Flirting with Madness

This is a top-notch 'Lifetime' film. Normally I love the concepts of most 'Lifetime' movies, but always get irritated at the sheer stupidity of the decisions made by the characters and wonder why they would screw up such a great premise....I mean, over-the-top stupid choices, like one (NOT this) movie, where a psycho is following a woman, she turns and confronts him with something like, "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME??!!".......in which he calmly responds, "Because I'm going to kill you". At that point, she runs, with him chasing close behind, and she instantly veers off of the main road and runs into a dark alley, where of course, she gets caught. (That felt good to get that off my chest, so thanks for reading this far). Back to this movie....none of that stupidity here. The movie flows smoothly, at a good pace, and dedicates the the perfect amount of time to each sequence. It is well written, with solid acting by all. From start to finish, the thought of fast-forwarding never entered my thoughts at any point during the film, not once. Enjoy :)

Although not the best movie ever made, this one has wisdom beyond its time. There is a clever and debatable shift of villainy from the ruthless prank of the girls to the victim who takes revenge to extremes. It clearly labels the initial prank as wrong, yet within the course of retaliation for the main character we viewers want to see at least two of the three girls survive. Kaley was clearly the instigator and even displays unusual arrogance while in captivity. Her movie-ending fate is surprising yet perhaps appropriate.

Another note is that John, the avenging captor, during one scene delivers a brief monologue containing words which sound as if they were coming from the mouth of Elliot Rodger, the UCLA Santa Barbara mass murderer of 2014 who left behind a lengthy manifesto after taking the lives of six people and killing himself. His actions are not to be condoned, yet some of the lessons learned from his posthumous expression of thought are understandable and the tale of this movie seems to subtly reflect them.

Nice to see Alexandra Paul in another Lifetime movie too. I will always remember her from "Christine" way back when.

Repeats of "The Bride He Bought Online" and worth watching, and perhaps more worth noting.

THE BRIDE HE BOUGHT ONLINE /FLIRTING WITH MADNESS 6 out of 10 stars Time to read: 3 min

A cautionary tale of chasing likes, peer pressure, and strangers on the internet

BASIC PLOT: Three girls, Avery (Anne Winters), Mandy (Lauren Gaw) and Kaylie (Annalisa Cochrane), all in their last year of high school, have created a "prank blog" that's slowly gathering followers. Up until now, the pranks haven't hurt anyone, but Kaylie wants to push the boundaries a little. She finds an overseas matchmaking service, and decides the men who want to "buy women" are trash, and deserve what they get. Mandy, who used to be unpopular, is willing to go along with Kaylie. She believes her current social status is about her friendship with Kaylie, instead of the radical changes she made to herself (like losing 50 lbs & becoming a fashionista), and so she is willing to overlook a lot of Kaylie's bad behavior. Avery is not. She is not blinded by followers, and is unwilling to be cruel to someone simply because they are lonely. Kaylie ignores Avery's protestations, creates a fake profile on the matchmaking site, and lures in a sad, and isolated computer programmer, John Bennett (Travis Hammer). He is convinced his new overseas love will be the answer to his ostracization, and begins making arrangements for "Diwata" to come and visit. Little does he know he's really speaking to Kaylie, as she bilks him out of money for trip expenses.

When he goes to pick up "Diwata" from the airport, what's really waiting for him is Kaylie and Mandy, filming him eagerly awaiting "Diwata's" arrival. Avery is there too, but she wasn't told why they were going to the airport. She's furious, and refuses to be friends with either of them anymore.

Meanwhile, John has discovered their trickery, and being a programmer, it doesn't take him long to track them down. He decides it's time for some payback. He has something nefarious planned for the girls, and their lives will never be the same.

WHAT WORKS: *DON'T BE CRUEL, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE EVERYTHING! Avery, Mandy and Kaylie live in upper middle class houses, go to good schools, and have promising futures. John lives in a sketchy house, in a crime ridden neighborhood, with a prostitute living across the street. He only has one friend, Quincy (T.J. Alvarado), a co-worker, and John considers himself an outcast. Avery understands and appreciates what they all have, but Kaylie doesn't get it, remaining an entitled brat until the very end. A well done morality tale, crafted in melodramatic form.

*WATCH OUT WHO YOU INTERACT WITH ON THE NET The girls have no sense of the danger they are in, and that's a realistic problem.

*DON'T VALUE YOURSELF BY HOW MANY FOLLOWERS AND RETWEETS YOU HAVE When Avery tries to make Kaylie understand that followers don't mean anything, she responds that they mean "everything". Another realistic problem with today's youth.

*DON'T GO ALONG WITH THE CROWD BECAUSE YOU'RE SCARED OF BEING AN OUTCAST Mandy knows what Kaylie is doing is wrong, but feels she can't express her feelings because Kaylie is the source of her popularity. She's doesn't realize (until it's too late) that if people value you for anything other than who you are, they aren't worth knowing. Another truism that is presented well by Christine Conradt (writer/director)

*ACTING IS ABOVE AVERAGE especially for a made-for-tv Lifetime movie.

*STORY IS WELL LAID OUT, AND ENGAGING Unlike most made-for-tv movies, the story is not telegraphed. It's twists and turns keep you guessing, and the characters don't feel one dimensional.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *AT THE BEGINNING, MANDY HAS HER PHONE OUT RECORDING A PRANK during a test at school, but phones are put away before a test is issued. There's no way the teacher would allow her to have her phone in her hands.

*THE PRANK SITE BEING A BLOG IS A STRETCH... It should have been a YouTube channel instead, but just changed the name into "ViewTube" or something. Blogs are for text, with videos for accompaniment, not the other way around.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: I would highly recommend this to fans of TV movies, and to teenagers. It never hurts to have a refresher course on the dangers around them. It's also a win for Christine Conradt. So often her screenplays are not up to par, but this is a shining example of what a Lifetime movie should be.

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 you 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.

Be careful who u prank online. Especially those who are seeking a bride overseas. Good for a lifetime movie.

Usually with the majority of Lifetime movies the ending is very typical. Also the storylines are either mediocre at best and absolutely rubbish at worst. If you want quality Lifetime movies, Ripped From The Headlines movies are usually the best bet. However this movie is a very VERY rare exception. Great acting, great storyline, great atmosphere and a rare brilliant ending. I have to admit, I have seen this movie before. At that time, I had no idea that it was a Lifetime movie. After watching the movie the second time, I was more than impressed. The only reason I have given it a 9 star instead of 10 is because of the title. A movie like this deserves a much better title (very Lifetime). Other than that, a first clast movie!!!