Lifetime Review: 'The Wrong Housesitter'

Recently moved into his dream house and preparing for a business trip to New York, Dan Settel (Jason-Shane Scott) finds himself in need of a housesitter when his girlfriend Mary (Ciarra Carter) has to bail for a work matter of her own. By chance, Dan runs into housesitter Kristen Turner (Anna Marie Dobbins) at a bookstore, leading Dan to hire her. At first, Dan sees Kristen as a perfectly friendly young woman, and thinks nothing of the contract she has him sign before he leaves. After all, it's just a simple work agreement form.

But after returning home, Dan finds that his seemingly perfect housesitter has decided she's not going anywhere. She also reveals the "work contract" he signed was a lease, and now Dan will have to go through a lengthy and costly process if he wants to evict Kristen from his home. Unwilling to give up his dream house, Dan tries to tolerate the unwanted presence. But Kristen doesn't just want a roof over her head--she wants Dan, and has some more tricks up her sleeve to get him.

In preparation for the next soon-to-be premiered film in David DeCoteau's "Wrong" saga (The Wrong Wedding Planner), I decided to go back and check out the only film in the series I hadn't reviewed yet: The Wrong Housesitter. Starring reliable "Wrong" regulars Jason-Shane Scott and Vivica A. Fox, as well as Stalked by My Doctor: Patient's Revenge star Anna Marie Dobbins, it would seem a recipe for success. Unfortunately, like The Wrong Boy Next Door, The Wrong Housesitter is weighed down by its paint-by-numbers story and a conclusion that fails to end things on a satisfying note. In addition to some other issues, The Wrong Housesitter fails to reach the levels set by the stronger films in DeCoteau's saga.

Of all the issues found with this film, the most damning comes in the form of its poorly defined villain. After giving such a stellar performance in her debut Lifetime movie, seeing Anna Marie Dobbins saddled playing such an underwhelming villainess in her sophomore role is discouraging. The biggest problem is that we're given no insight into Kristen and why she acts the way she does. She gets the briefest of backstories, and even then, it's not presented in a way to where you can't tell if it's true or if it's just another lie of Kristen's. As such, we never get to know what causes Kristen to become obsessed with Dan, why she's chosen the unique method she employs when worming her way into his life, or what even caused her to become so unstable in the first place. Additionally, it takes so long for Kristen to go from being a pest to a full-blown nutcase that she never emerges as a true threat--with her final moments only cementing this flaw. Overall, she's the female equivalent of John Link: a flat and underdeveloped antagonist who ends the movie on a particularly low note.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

Another aspect that solidifies Kristen's weakness as a villainess also acts as a flaw for the movie as a whole: how she exits the movie. After finally showing a willingness to kill to have Dan, Kristen seems geared up for an epic confrontation between Dan and Mary when she goes to stab Dan with a knife and Mary comes on the scene. But what does this raving madwoman do in response to her romantic rival storming in? She runs away. Yes, in a similar vein to The Wrong Tutor, our obsession-driven villainess decides to flee without putting up a worthy fight, though this case comes off as the most insulting as it leads into an even more abrupt conclusion than Wrong Tutor's.

Spoilers Over

Despite the flaws of her character, Dobbins still manages to provide a strong performance. She gives Kristen the kind of arrogant and taunting attitude akin to a teenage Regina George wannabe, unfettered by her morally bankrupt actions and believing herself entitled to Dan's affections. It's an attitude that could've worked well as a juxtaposition against Kristen's more sinister crimes, but this is unfortunately an avenue that goes unexplored by a lack of truly sinister crimes (which is surprising, given how this avenue was explored in 2019's The Wrong Stepmother). The rest of the cast follows in Dobbins' footsteps, and in most cases, are given much more defined characters to work with.

David DeCoteau regular Jason-Shane Scott brings his usual amount of charm to Dan Settel, with Dan being memorable for his attitude to Kristen's scheming. While obviously uncomfortable with her coerced occupation of his home, Dan refuses to tolerate Kristen's unwanted advances or allow her head games to drive him out of the dream house he worked so hard for. It makes him an admirable and sympathetic protagonist, and makes Kristen's later efforts to sabotage his relationship upsetting after he feverishly assures Mary he did nothing to provoke Kristen's obsession. Scott is joined by budding "Wrong" saga regular Ciarra Carter, with the pair bringing charming chemistry to Dan and Mary's relationship and Carter giving Mary the same charm on her own. SPOILER ALERT Sadly, Mary's character takes a hit when she falls for Kristen employing the classic "Drugged and Incriminatingly Photographed" tactic to trick her into thinking she and Dan are sleeping together. Given how visibly drugged Dan is in said photos and how proactive Mary was before in helping Dan try to take down Kristen, this sudden swerve was a frustrating development. Thankfully, it doesn't become as aggravating as it could've been and doesn't last for too long. Spoilers Over

Vivica A. Fox forms platonic chemistry with Scott as Dan's easy-going boss Debbie, and brings her usual charisma as she injects a bit of humor into the film. Fellow "Wrong" saga familiar faces Tracy Nelson and Hilary Shepard also appear in minor roles, with Nelson playing lawyer Brenda with a mix of firmness and compassion. Her final moments are also marked with an uneasy sense of poignancy that Nelson brings to life. Shepard, on the other hand, is left with an annoyingly flat character in the form of enigmatic neighbor Tracy. SPOILER ALERT The fact that Brenda gets killed off soon after she's introduced (and before she can become a true ally to Dan and Mary) and Tracy is soon after dispatched before she can make any impact or develop a clear reason for being a part of the movie makes it seem that both characters were written purely to serve as cheap Kristen kills. And given the effort Nelson puts into giving her character a little personality and depth, seeing her character be completely forgotten about after her death rubs salt in the wound. Spoilers Over

Apart from its unique "Tricked Into a Lease" component, The Wrong Housesitter doesn't pull many punches in its otherwise standard "Woman Obsessed" story, and the fact that it takes such a long time to get into such a formula-driven tale (the film dedicates a good 5 minutes to Kristen simply browsing and tidying up Dan's already fairly immaculate house) only making matters worse. Had The Wrong Housesitter done more to transform Kristen from nuisance to fearsome psychopath or gone a different route with its unique setup, the movie might've become a better vehicle for its talented cast. But alas, the film buckles under a restrained plot, subpar pacing, and a conclusion that feels like a rush job. Hopefully, The Wrong Wedding Planner will prove to be a redemptive film for the "Wrong" franchise.

Score: 5 out of 10 Golden Chef deliveries.