It's probably a mistake to think about an actor's characters in comparison with his/her real life. For example, on-screen, Tom Cruise has given performances and played characters whom you can admire, and who conduct themselves in a normal fashion. So much for roles versus real life.
However, this is one film which I stumbled upon, and had never heard of before. I've seen Tim Matheson several times, and he's a credible A-minus or B-list actor. Likewise for Leigh Taylor-Young. I wasn't familiar with either of the two younger leads (Jennie Garth, Peter Facinelli), not being a viewer of the programs in which they've appeared. So I looked-up their backgrounds on this site, and could not help but compare their roles in this flick with their real lives.
They are both age-appropriate for their roles in this picture, as are Matheson and Taylor-Young (not nearly always the case). They've been married in real life for 6+ years, and have three children - two since marriage, and one listed as born about six months after she and her first husband divorced.
So it would seem that since this first child was a result of relationship at the time this story was filmed, I realized that Ms. Garth's interest in Peter was actually real, not constructed to make his fictional father (Matheson) jealous as in the film.
In this story, to describe Matheson's performance as "wooden" would constitute an insult to stately redwoods, and even oaks, pines and cedars everywhere. Taylor-Young had little to do, and all of the events which occurred stemmed from the scorned woman. In "Lifetime's" files, if the drawers are labeled "Scorned Woman," "Murderous (or 'Sociopathic') Neighbor," "Secret Past Life," "Woman Out to Take-Over Her Best Friend's Husband and Life" -- you would probably find 97% of the network's film records.
Here it was impossible to generate the least amount of empathy, sympathy or any feeling for Matheson's character. You could feel some for Facinelli, but then realizing that he and his real-life partner were playing these roles, you could imagine that they had to stifle laughter as she plied her wicked ways and he played the clueless pawn of his dad's former lover.
When you see many of the Lifetime flicks, it helps to be able to enjoy them for their fascinating characteristics as well as the often limited amount of strong characterization, drama, or memorable story lines. This one rates perhaps three stars for the latter, but another three for fascinating elements.
