53 Days: The Abduction of Mary Stauffer

This review isn't to discredit the ordeal Mary and her daughter went through, but to critique the acting and direction. Horrible!! I've seen better acting from Lifetime and I'm very disappointed in their low budget production of this true story. They sugar coated what happens to Mary and her daughter and should have focused more on making this feel less like a mediocre cry for their fan base. The camera is often unsteady and the actors talk like they are reading from que cards

Since this movie is based on a true story, it is difficult to be hyper critical. I will say Alyson Hannigan's portrayal of Mary Stauffer was layered and well acted. Nice to see her step out of her comfort zone!

The acting is truly awful, as for the one playing Ming, please go back to drama school, a lump of cardboard would have acted better.

This true story deserved a lot better actors to tell it.

I'll keep this short and sweet. The story here is very close to the actual happenings of the Mary Stauffer kidnapping, but because this was a film designed for a TV audience, including children, it spares many of the horrific accounts that actually took place.

Hannigan delivers above all in this movie to portray Mary, a role that is difficult to capture and required a lot of pressure to take on.

It's also an excellent testament to the power of hope and prayer. The morals that the world learned from the actual crime are easily pushed in a proper manner.

You have to wonder about the people who are around you when you consider true crime. Mary Stauffer was not a woman who one would consider to be living a high risk lifestyle yet she and her daughter were abducted.

The film is fairly tame considering what they actually went through. Lifetime has a way of filming some pretty horrific crimes committed against woman in ways that are respectful towards victims and that is appreciated by a lot of women.

I would suggest this. It was well acted and a decent watch for a night on the couch.