Gold Digger Killer

In Austin, wealthy Steven Beard is shot in his home. Four years earlier, he meets single mom and waitress Celeste (Julie Benz). He would later marry her. She loves spending his money and he showers her with gifts until it goes overboard. He threatens divorce and she threatens suicide. In rehab, she seduces and recruits fellow patient Tracey Tarlton to do a little killing.

This is based on the true crime story of Celeste Beard Johnson. There is a large age difference which isn't here in the movie. Julie Benz is going crazy, but everybody else is totally bland. This is a bland movie-of-the-week. There is no tension. The structure saps away the intensity. They could have spiced it up to fictionalize it as a pulpy lesbian killer thriller. This is nothing.

It's an entertaining low budget movie, but I wouldn't watch it again.

The casting was WAY OFF. It's incredibly hard to believe the 43 year age gap when the original characters are supposed to be 27 and 70. The waitress was played by someone who is 50 years old and the man is played by someone who 63. They don't look 43 years apart, they look like a perfect couple. Casting was way off.

I'm very picky about movies and am usually very critical of most LMN flicks - especially the endless dime-a-dozen "Wrong" and "Psycho" ones - but as I've written here before: Lifetime does true crime very well.

I had seen this case covered on Dateline a few years ago, so the names Celeste Beard and Tracey Tarleton rang a bell, and this movie stuck pretty close to the actual facts of the case. It was very well-acted by the entire cast, especially the front-and-center lead character played by Julie Benz. I remember her in the 'Dexter' series years ago playing a (fictional) character the exact opposite of Celeste.

Yet another riveting twisted true tale of greed, lust, and cold-blooded murder at which LMN seems to excel, for some reason...

Grade B - 8 out of 10.

Julie Benz is perfectly cast as the black widow Celeste Beard who marries (for money) a millionaire named Steven Beard a man 39 years older than herself. Celeste brings to the new marriage her twin teenage daughters and quickly goes through Steven Beards fortune spending foolishly and extravagantly.

They remained married for four (4) years until Steven was shot in the stomach in his own bed only to survive for another four (4) months before succumbing to a blood clot and dying. As the investigation into Steven Beard's death is unraveled it becomes quite clear his death was an attempted murder to which one of Celeste's roommates Tracey Tarlton, while both were residing in a mental health facility (Celeste was suffering from depression and suicidal tendencies) admits to shooting Steven Beard as she was madly in love with Celeste.

This made for TV film passes the smell test on the back of the believable acting of Julie Benz who can best be remembered as Rita Morgan the love interest of revenge serial killer Dexter (2006-2010).

Well worth watching. I give it a highly deserving 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.