This TV movie was a bit of a strange one, it was advertised is if it was a serious dramatic film, but you cannot ignore the fact that two comedy stars are in the leading roles, which made you question whether this film is a joke, I had to watch and decide for myself. Basically Sarah Benson (Kristen Wiig) is a successful organic food vendor, her husband Robert (Will Ferrell) is a best-selling author and finance guru, their life was rocked by a tragic accident, Sarah was near an unsafe dock and fell into the water of Storm Lake, the trauma caused her to lose their second child in pregnancy, she is no longer able to bare children. Five years have passed, Robert has become reclusive and recovering alcoholic, he has been sober for six months, he and Sarah are looking to adopt an unwanted child, but have not been satisfied by any suggested birth mothers. Then they meet seemingly sweet and innocent attractive young woman Bridgette Gibson (90210's Jessica Lowndes), in the final months of her pregnancy, she claims to be living in a homeless shelter, Sarah and Robert decide to give her the bedroom their lost child would have slept in, she will stay with them until she gives birth. As time goes by however Bridgette is obviously not all she seems, six-year- old daughter Sully (Dark Skies' Alyvia Alyn Lind), who Robert is over-protective of because of her diabetes, is the first to spot that Bridgette is not pregnant at all, she has been wearing a fake enlarged belly pad, she lies to the girl that she is pregnant, but that she would not be believed. Bridgette has another agenda entirely, she and her tattooed hoodlum boyfriend Dwayne Tisdale (Jake Weary) are scheming to get money from the family, the intend to kidnap Sully perhaps for ransom, but also Bridgette has her own reasons. It is revealed that in the past when he was a writer they encountered each other and he made love to her, but he left her after a short time to be with Sarah, she lost a baby that she was pregnant with, she wants both revenge, and perhaps to try and get closer to Robert again. All the secrets and lies come spilling out from all sides, Robert has to try and protect his family, Bridgette is crazy and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants, and Sarah is caught in the middle, there will be deadly consequences for all involved in the complicated situation. Also starring Mousehunt's Debra Christofferson as Ellen Macy, Bryan Safi as Charlie, Erik Palladino as Sheriff and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine's Carolyn Hennesy as Debby. Ferrell and Wiig are reasonably good at playing serious, Lowndes is too soapy to be believable as an antagonistic bitch, this apparently is supposed to be a humorous imitation of those late 80s and 90s films with twisted affairs and evil characters playing happy families, it does have moments inspired by Fatal Attraction or The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, but it is not quite executed as well as it could have been, you can see the funny side of it though as it is awash with clichés, not a completely terrible parody psychological thriller. Okay!
Review of A Deadly Adoption
