The Wrong Stepfather (TV Movie 2020) Poster

(2020 TV Movie)

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4/10
If You are Ever in a Lifetime Movie...
Stoshie2 August 2020
...there are certain rules you must follow. For example, if you find out anything incriminating about the bad guy, be sure to call the object of his or her obsession. They won't pick up, but you should leave a cryptic message anyway. It won't matter because the good guy will be taking a shower or something, and the bad guy will intercept and delete the message.

Then, go and confront the bad guy with the information you have against them. Make sure no else has the information, and you have the only copy. Also be sure to meet them somewhere private, where it is only the two of you. That always turns out well.

There are many formulaic plot points most of these movies follow, but that is one of my favorites. So I won't even bother getting into all the others this movie uses.
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5/10
I love Corin....sooo 5 stars for HIM
maelipscomb15 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this, and of course the premise was familiar..BUT..Corin did this movie already?.called The Wrong Stepmother 🤣 I guess he he got tired and switched sides. I mainly stuck it out to see if Vivica would deliver her most famous Lifetime lines.(You have watch for yourself to find out) The acting wasn't that great but what do you expect? It's definitely a Saturday afternoon filler...as are most "The Wrong" movies. It didn't disappoint but I won't be requesting it On Demand anytime soon It's watchable just to see your Lifetime faves Anyway watch for yourself and come to your own conclusions.
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6/10
Standard LFM fanfare
chris-j-chuba23 September 2020
Good enough to watch, no glaring mistakes with LFM alumni cast Vivica A. Fox and Corin Nemec (Craig) who alternates between a good guy and a bad guy in these LFM TV movies.

To one of the other reviewers, LOL, you are referring to the LFM plot device known as 'the early threat'. That poor guy's purpose is to reveal something about the villain to the audience and then conveniently disappear by doing something the defies all known survival instincts. They will confront the psychopath in a deserted hilltop, parking lot, and in this case his home. I have come to anticipate this moment in LFM movies and grade them on how well they set it up. The more absurd the better. This one was A+ in terms of stupidity, 'I have something that can destroy you, I didn't tell anyone else yet or that I was coming here and we are alone, and societal norms will protect me'. It was a C in terms of delivery, no dramatic toss off a hillside.
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2/10
Umpteenth 'Sarah' in Lifetime movies, as just one complaint
deedrala15 August 2020
Really, aren't Lifetime writers/producers aware of any other female names other than the same 3 or 4 they use over and over and OVER?? Sarah, Allison, Karen, and Ashley seem to be the only names given to female characters in Lifetime flicks, for years now. I'm tempted to send them a names book but I'm sure they could find a website with hundreds of names to choose from - to enable them to finally stop/never use again the above-mentioned four that have been beyond over-used. Don't they ever look back over their last hundred movies to see how many characters were named those names, so they would realize they need to find new names they've never used?? I mentioned this in a past review I posted here on imdb but apparently Lifetime doesn't read our reviews here, although they really should. It's really getting on my nerves - I'm so tired of main characters named Allison and Sarah in 8 out of 10 LMN flicks. There really are other names to use.

But even more annoying and cheesy/tacky is the self-aggrandizing Viveca Fox with those stupid lame lines she just has to coyly end each movie in which she played yet another high school principal or corporate executive: "He was the WRONG stepfather/boy next door/(WHATEVER)"..... What did she do to get such power to be able to further reduce the intelligence and class of LMN movies that way - become the major stockholder in the company?? She also has exec producer or some kind of credit other than 'actress' in several recent flicks, which apparently gives her the leeway to put her superficial narcissistic touch on them, to the detriment of the story and plot, etc. As if her voluminous plastic surgery and fillers/Botox weren't enough to make her a laughingstock.

These 2 complaints among others would've been enough to steer me away from watching another LMN movie ever again, if I didn't know that it could do so much better, because it has....many times, over the years.

This movie was the usual ad nauseam Lifetime formula/pattern, with the clueless female lead who's blind to the fact that her new boyfriend/fiance/husband is a psychotic sociopath manipulator con artist until it's almost too late. Yawn. The acting all around was too shallow and distracted to care what happened to any of them.

Although I will say it was nice to see Krista Allen playing a sane, decent, caring mom after her tour de force performance in 'Party Mom' a year or 2 ago. That's it for anything remotely positive I can muster up regarding this joke of a movie (made exponentially worse by narcissist Fox and yet another in a long line of 'Sarah' characters).
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5/10
I wanted to like it but...
steenie-6539114 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I really wanted to like this movie but all I saw were duck lips (mother and daughter) and the geeky teacher is trying way too hard. The acting is not very good and makes this movie cringeworthy. Save yourself the time and watch something else.
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7/10
VIEWS ON FILM review of The Wrong Stepfather
burlesonjesse513 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
"I just want a family, a happy family!" Uh-oh, creep-o alert. These are words you think about but shouldn't say out loud.

Anyway, 2020's The Wrong Stepfather is my latest review. It has star Corin Nemec hamming it up as if he were snarling axe-man Jack Torrance. Oh and co-star William McNamara gets his ham on too playing a spastic English teacher (McNamara was in Dream a Little Dream but he's hardly recognizable now).

Registering at eighty-nine minutes and featuring Vivica A. Fox in her umpteenth stint as a high school administrator, "Stepfather" is a Lifetime flick that checks all the boxes. You got a SoCal setting (check), adult personas that are naive to what's going on (check), cheesiness (check), social media interludes (check), and a campy, off the rails mentality (checkmate).

Featuring an abrupt ending similar to Psycho Escort (the bad guys don't always get caught) and defying the laws of gravity when the antagonist falls twenty feet to pavement while getting up unscathed (whatev), "Stepfather's" diegesis goes like this: A college adviser named Craig Green (Nemec) gets involved with a single mother named Mrs. Woodley (played by television mainstay Krista Allen). Woodley's daughter Sarah is on the verge of getting into a good school and Green wants to help her while trying to sweep said mom off her feet. Craig Green is also a liar and a sneaky killer and will eliminate anyone who doesn't allow him to make his contented household complete.

All in all, the Lifetime network churns out movies like this at a rapid rate. The Wrong Stepfather just feels a little more eerie as it unfolds with a sort of sledgehammer intensity. This thing won't win any Oscars but you gotta love it when Nemec's Green with an angered look, exclaims "Sarah you naughty girl". Corin Nemec plays conflicting type here as opposed to being the woeful protagonist in 2019's The Wrong Stepmother. Looking vein-popped and rattled, he pulls it off quite nicely. Rating: 3 stars.
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10/10
Fantastic spin on the age old scenario
dillsseass4 July 2021
Woman gets divorced.

Woman has job.

Woman has teenager.

Woman lives in multi million dollar house.

Woman is desperate for attention/man.

Woman gets botox and puffy lips.

Daughter gets puffy lips.

All females in film either have puffy lips or are botox ambassadors/models.

WOW!!!
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