Film Review: 'Deviant Love'

Following a messy separation from her unfaithful husband, Jamie Mayfield (Emma Bell) has returned to her hometown with her young son Preston (Bradley Bundlie), hoping to seek refuge from her troubles. Soon after arriving in town, Jamie meets the handsome and charming private investigator Whit (Nick Ballard), who proves to be just what Jamie needs in the midst of both her separation and her ongoing struggles with her well-meaning but overbearing parents Marlene and Boone (Gail O'Grady and Corbin Timbrook).

When Jamie's ex-husband Rick (Robert Adamson) reenters Jamie's life demanding to spend time with Preston, Jamie turns to Whit for help—and is horrified to learn from Whit that he uncovered evidence suggesting Rick is having her followed and is planning to kidnap Preston. Frightened for her son, Jamie takes Whit's advice in protecting her son, even as it puts her at odds with both Preston and her family. Unbeknownst to Jamie, however, Whit is hiding more than a few secrets of his own—and a hidden dark side that will soon come to light when Jamie tries to cut him out of her life...

While Deviant Love's IMDB listing, page on MarVista Entertainment, and even the film's alternate title doesn't keep its twist a secret, this review will be spoiler free because... arbitrarily self-imposed rules of my part. As for this twist, it is of an inherently twisted nature, and one which the film could have utilized for disturbing, maybe even tawdry drama. But unfortunately, Deviant Love makes the mistake of both spending too much time on build-up and playing itself too much like any other Lifetime-ian obsession thriller, with the twist only being used to full effect in sparse amounts. Otherwise, Deviant Love stays on the well-beaten path with little spice added to bring life to the proceedings, leaving much of the film's runtime to be a waiting game for the action to kick in.

WARNING: Minor spoilers below

Another major downfall of Deviant Love comes in the form of its main heroine, Jamie Mayfield. Emma Bell gives a strong performance and, at times, is able to breathe life (and sympathy) into her character. But for much of the film, Jamie is either left as a blank slate or pushed into the realm of unlikable—the latter of which dominates much of the second and third acts. While Jamie's backstory of having been the victim of a stalker during her beauty pageant days is meant to make it understandable why she's so vulnerable to Whit, it proves too big a pill to swallow that Jamie would wholeheartedly believe Whit's claims about Rick suddenly going from (alleged) adulterer to attempted kidnapper, without seeing a scrap of proof on Whit's end. It's also ridiculous that Jamie would follow Whit's advice about avoiding "detection" when 1. she knows that Rick is aware of where she and Preston are and 2. she continues this behavior even after becoming aware of Whit's mental instability. Add in the fact that Jamie's paranoia leads her to begin needlessly lashing out at Preston, and it all combines to make Jamie a problematic character who some viewers may have a hard time sympathizing with once Whit's true nature comes into play.

Minor spoilers over

Preston himself also joins Jamie in hard-to-like character-dom, as he is written as the standard "Cloying/Whiny Little Kid" trope that stands alongside the "Rom-Com Third Act Misunderstanding" in tropes that are more times than not done aggravatingly poorly. Though to give credit where credit is due, Bradley Bundlie does as well as any child actor could do with such a one-note character and is even able to share a tender moment with Bell as an onscreen mother-son duo.

The remainder of the film's cast of characters are effective, however, with Whit being made into a memorably deranged villain by Nick Ballard. While Deviant Love takes far too long in allowing for Whit's darker side to emerge, Ballard brings a menacing zeal to Whit when his true nature is unveiled, allowing the audience to be as afraid of him as Jamie becomes. Ballard also shines when Whit is putting up a front to woo Jamie, with his adorkably charming interactions with Jamie making the film's ultimate twist (which some viewers are sure to know about before watching) all the more unsettling.

Gail O'Grady and Corbin Timbrook do well as Jamie's well-meaning but problematic parents Marlene and Boone, apart from O'Grady's needless and frequently slipping Southern accent and Boone having a particularly hard-to-make-up-for moment in which his immediate response to Jamie revealing how Rick cheated on her is to tell her to go the "Forgive and Forget" route. Rick, meanwhile, is played well by Robert Adamson as he finds himself a victim of Whit's scheming, though his relationship with Jamie never receives the development it needed due to his lack of screentime and Jamie falling so deeply into Whit's manipulations.

Kate Miner is a strong Audience Surrogate-esque character as Jamie's sister Casey, and Caia Coley brings emotional vulnerability in her scene as Aunt Maddy. Gunnar Koehler also appears as the 10-year-old Whit, with his scenes allowing the young performer to bring true malice as the flashbacks we see of Whit show the depths of how disturbed he was and still is. This all ultimately comes to a head in the film's intense third act, which allows for Deviant Love's premise to be used to its full potential and allows Ballard to throw himself into Whit's more twisted colors.

Unfortunately, for all that the cast brings to the film and as effective as the concluding act is, Deviant Love's poor pacing, unsympathetic protagonist, and overall under-utilization of its strong premise prove to be heavily detrimental to what could have been a fun thriller with a strong twist. As is, while not a horrible movie to kill time with, Deviant Love unfortunately doesn't live up to its concept or its provocative title.

Score: 5 out of 10 cupcake Ferris wheels.