Film Review: 'Fatal Affair'

Ellie Warren (Nia Long) would appear to have the ideal life. A beautiful home, a successful career as a lawyer, and a wonderful husband and daughter. But as of late, with daughter Brittany (Aubrey Cleland) away at college, Ellie finds herself growing disconnected from her husband Marcus (Stephen Bishop). So when her old college friend David Hammond (Omar Epps) suddenly joins her firm, Ellie is convinced to go out with him for drinks and opens up to him about her marital strife.

However, this leads to a brief but passionate encounter between Ellie and David--one that Ellie immediately regrets. While Ellie tries to put the incident behind her, David refuses to let go and continues trying to contact Ellie and convince her they belong together. As Ellie does all she can to get David to leave her alone, David makes clear that he is infatuated with his old friend--and isn't prepared to let her get away this time.

*sigh* I don't know what it is about Peter Sullivan directed/written Lifetime-esque movies that premiere on Netflix. First was last year's Secret Obsession, and this year, we have Fatal Affair--a movie that follows the familiar plot of a woman whose brief indiscretion turns into a nightmare when her paramour turns out to be an obsessed nutcase. It's a shame this film should come out so soon after BET's Friend Request--a movie that followed this same basic premise and added spice to it to keep it fresh. Fatal Affair, however, sticks painfully close to what's been done countless times before, and this staleness is only one of a handful of flaws that drags this movie to the same levels as its predecessor.

Sluggish pacing is one such flaw. Fatal Affair boasts some beautiful cinematography, but it sometimes feels like we spend more time with the scenery than we do with the characters. There are long stretches where things feel drawn out to no purpose, with the most egregious being a lengthy scene in which Ellie follows David to see what he's up to. While the sequence has some "Stalker Becoming The Stalked" irony going on and appears to be building up to something big that could shake things up, it instead proves a mostly superfluous scene, given how we don't learn anything new and it's never really all that clear what Ellie is even looking for in her pursuit. This bloated pacing leaves the climax (which could've been a saving grace for Fatal Affair) feeling too restricted, and the fact that the climax is largely only possible due to a series of mind-bogglingly stupid decisions doesn't help matters.

The writing also has its share of flaws, with the main issue being the lack of connection to the characters. Despite Ellie being introduced as a woman who feels her marriage has lost its spark, this attitude abruptly ends following her encounter with David. Before, Ellie feels Marcus is becoming a stranger to her and is tempted by David's flirting, and after, Ellie suddenly loves her husband without a shred of dissatisfaction and feels nothing but disdain for David. This not only comes across as poor character development (as we never get to see what prompts this change in attitude), but it also robs the story of its chance to break away from the formula by giving Ellie a moral dilemma to grapple with. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the script leaves the main players in the drama--Ellie, David, and Marcus--as oppressively bland characters, making it difficult to get invested in any of them or their relationships with each other.

(Ellie's likability as a character also takes a major hit through her keeping her loved ones in the dark about David even after it becomes clear he's obsessed and willing to use them to get to her--and even after she learns that David is truly a danger to them. In essence, she appears to value keeping her brief indiscretion a secret more than keeping her friends and family safe.)

It's a shame that the script and characters miss the mark so severely, as the cast for Fatal Affair all do what they can with what they're given. Nia Long (who I was introduced to through her stellar performance in Lifetime's Beaches remake) does what she can to bring emotional depth to Ellie as she deals with her remorse over her brief infidelity, making the wasted opportunity the movie had to give Ellie a moral conflict to deal with all the most frustrating. Omar Epps brings some quality moments of malice to David's demented efforts to win Ellie over and sense of entitlement to her affections, but David being such a bland antagonist that John Link looks interesting by comparison and Epps' somewhat flat performance take a lot of bite out of that. Long and Epps do share some chemistry as we see Ellie and David initially rekindle their friendship, though this chemistry is ultimately wasted once the potential "Ellie Struggles with Temptation" arc gets scrapped.

Joining Epps in flat performances is Stephen Bishop as Marcus Warren, though Bishop is hardly given anything to work with when it comes to Marcus's static characterization and the fact that the movie can't seem to decide how much fault Marcus has for his wife's brief moment of straying. Maya Stojan's solid enough performance as Ellie's friend Courtney is betrayed by her character being so easily manipulated and turned into a pawn in David's scheme, while Aubrey Cleland makes a brief but charming impression as Brittany Warren. Notable minor performances include Jacob Aaron Gaines as Brittany's adorkable boyfriend Scott, Carolyn Hennesy as Ellie's shark-like boss Janice, and Lyn Alicia Henderson as the no-nonsense Detective Larson.

It honestly astounds me how both of Peter Sullivan's Netflix premieres have proven to be such flops. Being involved in made-for-TV gems such as The Wrong Roommate and The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders (the latter of which Sullivan also directed and co-wrote), it's clear that he knows what makes an entertaining Lifetime film. While you would think such an atmosphere could be transferred to the screens of Netflix, it would seem it's yet to happen. With a flat story and characters, a yawn-inducing pace, and a climax that fails to end the movie on a dramatic crescendo, Fatal Affair sinks and strands its capable cast in a stagnant sea. Here's hoping whatever Sullivan brings to Netflix next time around can capture the Lifetimey spirit.

Score: 2.5 out of 10 stuffed giraffes.