Statistics prove that 1 out of 5 married couples cheat on their spouse. As in the case of this made for TV film, My Wife's Secret Life, the producers should count themselves fortunate if 1 out of 5 viewers find their film interesting.
The acting is decent but the made for TV film plot about husbands and wives who cheat on each other (one time) has been beaten to death verbatim.
A one hour drama could have summed it up without missing anything even remotely intriguing. It was predictable, lacked any type of suspense, and a cookie cutter ending.
I give it a 4 out of 10 IMDB rating.
Plot summary
While they still love each other, Laurel and James Briggs, parents to adolescents Josh and Daniela Briggs, are having troubles in their marriage. Although coming out of marriage counseling Laurel says she forgives James for his one time only marital indiscretion, she sometimes cannot help but hold it against him in feeling the way she feels. Resentment has also crept in on both sides, James often accusing Laurel of placing her career ahead of family, while both deal with the marital stress in conflicting ways. It is right after one of her and James' arguments about one of those conflict areas that Laurel, out of town on a two day conference, falls prey to the flirtations of another conference attendee, Kent Anderson, in having a sexual liaison with him, which she regrets immediately after the fact. Despite Laurel telling Kent in no uncertain terms that their liaison was a one-nighter, he begins to pursue her openly, at least openly to her with implied threats to expose their tryst to everyone in her day-to-day life. What Laurel doesn't know is that Kent has a more sinister ulterior motive in his pursuit than just wanting to be with her, that motive which not only jeopardizes her and James' marriage, but places her and her family's lives in danger, that family not only including James and the kids, but her sister Angela as well.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 783.17 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
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1 out of 5 married couples cheat on their spouse. If the producers are lucky 1 out of 5 viewers may find this made for TV film interesting. I didn't.
Reviewed by
One night stand, gone wrong.
The movie dragged in the predictable final act, but overall pretty solid offering from Lifetime. The actors all had good chemistry and grounded performances.
I added a star for all the gratuitous shirtlessness Matthew MacCaull.
Reviewed by
The Case of the Mysterious Hickey
"My Wife's Secret Life" is all about indiscretions. At one point in his marriage, divorce attorney James Briggs was unfaithful to his wife Laurel. After years of therapy, there is still tension in the marriage. But after attending a conference for her work, Laurel brings home a hickey from a one-timer of her own. In a case of karma, Laura's indiscretion was with the disgruntled psycho husband of one of James' clients. Kent Anderson (a.k.a., Ray Patterson) is determined to ruin the Briggs family.
The filmmakers maintained a fast pace to the action in the cat-and-mouse game Kent is playing with Laurel and James Briggs. Kent is even successful in wooing Aunt Angela, who occasionally serves as the nanny to the Briggs children, Joshua and Daniela. By "scoring" with both Laurel and her sister-in-law, Kent has proven that he has a unique skill set, and he likes to think big!
Lifetime fans simply adored Kate Villanova in the role of Laurel. Her best scene was in portraying Laurel's heartfelt confession to James in her "moment of weakness." She was having a bad day, had drunk too much wine, and, ah heck!, I am so sorry. Everyone wants to see Kate in more Lifetime pictures.
Another interesting character is the private detective Ari Sheffler. It is through Ari that the Briggs learn that, at age twelve, Kent witnessed his alcoholic mother murder his father with a knife. Kent is now living off his credit cards and is tracked by Ari to a mountain cabin where he plans to do away with both Laurel and Briggs, marry Angela, and raise little Joshua and Daniella as his own children!
A theme of the film emerges when Laurel and James are attempting to hold their marriage together, and Laurel opines, "We fight each other and not FOR each other." Kent Anderson-Ray Patterson affords them the opportunity to literally fight to save their marriage and their lives, as well as making the mysterious hickey only a minor infraction in "My Wife's Secret Life."