We Have Your Husband (2011 TV Movie) User Reviews

We Have Your Husband-Keep Him With the Film **1/2

[edwagreen · 5/10 · 24 March 2012]

Disappointing film since you would normally expect some plot twists. Esai Morales of La Bamba fame spends most of the film in captivity. His Mexican father was supposed to be a wealthy newspaper person, but they claim not to be despite a nice sized bank account and a palace for a home.

William R. Moses of Perry Mason fame and a fixture on television films is relegated to a very small role as a person who will not help pay the ransom despite being good friends with the family.

A young federal agent moves in to help the American wife and children cope with the situation while trying to resolve the issue. The film merely becomes a cat and mouse situation where one side tries to out-do the other.

The ending is not all that thrilling and we come away that this is your typical kidnap situation without any frills attached.

Acting is atrocious!! Good plot though....

[rayray-59027 · 4/10 · 13 November 2018]

Lifetime is my favorite movie channel, but a lot Of their movies are hard to watch because the acting is so HORRIFIC! I'm surprised The female leads acting was SO bad! It actually made it hard to watch. I liked her in all the Parents movies, but she is cringeworthy in this movie!!

"We Have Your Husband" Not an easy film to watch . . .

[junedahl · 10/10 · 18 September 2018]

This film is very intelligently made and , in fact , has the journalistic flavour of a documentary . The opening scenes illustrate a very close knit and warm, affectionate family atmosphere, of people who privately and publicly, show themselves to be the same loyal, honest, open and generous individuals, no matter what happens to them, in life. They are strong characters. Suddenly, they are being tested by violent criminals who are demons of greed and brutality . . . more like vicious animals than human beings . . . We learn that even this type of criminal, though cruel, has a pattern of methods, because of the constant M O of their violence. The actors are really skillfull and convincing. The story has sharp lines and though painful and agonising to empathise with the situation, keeps one guessing to the end. It is original and has been based on the truth. True life stories, have the characteristic of genuineness, especially, when the script is good and the performance by the actors is good.

True story well told and better acted

[tjwprf · 20 November 2011]

There are spoilers in this review. I have never reviewed, but feel compelled to do so now because another review is so misleading, suggesting this movie had nothing to do with the facts of the events on which it was based. I, like that reviewer, did my own research, and can say that the facts in the film are amazingly accurate but for the fact that the film soft peddles the captivity. Google "Eduardo Garcia Valesca kidnapping" and you'll locate the Washington Post article about same, and will learn that the events as written in the script are accurate: the wife was initially taken and then released; she did not have title to the family's liquid assets or the land (generally the case in the U.S. until a few decades ago, and not at all unusual in a patriarchal society where the wife is not participating actively in the family business or financial affairs); etc. I only watched because I'm a huge fan of Morales and Polo (he for 20+ years, she for 5+), and this movie didn't disappoint. He turns in his usual solid performance, but she shows dimensions I've never seen from her. She's always real and restrained, but is so raw at times here, the hair stood up on the back of my neck.

This movie merits at least 8 out of 10 stars for made-for-TV given the horrid state of writing currently available. But for an opportunity to watch an underrated actress show her best chops, it's a 10.

One Strong Woman

[lavatch · 8/10 · 7 February 2021]

There was a gritty realism to "We Have Your Husband," a kidnapping-for-ransom drama based on a true story.

Eduardo Valseca is about to complete an eight-million-dollar deal to build a luxury golf course on his property in Mexico. Apparently the project reached enough ears to draw the attention of a political organization to conduct the kidnapping.

The grisly details of the man's captivity and the impossible ransom demands are mitigated by the stoic demeanor of Eduardo's wife Jayne. As performed by actress Teri Polo, Jayne is relentless in pursuing every option to save her husband's life.

Another intriguing character in the film was Raul, the federal agent who worked around the clock in assisting Jayne and her family. But the filmmakers make it clear that it was Jayne's decision on how to make a final offer to the captors as the kidnapping moved towards its endgame.

The subject matter was intense and often unpleasant. It was especially heart-breaking because the early scenes depicted such a beautiful, tightly-knit family. But the film was successful in narrowing the focus to the mindset of Jayne Valseca, whose tenacity never allowed her to play the role of victim. From start to finish, this was one strong woman.

More questions than answers

[barrymalvina · 13 November 2011]

My wife and myself enjoy dramas based on real events, and we do not mind too much if they are not accurately factual, as we always do a search on the Internet afterward. Our search on this occasion confirmed our misgivings we felt during our viewing.

We had no knowledge whatsoever beforehand of this case and of the suffering of this family, and our comments will only be based on the film as we watched it. I had some knowledge of the many kidnappings occurring in Mexico, and the corruption, therefore understood a little of the reluctance of the authorities in this film to give them the support they deserved.

To begin, we could not understand why it was that it was the husband who was kidnapped, rather than the wife or one of the children. We could not really understand why he was beaten and tortured, in spite of the calm explanations given by the wife's supposedly secret government adviser. We could not understand why this adviser did little else, apart from play with the children. We could not understand why the husband should hold an account only in his name and which the wife knew about, but she could not access those funds. We do not recall ever being told what sort of occupation the husband held, sufficient to run a 1000 acre ranch, and how they came to possess other real estate which was on the market for 8 million dollars! Finally, when the husband was released, we felt that the film had done nothing to give us answers to these questions.

The blurb at the end explained that they were again a happy family, (it is not surprising they were happy having sold their ranch for probably no small sum, we guessed) and would never return to Mexico, and that the kidnappers have still not been apprehended.

If this film was intended only to invoke sympathy and support for the awful experience which they suffered, then it would succeed with those who might not ask these questions. For us, at least it gave us the incentive to do a search, and now we feel we have some answers, but we are keeping them to ourselves.

We give it six because it got us thinking.