The Rival (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Douglas Jackson

Writers:

Mark Castaldo (story)
Christine Conradt (writer)

Release Date:

9 October 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Lifting Person In Air

Cast

Tracy Nelson	...	Alice Miller
Heather Tom	...	Jennifer
Linden Ashby	...	George Miller
Barbara Niven	...	Linda Zeller
Anna Ferguson	...	Aunt Estelle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tyrone Benskin	...	Det. Martin
Kate Drummond	...	Woman at Bar
Jessica Gaffney	...	Waitress
Sophie Gendron	...	Lisa Kennedy
Kathy Logan	...	Restaurant Patron
Neil Napier	...	David Browning
Mercedes Papalia	...	Waitress
Mark Saikaly	...	Police Officer
Luigi Saracino	...	Young Male Assailant
Jenna Wheeler-Hughes	...	Sarah

Runtime:

Argentina:86 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Outrage Productions 6 Inc.

Crazy as a loon

Tracy Nelson's character is nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake. Of course, these Lifetime flicks largely rely upon a whacked-out lead character who makes others miserable, commits mayhem and murder, and provides a dark shroud which largely dominates the story.

Tracy and her hubby need a surrogate, and finally find one who suits them and is willing to live in their spacious house during the nine-month pregnancy. Tracy seems to be obsessed with this live-in arrangement, and then makes everyone miserable with her jealousies, and the musings of her aunt, who is as crazy and sociopathic as she is. She offs Auntie, as well as her therapist, who becomes suspicious -- but the aunt continues to push her even further into total lunacy from the dreams and visions which appear throughout.

As par for these flicks, the husband, while apparently a successful and authoritative businessman, schleps around like he has doubled his dose of downers, and as perceptively as if he possessed an IQ in two digits.

All-in-all, it's hard to care an iota about any of these folks, and Tracy's paranoiac and bipolar rantings, interspersed with whiny pleadings, are about as annoying as anything ever put on film. The rest of the cast does little or nothing to lessen this annoyance. In fact, the aunt only compounds it.

The only minor positive aspect in watching this flick was a minimal fascination from its awfulness overall, coupled with watching Tracy and the aunt gnaw the scenery like a bevy of hungry beavers, amidst their thoroughly laconic fellow cast members.