"Seduced by Lies" is a soapish TV movie targeted at middle-aged women who like handsome, athletic well-spoken men who make love to them tenderly in bed. Based loosely on the plot of Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspense," "Seduced by Lies" is about a rich heiress Laura Colton (Josie Davis) who thinks she found the perfect soul mate Brad Sterling (Marc Menard), only to discover that he is not what he seems. Unfortunately, unlike the characters in "Suspense", the characters in "Seduced by Lies" are not as intelligently written or as well acted. Josie Davis (Laura Colton) and Marc Menard (Brad Sterling) are not given anything interesting to say or do except to be intimate with each other, which they do with a certain degree of believability. The other characters are caricatures such as Laura's millionaire father Charles Colton (Bruce Dawson), red-haired model Katherine Colton (Johannah Newmarch) who probably married Charles for his money, the ditsy blonde sister Tia (Chelan Simmons), the very serious looking detective Brooking (Peter Bryant) right out from the law and order shows, and the overly-sexed bimbo waitress from the bar Ava (Sarah Edmondson).
But what this film does have is a somewhat better plot than the other low-budget TV movies, although before anyone rushes to see "Seduced by Lies," I should add that the screenplay for his film is only better than the worst plot lines ever put on a piece of paper by the hands of man or woman! With that qualification taken into account, this movie does work on the level of a trashy romance novel that women (who are unlucky in love) like to buy in used book stores. So if you are one of those people who takes guilty pleasure reading romance novels, then this film may be the right one for you. As a suspense film, however, "Seduced by Lies" does not work (though this call is a bit harder than you may imagine) largely because it relies too much on clichés and silly plot twists (including Sterling's illogical attempt to seduce the ditsy Tia and a tiresome big confrontation scene at the end). But the very last scene in this movie (lasting for 1-2 minutes), set in the beach, is phenomenal. It is by far the best scene in this entire TV movie. Sadly the rest of the film is not held to that standard.
4.5/10
But what this film does have is a somewhat better plot than the other low-budget TV movies, although before anyone rushes to see "Seduced by Lies," I should add that the screenplay for his film is only better than the worst plot lines ever put on a piece of paper by the hands of man or woman! With that qualification taken into account, this movie does work on the level of a trashy romance novel that women (who are unlucky in love) like to buy in used book stores. So if you are one of those people who takes guilty pleasure reading romance novels, then this film may be the right one for you. As a suspense film, however, "Seduced by Lies" does not work (though this call is a bit harder than you may imagine) largely because it relies too much on clichés and silly plot twists (including Sterling's illogical attempt to seduce the ditsy Tia and a tiresome big confrontation scene at the end). But the very last scene in this movie (lasting for 1-2 minutes), set in the beach, is phenomenal. It is by far the best scene in this entire TV movie. Sadly the rest of the film is not held to that standard.
4.5/10
