A WOMAN HUNTED/OUTRAGE (2003 TV movie)
1.5 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 4min (lots to b*tch about)
WARNING: Graphic depiction of a sexual assault
Opening scene, cop hides behind car door
Saw her sleeping, but she wasn't
BASIC PLOT:
Lainie Wheeler (
Alexandra Paul) is not having a good year. First, her husband leaves her a Dear Jane letter, abandoning her and their two children for the sunny shores of Thailand. Next, her best friend dies from breast cancer, but it takes awhile, and she lingers at a nearby hospice for more than six months. Lainie spends so much time at the hospice, she decides to abandon her TV producing job, and applies to work with the dying. She gets a rush from working there, so she decides to stay on, even after her friend has passed. A rush is not the only thing Lainie gets from working at the hospice, she also picks up a nasty drug habit. It costs her custody of her children, and her new boyfriend, Matt Harper (
Tim Post). Lainie realizes a drug rehab is her only option, and after completing it, she decides to go back to her old profession - TV producer. Her friend gets her a gig covering a baseball hero, Harry Brewer (
Jonathan Higgins), but the job is outside of town, in the middle of nowhereville. On her way home from the shoot, Lainie runs off the road due to bad weather. Harry Brewer, the baseball player she just met, happens along at just the right time, with promises of a working phone, and a warm safe place to wait for the tow truck. Lainie thinks her luck is improving, and she'll be able to see her children tomorrow. But the night is dark, and full of death, and for someone, tomorrow will never come...
WHAT WORKS:
*NOTHING WORKS, THIS IS TERRIBLE! I'm giving this a 1.5 because of
Alexandra Paul's &
Linden Ashby's acting. There is nothing else remotely believable or redeeming about this loser script.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
*WHY WOULD A HOSPICE HIRE A TV PRODUCER TO CARE FOR PATIENTS? It takes dedication to work in a hospice, and they don't hire just anybody, even if you have a medical background. They vet people carefully who are going to be working with the dying. Lainie Wheeler (
Alexandra Paul) is NOT a nurse, she's a TV producer, but they show her dispensing medication. That WOULD NOT happen. Also, Lainie wouldn't make enough working at the hospice to cover the standard of living she's used to, it wouldn't even cover her house payment. The hospice would see she's not cut out for the job, and remove her. They rotate the staff out if they see any signs of detriment to their mental or emotional health. That's a pretty flimsy foundation to build your premise on, and it doesn't hold up.
*HARRY BREWER ISN'T SADISTIC ENOUGH TO BE A KILLER
It's implied Harry is angry at women because his wife left, and took half his money. That's a very different motivation from those of a serial killer. Serial killers usually aren't successful, but Harry is. Hey writers (I'm talking to you
Morrie Ruvinsky), people need REALISTIC motivations, so we as viewers believe your story. Harry either needs to be maniacal sadist, or just a jerk, and I don't believe you've succeed at either.
*WHY DOESN'T SHE GO TO THE POLICE? More unrealistic motivations and behaviors from the main characters. Lainie Wheeler (
Alexandra Paul) might hide a rape because she thought no one would believe her, but after this type of violence, it's highly unlikely she wouldn't call the police. He's confessed to her that he stabbed his wife, so she knows he's violent (and it's on the record, or could be easily verified). He also premeditatedly gave her sweats, so it would be easier to rape her, there are signs of a violent struggle, etc. My suspension of disbelief is GONE, and we're not even to the half way mark of the movie. S-A-A-A-D!
*IF SHE HAS RAPE TRAUMA SYNDROME her actions (running away, dissociating from the whole sexual assault) might be more believable, but she doesn't have it, because she does none of those things. People with Rape Trauma Syndrome don't cover up crime scenes with rubber gloves. What is her motivation for doing this? When they find his body, it will have her DNA on it, so what's the point? IT MAKES NO SENSE!
I've said this before, and I'll say it again, I knew this was written by a man BEFORE I even looked.
Morrie Ruvinsky is the writer/director, and if he's going to be writing about women, for women viewers, he'd better get it right, and this is far from right (especially when dealing with such sensitive subjects).
*POLICE WOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO QUESTION LAINIE'S CHILDREN Are you kidding me? THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN
*WOMEN DON'T TEND TO BE VIOLENT TO STRANGERS WHEN ON DOWNERS Lainie is not a violent person, and the one incident where she hallucinates and the police are called (which is the deus ex machina, so the police will suspect her later), isn't believable either. She said she was on uppers, downers and opiates. She could get the downers and opiates from the hospice, but it's unlikely they would have any kind of speed on hand. It's also the only drug likely to make you hallucinate and violent. These are all deus ex machinas, AND THEY AREN'T BELIEVABLE. The police immediately suspect Lainie of being involved in a crime. Why? She's a virtual stranger to Harry Brewer, with NO MOTIVE. Why do they suspect her? Because she had a drug problem? Half the world has had a drug problem. Again, if the writer had done his homework, he'd know - men externalize, women internalize. Women drug addicts tend to hurt themselves, men tend to hurt others. Ex: Women may prostitute themselves to get their drugs, men steal. Cops know these sad facts, they also know 98% of the time, when one spouse goes missing, look to the other spouse for your perpertrator. But the cops don't even mention Harry Brewer's ex, with whom he had a violent past. And we're supposed to believe this garbage?
*A SOCIAL WORKER HAS LITTLE CONTROL OVER VISITATION ONCE IT'S BEEN SET BY THE COURT Also, in this country, we are innocent until proven guilty, cops asking questions is not grounds to remove visitation from a parent. Did this terrible writer,
Morrie Ruvinsky, bother to do ANY research before he wrote this turd?
TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:
*I cannot recommend this movie. It's one of the worst I've seen, and I watch A LOT of TV movies. It feels like the writer,
Morrie Ruvinsky, knew he was writing for a women's channel, and threw every women's issue he could think of at the script (abandonment by a spouse, breast cancer, rape, domestic violence, unfair treatment of women by the police, etc) and NONE of it worked. This script should NEVER have been greenlighted, and it's a waste of
Alexandra Paul's and
Linden Ashby's talents.
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. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.
