Deceitful Dating

More Lifetime. I have been on a roll lately due to not being able to concentrate.

So in this one, a widower starts seeing an attractive neighbor. However, there's more to her than meets the eye. When strange things start happening she falls under suspicion.

John Logan (Derek Hamilton) tries his best to parent his two daughters, and he is ably supported by his late wife's best friend Jillian (Lisa Marie Digiacinto).

The new neighbor, Alice (Christine Chatelaine) also is on hand. But who is she really? She is caught in a couple of untruths, and then her ex-husband is murdered.

Not too hard to figure out.

3 attractive/semi attractive women one married to him the other two totally into him made absolutely zero sense. Derek Hamiltons acting skills aren't even there. He looks and acts like a bumbling father who has this "I'm the rooster in the hen house" attitude. Alice seems helpless. Chelsea is a teenager who you'd like to punch. I didn't mind her. Being bad is sometimes a good thing. She was an ok character. The father is the major issue. What a tool. Old man sweaters. Old man walk. Just a total bore. Should've of killed him off with a heart attack and kept his wife alive to make a womens love triangle. That would've saved this mess.

John is a widow with 2 teen daughters, Chelsea and Sophie. Alice, a single woman moves across the street. John and she have an instant connection but is Alice who she says she is? Chelsea is suspicious but should she be? You'll have to tune in to watch. This movie dragged and was a little uneven in terms of pace. It could have been better but it was OK. Watchable one time.

Not that they care, but this is it: I'm giving up on Lifetime. I've taken long breaks from their formulaic juvenile dime-a-dozen turkeys a few times over the years, and unfortunately they seem to be getting worse with each new 2021 movie. This one not only was slow and boring, but the title (Deceitful Dating) has nothing at all to do with the storyline. LMN seems to think its viewers are idiotic children - enticing them with such horribly lame, pandering titles and plots.

Or maybe it's the writers and producers who are the true idiots.

Good riddance, Lifetime garbage.

Grade F- / 1 out of 10 (would be 0 out of 10 if possible)

The movie had a dark mood to it. Probably the filter used for filming, but it worked for the movie. There's no new ground covered here, but the writers played their cards close to the vest. Throughout the movie, you'll go back and forth btwn what you think may be going on, and you won't be surprised by the ending...but the movie got us there w/o the characters being too obtuse. This movie also makes the case for why people should TALK to each other. That much is clear throughout the movie, and some of what happens is the direct result of a lack of honest communication.

Didn't have a problem w/the title and it was ambiguous enough to not give anything away. Unlike "Engaged to a Psycho" or "Murder in the Vineyard" that were complete misdirects. One problem Lifetime has with their good AND bad movies is that they skate around behaviors that for the most part normal people would react to or question. There are a few instances of this in the storyline, and for whatever reason, they can't properly tell the story w/o giving it away. So they ignore. "I see dead people" totally spoils the plot of The Sixth Sense and isn't a misdirect, but you go through the movie and don't realize it until the right moment (if you caught on early in the movie, kudos to you). This is what Lifetime needs to work on. Giving characters little to no personality or not having characters question things is not a replacement for natural human reactions nor does it create an atmosphere for the audience to really see if characters are capable of things. I won't name any specific examples because the one that bugs me the most is a spoiler.

One distracting thing was that Chelsea (oldest daughter) always had a puffy coat or thick sweater/sweatshirt on indoors compared to everyone else. Maybe the actress was really cold wherever they were, but in the context of the movie, it looked strange in certain scenes.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and I would watch again if I needed background noise.

PS...some may think the movie dragged but Lifetime needs a balance of thrillers and the campy movies they mostly produce.