The title "Girl Followed" does not accurately convey the gist of this Lifetime Channel potboiler. A more accurat title would be "The Male Secretary is a Psychopath."

It is a credit to the actors in this film that they were able to stand up and deliver their lines without breaking into laughter. While the dialogue was well-written, the situations were invariably incredulous. For example, how could the perceptive mother Abby not recognize that the male secretary in her medical office was flirting with her daughter? How could young Regan not know that it is verboten to shoplift, send out racy selfies, and sneak out at night to meet Nate in the park?

These jaw-dropping moments were filmed with solid production values. The locations around L.A. were interesting in establishing an environment for a coterie of elitists that has no concern about money. Nate's parents and millionaires and he drives a Mercedes while holding down his job as a male secretary. Jim and Abby can afford to purchase a new car for their daughter Taylor's sixteenth birthday. With Jim's promotion as an administrator at a community center and Abby's salary as a nurse, they are able to maintain a luxurious home in an exclusive area of L.A. and pay for a vacation in the Bahamas. The major premises of the characters and their lives were simply not believable.

All of the high school students in film appeared to be played by actors far too old their roles. Even Nate looked older than 22. (The actor playing the role was apparently 28 at the time of filming.) Those casting issues could be forgiven if the story was truly gripping. Instead, the film was a by-the-numbers treatment of a psychopath, who cleverly uses the internet, social media, and other technology for his devious purposes. With Nate's ability to nearly ruin the careers of both Abby and Jim and skillfully prey upon their daughter, the film does offer a valid warning about the dangers of the internet at a time when we are losing more and more of what was formerly known as "privacy." In this regard, the film is worth watching.

This movie should serve as a warning about an older guy going after a 14 year old girl. But somehow the actor they chose doesn't look old enough and the girl not naive and young enough so they look more like a possible couple than a predatory relationship. Joey Lawrence doesn't quite convince as Dad. A 14 year old girl falls for some male nurse colleague of her mother's. They form an illicit relationship and of course the girl is super irritating.

It's an okay watch but would have been better with more appropriate casting.

But seriously, I'll admit I watched this primarily for Joey Lawrence and Heather McComb, but it had me hooked as an effectively graphic example of how young girls can be led astray by seemingly harmless adult figures and how their parents can try to keep them in line.

While I loved the usual Lifetime movie last-10-minute-battle-to-the- death showdown, I also appreciated the solid performances put in by Joey Lawrence and Heather McComb as the tormented parents, as well as creepy guy Nate (Travis Caldwell),big-hearted sister Taylor (Gianna LePera) and good-girl-almost-gone-bad Regan (Emma Fuhrmann).

I know this is a subject done over many times on channels like Lifetime, but it can never get enough attention.

For what it's worth, there are a couple videos online showing real teen girls meeting up with an older guy posing as a teen as a very serious teaching model for parents. If they are at all real, they are pretty chilling.

Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jMhMVEjEQg