samantha & Blake Winters have had a hard couple of years. Samantha (
Lindsay Hartley) lost her husband, and Blake (
Victoria Konefal) lost her sister. They both are starting to feel like they have their feet back on the ground again, and as part of the healing process, they decide to try to help someone else. The student foreign exchange program feels right, and they decide to take in a girl from England, Chloe Miller (
Valentina Novakovic). She seems like a perfect fit, but as things keep going wrong, they wonder, is Chloe as perfect as she seems?
WHAT WORKS:
*
Rhys Matthew Bond plays Blake's boyfriend, Jack. He's smart, nerdy and sees what no one else can. His hang dog facial expressions convey his heartbreak, and his anger. He does a great job here.
*The over-the-top score is great, it's diabolical in all the right places.
*There are three types of movies on Lifetime. This is the second type, melodrama. According to dictionary. C o m, the definition of MELODRAMA is "a dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization."
In other words, this is MELODRAMA. The characters are not so well defined, but their motives are. If you watch this movie with that in mind, you'll like it a whole lot more. You're not supposed to take the over-the-top motives or performances too seriously, it's pure entertainment. STOP LOOKING FOR EMMYS FROM LIFETIME MOVIES!
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
*Rose Cooney aka Chloe Miller (
Valentina Novakovic) does not look like a high school senior. She's a lovely woman, with a woman's body, NOT a high school girl's body. They should have avoided bathing suits, but even then, she still looks too old.
*Jack's death doesn't really work here. As someone who is all too familiar with grief, this would be too much for this family. Finding a loved one's dead body, especially from a violent end, is the worst thing. They lost their husband/father and their sister/daughter 2 years ago. Blake spent a year in a mental facility after losing her twin, you don't deal with these kinds of losses easily. Along comes Jack, who rescues Blake from her depression, and has been her boyfriend for over a year. He 'kills himself' in their pool, and we're supposed to believe they recover and move on? It would have been better to isolate him (coma), and bring him back at the end.
*I love
Cynthia Watros as a detective. She did a great job as Detective Cynthia Wilson on
Finding Carter (2014), a show that should have gone on for additional seasons. She continues that type of role here, as Detective Hardy. But it's not her embodiment of the character that doesn't work, it's her behavior. She interrupts Jack's funeral by forcing Blake to go to the police station. Samantha is dating a lawyer, Scott (
Jason-Shane Scott) who witnesses this. He would advise her not to cooperate, or at least be in the interview room with Samantha & Blake. She refuses to believe Samantha, even with proof. This does not work, no cop would open the department up to liability claims by not listening, and filling an Amber Alert.
*Samantha believes Chloe's set up of Scott too easily. I know this is a melodrama, but the setup needs to be more convincing, especially since Samantha already doesn't trust Chloe. It would have been better if they realized it was a set up, and worked together to stop her (which is what happens later anyway).
*Where does Chloe get chloroform from? Come on, it's not like you can buy it from the corner store.
*I think escape, instead of capture would have worked better here. An open ended thriller (sequel?) instead of a saccharine happy ending.
*Journalist Ruth Hill (
Joanne Baron) is going with Chloe (
Valentina Novakovic) to the library for an interview. At 41:07 Ruth has her hat on backwards, they cut to Chloe, then back to Ruth, and at 41:23 it's on forward again.
TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:
*I like
Lindsay Hartley &
Jason-Shane Scott as a writing team. Most of their outings are enjoyable melodramas. This one goes off the rails a bit, but it is still a decent outing.
IF you can understand the art form that is melodrama, and you like that type of entertainment, you might like this. It's a bit much, even for melodrama though. If you are looking for lots of believable characters and motives in your TV movies, then give this a pass.
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.
