Sweet Temptation (1996 TV Movie) User Reviews

Some nice moments but what a waste

[MuggySphere · 6/10 · 24 November 2004]

Well it wasn't such that it was a bad movie because it

had good moments and it got you thinking about the subject matter.

Jenny Lewis playing the daughter Jade was gorgeous to watch, and lovely to look at. She made the movie for me over the lead role by Beverly D'Angelo.

Speaking of which and you can flame away folks, but to me the mother came across as a bit self obsessed and full of herself, to the point of not noticing her own daughter, or caring.

Which leaves you feeling sorry for everyone in the movie because no one single person was to blame for what happens to poor Jade. The mother is in her own little world and she is pretty much left to her own devices and her only friend Horizon who she goes to school with.

Overall a good movie I'd give it a generous rating.

6/10 John

This is a movie about sexual abuse and there is a perpetrator and a victim.

[paultrefzger-1 · 7/10 · 31 December 2005]

Without going into any details of a good...if a somewhat provocative...TV movie, there seems to be a consensus among the users that there is "no one to blame here".

I disagree. Yes, the young male lover of Beverly D'Angelo, played by Rob Estes may be young and horny (and good looking) because he's not getting as much as he wants from mom, that doesn't mean, he can climb in bed and have sex with daughter. OK, he can use the excuse he just wanted to watch TV with her, but I don't buy it. People have to take responsibility for their actions. Not only did he "cross the line" by having sex with a very vulnerable teen, when he was supposedly "the responsible adult",he said, "Your mom must never know about this." How responsible was he then? Yes, it's a good flick, but he got what was coming to him. Don't kid yourselves folks that what happened was "no one's fault".

A surprise...

[Malt · 20 February 2002]

This is a very good effort for a TV movie. Given the subject matter, this could have been a bad episode of a soap opera. But the cast (yes, even Rob Estes) keeps things in line and presents the material intelligently.

For the record, Jenny Lewis is absolutely *beautiful* in this movie...as beautiful as I've ever seen an actress on the small screen.

If this pops up on the tube sometime, be sure to check it out.

Explaining away sexual abuse of a minor?

[EmDee-427-469344 · 1/10 · 23 July 2014]

In the real world a man sexually abusing a minor would be charged with statutory rape. In this movie it's OK because the kid wanted it and she was a "sweet temptation" so he couldn't help himself (and she was resentful of her mother?).

Wow speechless at the comments of men in the Message Boards section talking about what a "fine piece of ass" that teen-aged girl was. Further other males suggesting that because he was drunk when doing it and then didn't want to do it again, he was off the hook. I do hope none of them have a step-daughter or girls near them that they could consider a "sweet temptation" and think they can get away with it.

I guess those guys forget the bit where the MAN kissed the underage MINOR when he was sober and the bit where he tried to pay her off so she wouldn't say anything.

Then he goes and has sex with the mother the day after "doing it" with her daughter and the mother calls him so sweet (what is with the over use of the word "sweet").

This movie ends with the mother alone to run her "Sweet temptation" (i.e. food business) and hoping for a "better future", the guy who groomed, sexually abused and manipulated her child (i.e. sweet temptation") free as a bird, and the minor making new friends so she can attain the "ultimate goal" of having her own boyfriend and thus "a life". Nice lessons there male producer and director of this movie.

Best TV movie I've ever seen

[zanthor · 10/10 · 18 June 2000]

It's 3:30am.

I just saw this movie about six minutes ago and it is fantastic.

A teenage girl has a night of passion with her mom's lover and it ruins everybody's lives. The really interesting thing about this movie is that you can't really place the blame on any one person.

Everyone performed perfectly, and the story was thought-provoking.

You should definitely see this movie if you can get your hands on it.

I give it a 10.

Exceptional TV Movie

[Bcaldc10 · 10/10 · 17 May 2001]

This is one of the finest TV movies you could ever see. The acting, writing and production values are top-notch. The performances are passionate with Beverly D'Angelo superb as the older woman with a teenage daughter and Rob Estes simply perfect as the young stud boyfriend. However, the best part of this film was how it showed the consequences of sexual abuse instead of going for the usual happy ending. It showed that abuse can happen in good families; involve good people; and wreck lives. It is thought provoking and entertaining. Congratulations to all concerned with this exceptional movie.

Excellent TV movie! One of my old favorites!

[bronzesrv · 10/10 · 25 March 2019]

I absolutely love this movie it deals with this sensitive subject matter in a realistic and mature, appropriate manner. The situations often happen more than we fail to realize. The bottom line is when this happens a mother has to know to ALWAYS make the right decision and choose her child first. This movie will touch your heart, and it will also make you angry. And again it'll make any mother value her relationship with her children closer and to be more careful of who she brings into her home around her child.

a great movie about a young girl & her sex life with her mother's sexy boyfriend.

[chippyjr · 9/10 · 20 March 2001]

Billy and Jade had a very close relationship that went to far one evening even though Billy was sleeping with Jade's mother. Jade has to deal with the fact that her mother may never know and that it will never happen again. Billy is played by Rob Estes who couldn't have looked better. Lifetime tv has made another movie that everyone is bound to like.

some lines should never be crossed....

[mbg411 · 9/10 · 21 January 2007]

Jenny Lewis plays an awkward girl called Jade. She smokes and drinks. She doesn't have a lot of friends and she has a nagging mother(Beverly D'Angelo). Jade finds herself growing closer to her mom's boyfriend Billy(Rob Estes), maybe she is attracted to him. Of course, I don't need to tell you what happens after that.

This is probably my favorite TV movie. This movie shows that sometimes everyone is to blame. This movie also has the best acting that I have seen in TV movies. Beverly D'Angelo does a really nice job as a sweet and loving but neglectful and blind mother. She couldn't see what was going on under her own roof. Rob Estes is at his best here as the sleazeball. Jenny Lewis is the standout. She seems to be exactly like her character.

Everyone seems to love this movie!

Good story, characters, performances

[caa821 · 9/10 · 9 March 2008]

So often these "Lifetime" flicks are one-dimension, with over-the-top characterizations and performances, and with contrived plot lines and climaxes which are intended to trade any semblance of reality for drama.

But most of all, many of these flicks provide characters where it's difficult to feel a trace of sympathy or empathy for even the "good guy/good gal" characters, much less the"bad" ones.

However, here the performance were all good, the characters realistic, and the relationships among the three leads (as well as the ex-husband/father and the two females) rang true throughout.

The mother's boyfriend was portrayed as being about halfway in age between mother and daughter, and the actors were age-appropriate to this in term of their actual ages. None of the characters was portrayed at an extreme - either all-good or all-bad - and all rang true.

Without in any way condoning his allowing the relationship with his prospective stepdaughter to advance to the level which it did - you can still feel some sympathy for him without retracting blame.

Neither mother nor daughter were perfect, neither good nor bad, but simply two individuals whose relationship seemed realistic and not contrived by the script writer.

Lifetime flicks - even those which begin with some semblance of normality - often end with a deranged character brandishing a carving knife or such. Other stories seem to need to provide the "everyone lived happily ever-after" close.

This film presented a realistic premise, story and resolution, from start to finish - a welcomed variation to the norm of this genre/

Wonderful Movie!

[lollygrlpp · 10/10 · 26 September 2008]

This Movie Is Excellent The passion between Jade & Billy is memorable and the acting was great, This is why you don't leave a 16 year old and a young man like that alone together! It shows why a single mother shouldn't date a younger man with a teen aged daughter in the house, cause he looked young enough to be Jessy's son.

I give it ten out of ten, The acting was wonderful and the movements between the actors was correct.

The age difference between Jenny and Rob was good too, because they were similar in age.

Overall, its a fun movie but i think nobody under 13 should watch this movie because of the sexual scenes.