Lifetime Review: 'Trapped With My Husband'

Synopsis:

When Melissa (Camille Stopps) first met Kevin (Jacob Richter), it was like something out of a movie. After rescuing her from a would-be mugger, Kevin swept Melissa off her feet, and a year later, they were husband and wife. But now, the spark is gone and Melissa's Prince Charming has become a deceitful two-timer exploiting Melissa for her money. After learning about Kevin's twisted past as a swindler, Melissa tells her husband their marriage is over and she wants him out of her life. But Kevin, being in debt to some shady associates, doesn't intend to vacate the house until he gets the money he needs. With Melissa unable to legally evict Kevin from their marital home, the following days become a vicious back-and-forth, with the former lovebirds doing everything they can to drive the other out of the house. Things go from bad to worse, however, when Kevin turns up dead and Melissa is left as a prime suspect. Will Melissa be able to clear her name and find the real killer amidst her late husband's circle of enemies?

Story:

With Kevin's murder not being committed until an hour into the movie, Trapped With My Husband's plot takes a while to get moving. While there are a few bits of actions scattered throughout the opening act, it's mostly devoted to the rising conflict between Melissa and Kevin. While it's not a painfully boring first act, it may not be enough to hold your interest. Thankfully, Kevin's murder and Melissa's efforts to prove her innocence give the film the boost of energy it needs, culminating in a taut finale that contains a few well-handled plot twists. In short, while Trapped With My Husband gets off to a bumpy start, it goes out with a strong finish.

Characters:

While she makes the usual amount of Lifetime heroine mistakes, Melissa Crawford is an overall sympathetic protagonist. Hit with the double whammy of finding out her husband's a con artist and a cheater, Melissa gives Kevin a well-earned piece of her mind and fights to get him out of her life. Fierce and unwilling to let her treacherous husband ruin her, you'll cheer Melissa on both before and after Kevin turns up dead. Admittedly, though, you're sure to do a facepalm in the final act when Melissa makes the classic bonehead decision to confront someone she believes is capable of murder alone, unarmed, and without calling for police backup. What makes it even worse is that she does this right after saying she was going to the police with evidence she'd found. But since it leads into the movie's stellar climax, it's an error in judgment worth overlooking.

Kevin, meanwhile, is your standard conniving Lifetime husband who's as haughty as he is traitorous. We know what he is from the very beginning, and he only gets worse once Melissa discovers the truth herself. Slimy and unwilling to give up on the money he was hoping to bilk out of Melissa, Kevin quickly proves he won't let anything stop him from getting what he wants. Sadly, it's not long after the depths of Kevin's cruelty are shown that he winds up murdered, leaving his character's sinister potential to be underused. But at least he gets better treatment than Quinn, a woman from Kevin's past who initially looks like she might add some drama to the goings-on between him and Melissa. But instead, she's only there to fill Melissa and the audience in on just how much of a scoundrel Kevin is. As for Melissa's co-worker allies Mary Ann and Cameron, the former barely gets to do anything and the latter's crush on Melissa doesn't go anywhere and at times feels a little creepy.

SPOILER ALERT Lastly, there's Grace and Lauren Jenkins, Melissa's nutcase neighbors. Before the climax, they might appear to be an average pair: a rebellious daughter and her exasperated mother. It's once the third act starts that it becomes clear they're both actually deranged. Grace's reveal as Kevin's killer is easy to predict and Lauren's transformation from overstressed mother to merciless psychopath is pretty abrupt. But when these characters let their claws out for the big finish, all of that is made forgivable. Grace proves to be the more compelling of the Jenkins women, in no small part due to how subtly tragic she is. She ruins her life over a man who only saw her as a cheap fling and it would seem things could've been different for Grace had Lauren gotten her daughter some much-needed mental help. It's clear during the climax that Lauren is the true ruthless mastermind while the mentally broken Grace is just along for the ride. Expect to feel bad for Grace once all is said and done. Spoilers Over

Acting:

Camille Stopps gave a decent performance in her last Lifetime movie and she does just as well here. She does a good job making you root for Melissa as she works to reclaim her life after having it derailed by a disastrous marriage. Jacob Richter, on the other hand, makes it easy to hiss as Kevin's true colors come out in full force. He delivers Kevin's sleazy arrogance with just the right amount of sliminess. Malube Uhindu-Gingala and George Krissa are solid enough in the underutilized roles of Mary Ann and Cameron, as is Stopps' Galentine's Day Nightmare co-star JaNae Armogan in the even more underutilized role of Quinn. Unexpectedly, Henry Alessandroni makes a memorable impression as Clyde, one of Kevin's shady associates. Alessandroni plays the brutish bookie with an odd sense of charm. Even as he's threatening Melissa, Clyde is surprisingly reasonable and Alessandroni plays him in a way that suggests he's nowhere near as cold-blooded as Kevin.

SPOILER ALERT But speaking of evil characters, Paige Evans and Dawn Lambing do a fantastic job as malicious mother-daughter duo Grace and Lauren. Evans leaves you with no doubt there are a few screws loose in Grace's head while Lambing plows headfirst into Lauren's psychotic commitment to covering up her daughter's tracks. Evans also makes sure to keep Grace's sympathetic qualities in mind with her performance. Between the halfway-catatonic way she depicts Grace during the finale and the way she portrays Grace's heartbreaking reaction to accidentally killing her mother, Evans will have you hoping the pitiable villainess gets the counseling she needs after her off-screen arrest. Spoilers Over

Overall:

While it doesn't start off on the best foot, Trapped With My Husband doesn't keep the viewer trapped in a monotonous plot cycle for long. Right when the cat-and-mouse routine between Melissa and Kevin starts wearing thin, the latter's death (ironically) brings the story back to life long enough to sustain itself until the tension-brimmed conclusion. The acting is consistently steady, with two performers in particular being responsible for the last act being as great as it is. So as long as you can stay invested throughout the semi-sluggish first half, Trapped With My Husband has enough delicious mayhem hiding within its second half to make the wait worthwhile.

Score: 7 out of 10 tapas restaurants.