Lifetime Review: 'The Wrong Blind Date'

Fresh off opening her own design firm and in the midst of an acrimonious divorce, the last thing on Laura Reynolds' (Meredith Thomas) mind is dating. But both her therapist Beth (Vivica A. Fox) and her daughter Hannah (Sofia Masson) insist that she put herself back out there now that she's free from her possessive ex-husband Michael (Clark Moore). Begrudgingly, Laura signs up for an online dating site, and it's then that she meets Kevin Holmes (Matthew Pohlkamp).

A handsome and charming venture capitalist, Kevin seems to be the total opposite of Michael--exactly what Laura's looking for. Laura quickly falls head over heels for Kevin, with Hannah and Beth being happy that Laura's found someone so perfect. But what none of them know is that Kevin is far from perfect. In fact, he has a dark agenda and a whole lot of secrets hiding beneath his warm smile. They say love is blind, but in Laura's case, it might also turn deadly...

Let's give The Wrong Blind Date credit where credit is due: it doesn't waste time when it comes to Kevin. Not even a minute after Kevin receives Laura's first message, the movie lets us know that Kevin is a devious and untrustworthy man. As such, you'll spend many of the scenes of Laura falling for Kevin wondering what his endgame is and why he's targeting Laura. Unfortunately, the answers to those questions prove to be predictable ones, especially if you're well-versed on Lifetime's Wrong franchise. That ties into what ultimately becomes the anchor that drags The Wrong Blind Date down: how much of a paint-by-numbers "Wrong" story it is. Plot beats seen throughout the series (and a lot of Lifetime movies in general) are easy to spot, with the finale even playing out almost exactly the same way as a previous Wrong film. The movie mercifully doesn't have an idiotic protagonist or an unconvincing villain like certain other Wrong movies. But with such a drab storyline, The Wrong Blind Date's cast can only do so much to liven things up.

Among that cast includes Matthew Pohlkamp, a Lifetime regular making his debut to the Wrong universe as charming manipulator Kevin. While his character is straddled with a ridiculously thin backstory that does next to nothing to explain his motivation throughout the film, Pohlkamp's performance is spot-on. Unlike the Wrong villain alluded to in the above paragraph, Kevin is charismatic enough that you can believe he's capable of sweeping Laura off her feet and earning her and Hannah's trust. In Laura's case, it's especially understandable, given how her past experiences with Michael have left her vulnerable to such manipulation. Pohlkamp has one memorably stiff moment in a scene concerning Kevin and his reflection, but otherwise, he does a good job of making Kevin believable as a con artist with a violent streak.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Too bad the film wastes the opportunity to give Kevin some depth. When Kevin is finally exposed by Hannah, he starts ranting about how people never listen to him and how he just to have a life with Laura and Hannah. With a proper backstory, this could've led to Kevin Holmes emerging as the Wrong series' latest Alan Cipher or Joey Nolan. But instead, Michael reverts back to being an unstable psychopath with an annoyingly vague "you're just like all the others" remark and is soon after all too easily subdued by Beth. The fact that this "climax" doesn't even last a full minute (and half of it is shown in the cold open) means this movie ends almost as unceremoniously as The Wrong Housesitter did. It also really solidifies how by-the-book The Wrong Blind Date is that the finale plays out almost exactly the same way as The Wrong Mr. Right: the mother-daughter leads getting bound and gagged by the villain before being rescued by an arriving-in-the-nick-of-time Vivica A. Fox.

Also, it was mildly annoying to me that both Michael and Noah survive being attacked by Kevin. Given how Michael could've revealed the truth about Kevin just as easily as Kevin's sleazy former friend Jason (played with cocky arrogance by Peter Daniel Adams), it makes no sense that Kevin would kill Jason, but take the risk of leaving Michael alive. And with how much of a prick Michael was for the whole movie, seeing him die because of his deranged plot to "win Laura back" would've been much more satisfying than him being arrested off-screen. I also would've enjoyed it if Hannah--who Michael emotionally abuses through guilt-tripping and attempts to turn her against her mother--had a chance to call her former stepfather out like Laura gets to on two occasions. At least this all speaks to how well Clark Moore brings Michael to life as a realistic depiction of a controlling narcissist. Michael's arguably crazier than Kevin, seeing as how he's willing to abuse his law enforcement authority and bribe a violent criminal to scare his ex-wife back into his abusive arms.

(As for Noah, he appears completely unharmed in the epilogue when the last time we saw him, he was being dragged off at knifepoint by Kevin. While I can believe Kevin would settle for knocking Noah out so he can't interfere with his later plans, it's still a weird setup and Noah's survival screwed up the bet I made with myself that either he or Laura's business partner Angela would end up dead by the end of the film.)

Spoilers Over

The cast members more experienced with the Wrong-verse all give great performances that help distract from the mundane plot. In her first Wrong lead role, Meredith Thomas makes Laura very easy to root for. Eagerly but nervously striking out on her own in both her business and personal lives, Laura is an easy target for someone like Kevin. You feel for her as she deals with Michael's toxic antics and finds happiness with Kevin, unaware that he's lying to her about everything. Thomas shares excellent mother-daughter chemistry with Sofia Masson, who herself gives a sweet performance as Hannah. While she does briefly slip into callousness by accusing Laura of "driving Michael away," nothing like this happens again and Hannah is otherwise a loving and supportive daughter. She also gets a cute little side story with her high school friend/love interest Noah, played by Rainer Dawn in his film debut. While Dawn's acting is certainly rough around the edges, he does a decent job playing a lovably dorky guy in love with his best friend and works well enough with the comparatively-more-relaxed-on-camera Masson.

In a notable subversion of expectations, once Hannah begins to suspect that Kevin is hiding something, she calmly informs Laura about her concerns and Laura takes them into consideration. If she were like some other Wrong-verse mothers (*cough cough* any mother played by Krista Allen *cough cough*), Laura would've dismissed Hannah's worries as ludicrous or accused her of trying to sabotage her new relationship. But instead, Laura listens to Hannah and it's because of this maternal trust that Laura begins to realize something is amiss. Helping the process is Laura's therapist Beth, played by the always sassy Vivica A. Fox. Fox gives another lovable performance as Laura's wise and understanding confidante, even if Beth's insistence that Laura needs a new man in her life strikes me as off-putting and unprofessional--especially with Laura just getting out of a bad relationship. Lastly, a few surprise treats come in the form of solid cameos from two Wrong regulars: Lesli Kay as Laura's bubbly business partner Angela and Jamie Bernadette as slightly snarky landlord Mrs. Tyler.

But with such a cut-and-dry Lifetime Wrong tale about a mother's new boyfriend turning out to be a deceitful lunatic, The Wrong Blind Date's cast can't make up for the lack of narrative sizzle. The so-so pacing makes the familiar plot points all the more recognizable and the ending is as rushed as Kevin's tiny knife of choice is unintimidating (poor weapon selection or intentional subtle Freudian metaphor? You decide!) Still, as opposed to being aggravating like The Wrong Mr. Right or painfully dull like The Wrong Real Estate Agent, The Wrong Blind Date settles for being harmlessly mediocre. If you're a big fan of the Wrong series or have enjoyed the past Lifetime works of anyone featured in this movie, it's worth checking out if you have the free time or want something to watch while folding laundry. On a scale of bad blind date experiences, The Wrong Blind Date falls smack in between being stood up and having your date turn out to be a serial killer.

Score: 5 out of 10 Metro Fitness slogans.