WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS
Directed by John Casser
Screenplay by Jack Olsen
Starring Morris Chestnut; Regina Hall; and Jaz Sinclair
Before I start I have to say this film is not as bad as what the critics are saying, at least as of today. Sadly it is not that great of a film also.
Let me start with the positives:
The two main leads Chestnut as John Taylor and Hall as Laura Taylor have great chemistry. They are so believable you almost want to go over their house for a dinner. They seem so nice.
Yes it comes across a little bit like the 1992 Rebecca De Mornay film Hand That Rocks The Cradle. However instead of a psycho nanny we have a psycho Surrogate. It is an interesting premise. Yes it seems like a Lifetime film, yet it still seems realistic. Many times while watching this I kept trying to think that there is a way out, there has to be ,but I kept hitting a wall. This girl is crazy and can kill or runaway with your newborn or baby to be and you cannot stop her. Even if you sue she will disappear. So it is an intriguing premise, however it brings me to the negatives.
Negatives:
So the screenplay is an interesting premise but it does not know what to do with it.
It is almost like they did not know what they wanted it to be, so they tried to walk a middle ground between a real life drama and a thriller which makes the film feel uneven.
It would not feel so uneven if it did not take so long for it to get rolling. The thriller part does not even start until about an hour in. Which makes the set up slow and slightly boring. Now that would be okay if they took the idea and went with a legal drama between them and crazy surrogate, But no, like noted before it is uneven.
Then the thriller part comes in the last quarter. The lead, the surrogate played by Sinclair just seems miscast. yes she is beautiful but, during the fight scenes...I just could not go with some of the things she is doing. Maybe it was her acting. As for the thriller part....it seemed to have too many endings. It needed editing in the beginning of the film and at the end. Again it felt like the movie just dragged.
Well 2 out of 5 stars for When The Bough Breaks.Just seems like a tone problem.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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