The Perfect Mother

It seems like "above average" is about the highest praise most of us will ladle out to a TV-movie, doesn't it? 'The Perfect Mother' can be described that way, though. It's sufficiently entertaining but not profoundly moving, about what one would expect from a good TV-movie.

Tyne Daly is the title character here, and that's a good start, as she's well-known as a fine actress. When Ione Skye finds a guy she falls in love with and marries, of course she gets his family in the bargain, but she never counted on anything like mom-in-law. It appears that she is the ultimate control freak when it comes to her son, and this causes friction between her and the daughter-in-law. This war between the two escalates until the couple must break up, but by now the couple has had a child and grandma is not going to give up "her" family's grandchild so easily.

The film, which has a startling conclusion, is based on a real-life case, showing us once again that fiction sometimes can't compete with reality. Justin Louis stars as Daly's son and Skye's husband, who is torn between his two families; and Tuesday Knight (yes, that's what it says) plays Skye's sister-in-law who's gotten the same treatment from 'The Perfect Mother.'