False Pretenses

Terrific cast, good script, and top-notch acting. First-class entertainment without a huge budget. Peta Wilson shows why she is one of the most underrated actresses of her generation. Cross the wrong woman and payback can be a bitch! It is our loss that Peta Wilson wasn't able to make more movies that channeled her inner-Nikita.

Randy Ackers is happily married to Dianne (Peta Wilson) and living comfortably. He expects easy money from a safe short-term investment, but it's a scam. He loses it all and commits suicide. Dianne leaves California to start anew. Her car breaks down in a small Texas town and she takes a local waitressing job. One day, the con-man shows up at her diner, but he doesn't recognize her with her new hairdo.

I can buy that he doesn't recognize her, but everything else is way too convenient. The cop needs to be hotter and he has a good twist. I like capers but nothing here is that great. I never got into Peta Wilson although she is a hot lady. The smoky voice gets it done. This is nothing more than TV B-material.

This movie had an OK story line and many of the actors were good though not great. I see everyone raving about Peta Wilson and I don't get it. I've never even heard of her before and I'm a big movie buff. Her acting was mediocre at best but it was hard to concentrate on it because of her voice. She tries too hard to sound sexy but she just sounds like an old smoker whispering. Not a fan of hers.

Basic story line is a hot babe has a husband who commits suicide because he was swindled in a ponzi scheme. The babe wife decides to try and get even. She even gets a job working for the swindler in the town where he currently resides. The rest is a cat and mouse game often thwarted by a curious cast of characters.

HOWEVER, the pacing was off and not up to a higher caliber heist or swindle scheme type movies. View David Mamet, Spanish PRISONER, HOUSE OF GAMES, and others. Or the HEIST with Gene Hackman. The movie needed a more dramatic sound track...more mysterious lighting, tighter pacing, and better cinematography.

Lighting was way to Lifetime...no dramatic shadows, and was almost documentary like with actors not up to full par...perhaps the director couldn't bring out the best in each actor.

I like the premise, the characters, I bet the book is a better read than the movie. Some of the Lifetime movies are interesting however.

And you can always tell those Lifetime movies shot in Canada. They should make one in LA with a good sound track, direction, cast. But their budget is probably a million bucks, so they do the best they can. The stories are interesting tho...usually from paperback novels one can get off a rack, but the 'girl in trouble' is popular during the day and 'bad guy boyfriend' at night on this channel.

Yes, I would buy it in a bargain bin...like 2 for $5 Or tape it next time on Lifetime.

This movie should be shown to people on how scams work particularly the one that the movie is referring to. The movie does an excellent job of how the money is move from one phrase of the operation to another phrase in a well-thought, logical fashion that everyone can follow until it comes to the final end where the victims are finally jig out of their money.

The sad thing about this movie is where the local police told the ex-wife that they were not going to do a thing about it because it did not occurred in their area and they have too much crime in their own area to devote the manpower and resources. I guarantee you if someone pull a stunt like that on a law enforcement agency, the cops would spare no effort, time, and resources to bring the criminal to justice because cops do not like being made fools. Sometimes, it seems that the police need to become victims in order to get their butts moving because then they know what it is like to be a victim of white collar crime.