Lifetime Review: 'Your Boyfriend is Mine'

Synopsis:

Struggling to make ends meet while working towards completing veterinary school, Ben Howard (Jamie Roy) has joined a male escort service to pay off his student loans. It's while working at a party that he meets Amanda Roberts (Eli Jane), a beautiful and successful businesswoman who takes an immediate shine to Ben. So much so that, when she runs into him again, Amanda offers Ben a lucrative position as her home manager/assistant. While Ben's girlfriend Calli (Brey Noelle) isn't too fond of the idea, Ben can't turn down the easy money and accepts Amanda's offer. Little does he know how much he'll come to regret not listening to Calli. Amanda isn't just interested in having Ben as an employee. She's become obsessed with the man and wants him all to herself--even if she has to force him to be hers.

Story:

Grab a drink and your favorite takeout, because this one's a slow burner. The first half of the movie follows Ben as he goes about working for Amanda, unaware of the psychotic colors Amanda has already shown to the audience. The second half of the film takes the plot down a tense route reminiscent of a certain Stephen King novel. While the latter part of Your Boyfriend is Mine is suspensefully engaging, the former has the potential to bore and/or frustrate you. It's not long into the movie that Amanda starts making it clear how unstable she is, so watching Ben continue to work with her is rather baffling. Even accounting for his money problems, it's unbelievable that Ben would keep working for Amanda once it becomes clear she's unhinged and looking to seduce him. If you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get through the sluggish first half, the second is more likely to keep your attention from waning.

Characters:

The characters are where most of Your Boyfriend is Mine's problems lie, as their actions sometimes make it hard to sympathize with them. Ben may be a lovable guy, but his naivete regarding Amanda is sure to get under your skin. At least the script does a little something to keep Ben's actions somewhat within the realms of possibility. In addition to his financial woes, Ben is established as a people pleaser--something that Amanda frequently uses to her advantage. And despite her transparent villainy cutting away at her believability as a seductress, Amanda's character is also given some shades of depth. Her backstory explains her attachment issues and her relationship with her brother Walker indicates she has a history of using deceit and manipulation to control the men in her life.

Calli, meanwhile, is immune to Amanda's wicked allure and thus can see her for what she is. But that intelligence dips when the plot needs it to, resulting in Calli falling for Amanda's obvious ploy to sabotage her and Ben's relationship. Thankfully, Calli gets to redeem herself for that moment of genre blindness by letting her inner badass come out in time for the final act. Side characters Walker and Harrison (Ben's co-worker friend) only get a few scenes, with Harrison's involvement in the story being so slight he might as well have not been there at all. Walker's role is much more substantial and he gets a cathartic scene where he finally stands up to his lying sociopath of a sister.

Acting:

The cast doesn't give a good first impression when Your Boyfriend is Mine is starting out. Everyone's delivery feels flat and stilted, and it's a feeling that comes and goes throughout much of the film. Eli Jane's delivery is consistently the weakest. She's especially wooden during Amanda's first interactions with Ben, making it hard to believe he wouldn't want to get away from her at the first available opportunity. Jane's performance works better once she stops pretending to be anything less than a deranged lunatic, but her stiffness remains.

Jamie Roy suffers from all the same issues as Jane, but he also improves when the third act hits. While you might cringe seeing Ben fall so easily into Amanda's clutches, he doesn't deserve what happens to him and Roy will have you feeling for Ben as Amanda puts him through the physical and emotional wringer. Brey Noelle powers through her wobblier moments and makes Calli the most sympathetic of the three primary characters, especially once Calli starts working to save Ben from his demented employer. Jesse Malinowski gives a consistently emotive performance as Amanda's put-upon brother while Derek McDonnell does what he can to inject a touch of charm into Harrison's otherwise paper-thin personality.

Overall:

While the last half of Your Boyfriend is Mine is comparatively less boring than the first, it's not enough to truly counteract the stagnant pacing and faulty acting/character writing. Ben is often too dense to root for as a protagonist while Amanda's strength as an antagonist is hampered by Eli Jane's subpar performance. It's not a total snoozer once you get into the juicier meat of the story, but Your Boyfriend is Mine still fails to reach the heights set by other Lifetime films that center around crazed villainesses.

Score: 4 out of 10 blackberry brie omelets.