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IMDbPro

Deadly Assistant

  • 20192019
  • TV-14TV-14
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
4.5/10
225
YOUR RATING
Jeannette Sousa and Breanne Hill in Deadly Assistant (2019)
A woman's attempt to reconnect with her estranged family ends with murder and suspicion.
Play trailer1:54
1 Video
4 Photos
  • Drama
A woman's attempt to reconnect with her estranged family ends with murder and suspicion.A woman's attempt to reconnect with her estranged family ends with murder and suspicion.A woman's attempt to reconnect with her estranged family ends with murder and suspicion.
IMDb RATING
4.5/10
225
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Daphne Zuniga
  • Writers
    • Blaine Chiappetta
    • Nicole Schubert
  • Stars
    • Jeannette Sousa
    • Breanne Hill
    • Keenan Tracey
Top credits
  • Director
    • Daphne Zuniga
  • Writers
    • Blaine Chiappetta
    • Nicole Schubert
  • Stars
    • Jeannette Sousa
    • Breanne Hill
    • Keenan Tracey
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 13User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:54
    Official Trailer

    Photos

    Jeannette Sousa and Breanne Hill in Deadly Assistant (2019)
    Jeannette Sousa in Deadly Assistant (2019)
    Margret H. Huddleston in Deadly Assistant (2019)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jeannette Sousa
    Jeannette Sousa
    • Amanda Birchas Amanda Birch
    Breanne Hill
    Breanne Hill
    • Mayaas Maya
    Keenan Tracey
    Keenan Tracey
    • Charlieas Charlie
    Philip Boyd
    Philip Boyd
    • Ianas Ian
    Houston Rhines
    Houston Rhines
    • Detective Stoneas Detective Stone
    Kate Gilligan
    Kate Gilligan
    • Laurenas Lauren
    Julienne Irons
    Julienne Irons
    • Rebeccaas Rebecca
    Mike Capozzi
    Mike Capozzi
    • Edas Ed
    Autumn Federici
    Autumn Federici
    • Serenaas Serena
    Ryan Anthony
    • Darioas Dario
    Randy Devine
    Randy Devine
    • Yoga Teacheras Yoga Teacher
    Ansa Woo
    Ansa Woo
    • Featured Yogias Featured Yogi
    Hayley Marie
    Hayley Marie
    • Yoga Studentas Yoga Student
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Daphne Zuniga
    • Writers
      • Blaine Chiappetta
      • Nicole Schubert
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      Among the items on the electronic order for drugs from the Wellness Center is a "mortar and pestal." The correct spelling is "pestle."
    • Soundtracks
      Follow You
      Written and Produced by David Kater

      Co-written & Co-produced by Manny Streetz Guevara, Tricia Battani

      Performed by Tricia Battani

    User reviews13

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    Another Lifetime mess: good direction, problematic script
    The very title of "Deadly Assistant" is a "spoiler" that carefully undoes the suspense writers Blaine Chiappetta and Nicole Schubert carefully created in their script. It was ironic to be watching this right after a "60 Minutes" segment on "Game of Thrones," since Chiappetta and Schubert carefully depicted the struggle for control of a little yoga studio out in a California suburb with all the High Seriousness of the battle for the Iron Throne in the big eight-year series. The film opens in the middle of a yoga class being led by Lauren Birch (Kate Gilligan) - we're told the studio is being closed pending renovation and a big reopening but Lauren is still leading classes there, and she's recorded a number of motivational tapes (or downloads, or streams, or whatever) which her students use both in her studio and wherever else they may be. The plot kicks off when Lauren's sister Amanda (Jeannette Sousa) arrives in town after a big job in New York just finished and attempts to re-integrate into Lauren's family, which consists of her husband Ian (Philip Boyd), their son Charlie (Keenan Tracey) and the son's girlfriend Maya (Breanne Hill), who also works as Lauren's assistant at the local salon. Three years before Amanda visited Lauren and caught Ian kissing another woman; she reported to her sister that he was having an affair, Lauren didn't believe it, and the conflict between the two sisters over the issue never got resolved. Charlie, Ian's and Lauren's son, had a severe alcohol and drug problem, though he got into a "program" and has been clean and sober for three years. Chiappetta and Schubert throw us a big curveball in the opening since we expect from the usual iconography of Lifetime movies - and the title - that Lauren is going to be the central character and the plot will be about the deadliness of her assistant Maya, and how she stumbles onto the truth about her and what will happen when she does. Instead Lauren is killed in the second act when the studio has its grand reopening, she stammers through her big opening speech, then collapses and dies of a mysterious "heart attack."

    One problem with this movie is that once Lauren exits, there goes the one character we actually like - though in an inspired touch the characters continue to listen to Lauren's motivational recordings, thereby giving her a weird ghost-like quality through which she continues to "haunt" the action even in a non-supernatural story. The writers clearly intended to maintain the suspense over which of the remaining principals in the family was trying to do in all the others, but the title Lifetime slapped on their work (replacing an almost-as-revealing working title, "The Protégé") makes it all too obvious to us. The film was directed by Daphne Zuniga, who has 79 credits on imdb as an actress (the one I can remember seeing is Mel Brooks' "Star Wars" spoof "Spaceballs," in which she played the Carrie Fisher role) but only two as director: this film and a documentary on the TED talks. Like a lot of other Lifetime directors, especially the female ones, Zuniga turns in an excellent job but is hamstrung by a script that is sometimes genuinely powerful (I particularly like the way Lauren's recorded voice haunts the other characters via her motivational tapes even after she's gone) and sometimes just silly.
    helpful•4
    1
    • mgconlan-1
    • Jun 19, 2019

    Details

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    • Release date
      • May 17, 2019 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Instagram Picture
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Protección venenosa
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Protege Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 16:9 HD

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