Cradle Robber

Dating to Kill/Cradle Robber/Seduced by a Killer (TV Movie 2019) 3.7 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:48min

BASIC PLOT: Tessa (Mia Topalian) is living a charmed life. She has a close relationship with her mother, Jessica (Clare Kramer), top grades, and a boyfriend, Will (Connor McRaith) who loves her.

Her senior year couldn't be going any better, until Will suddenly dies from a bizarre poisoning. Tessa is devastated, and shuts down, closing herself off from Jessica, a mother she's usually close to. After many months of counseling, Tessa seems to be coming out of her shell. She's found a grief survivors website, and made a new friend. Tessa is keeping this new friend a secret from her mother, who is busting with curiosity. Who is the stranger (David Fumero) in Tessa's life, and is he everything he pretends to be?

WHAT WORKS: *THE WARDROBE MISTRESS DOES A GREAT JOB It's rare, in this day and age, to see people dressed well. But this movie, for the most part, has decent outfits and jewelry. It's a pleasure to see.

*THE LOCATION SCOUTS DID A GREAT JOB Except for Jessica's house being too big, all of the locations in this movie, set the stage appropriately.

*EXCELLENT TRAILER! Like most trailers from Reel One Entertainment, this trailer is fantastic (no terrible voiceovers!). Trailer created by Chris Santana

*MIDDLE OF THE ROAD COVER ART The cover art is just middle of the road, but I've definitely seen worse.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *THEIR HOUSE IS TOO BIG!

The house Jessica and Tessa live in is massive, and wa-a-a-a-y out of their price range. It's a bit much for someone who owns a hair salon, unless that salon is on Rodeo Drive.

*TESSA'S GRIEF IS NOT BELIEVABLE There should be grief consultants, just like every other kind of consultants, for movies and TV. This movie really could have benefited from some mental health consulting. Not only does Tessa not shed a single tear (hello, onion drops!), but she also acts like she lost her favorite purse, instead of her boyfriend.

*WHY DOES JESSICA GHOST CHRISTIAN?

Why does Jessica, the mother, ghost Christian, her boyfriend (Ron Melendez), after Will (Connor McRaith) dies? I know she's trying to take care of her daughter, but what does that have to do with her relationship with Christian? It doesn't make any sense at all, as people tend to rely on each other when they are in extremis.

*JESSICA'S PRETTY UNLIKABLE FOR A MAIN CHARACTER She treats her boyfriend like crap, she ghosts him first, then keeps coming to him when she needs something (a therapist referral, asking him to risk his job breaking into confidential medical files, etc.) She doesn't come across as a concerned mother, more like a selfish harpie, and a terrible girlfriend.

*JESSICA BREAKS INTO ERIC'S HOUSE AND THEN WONDERS WHY SHE GETS ASSAULTED It doesn't matter if you think he's a bad guy, or a liar, you can't break into people's homes, and not expect retaliation. I think Eric assaulting her is supposed to be a plot device showing he's dangerous. That's not what it says to me at all. It says Jessica is as obsessed, and unhinged as he is, and that's A FAIL!

*THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY WE HAVE KIDS WHO CAN'T THINK FOR THEMSELVES Jessica does everything for Tessa, and acts like she's ten, not eighteen. It's ridiculous!

*JESSICA SAYS SHE DOESN'T WANT A GUN IN THE HOUSE WITH TESSA She's eighteen for pity's sake, I don't think that's a problem!

*THE WAY JESSICA TALKS TO THE DETECTIVE IS UNBELIEVABLE This woman has serious control issues! She demands the detective arrest a guy, who's done nothing wrong! She claims he assaulted her, he didn't, she broke into his house. She claims he killed someone, but there's no proof of that either. They'd throw her lunatic a$$ out of there!

*YOU CAN TELL THIS IS WRITTEN BY A MAN Another reviewer commented that the women in this were "man haters", I don't get that, but I do get it was written by a man. The women are all shrill, over protective harpies, and useless. This is clearly a man's perception, not a woman's. Nancy (Heather McComb) allows herself to be drug off, without a fight, begging for someone to, "help me!". Tessa (Mia Topalian) is a sharp tongued, spoiled brat, who's been ruined by an over protective mother. And Jessica (Clare Kramer) is a woman who seems to use men to fulfill her needs, and dumps on them the rest of time, always thinking life's rules don't apply to her. These are ugly stereotypes about women propagated by men, and a man, Bo Johnson, did write this. It says more about him, and his biases, than any real woman. (I wonder why he didn't add his name to the credits on IMDB, if he wasn't proud of this work? That's ok though, I added him, just so we all know who perpetuates this kind of garbage.)

*WHY IS THERE A SIX MONTH JUMP IN THE SCRIPT? There's no real need for the "Six Months Later..." jump in the script. It would make better sense if all this happened closer to Will's death. Tessa would be more vulnerable then, and poor decision making comes along with grief. Waiting six months doesn't compute, unless we're trying to hide the fact that Mia Topalian can't portray grief (it's one of the hardest emotions for actors to accomplish accurately).

*MOST PARENTS WOULD SAY IT'S TIME FOR SOME TOUGH LOVE... and they would be right. Jessica should tell Tessa, "if you want to live under my roof, there will be some house rules". If Tessa doesn't want to abide, her mother should make her leave (and stop paying for her phone and car, and demand she gets a job, when she says she's not going to college). Sometimes, tough love is the most productive and constructive type. Jessica's helicopter parenting is not believable, and not helpful.

*HOW DOES ERIC KNOW WHERE NANCY LIVES? WHY DOES HE TARGET HER?

Eric (David Fumero) shows up in Nancy's (Heather McComb) home. Why? How does he know where she lives? Why target her? If it's just to get at Jessica, that doesn't work. Jessica doesn't seem to care about anybody, except herself and her daughter.

*JESSICA IS STRONG ENOUGH TO STAND UP TO POLICE, BUT WEAK WHEN IT COMES TO DEFENDING HER DAUGHTER I'm not sure if this is a script choice, or directorial choice, but having Jessica be a relentless protector thought the movie, THEN quiver, when she has to pull a gun on Eric, is NOT BELIEVABLE! I'm sick of seeing these male writers, put forward their own prejudices. C'mon guys, really?

*WOW! A THERAPIST THAT COMES TO YOUR HOUSE?! C'mon, really? For safety reasons, most people in the mental health field, would never go to a client's home for therapy sessions. People are just too unpredictable for that to be accomplished safely, and would be a major pain in the butt driving all over town.

*WHY, OH WHY, WOULD YOU SHOOT YOUR LEAD ACTRESS WITH HER BELLY HANGING OUT?! Clare Kramer is an attractive woman, but she's obviously a woman who's had children. So, why would you shoot her, lying in her bed, with her stomach rolls hanging out? That's a terrible things to do! Shame on you Danny Buday (director) and Brooks Ludwick (cinematographer).

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *This movie had potential, but squandered it, with hateful, unlikable characters, terrible casting (a movie about grief, where the actress can't show grief), weird, go-nowhere plotlines (Jessica ghosting Christian), a bad guy, who's more of an afterthought, and over-kill, where it's not needed. If it had stuck to it's treatment (Girl attacked in college, gets away, attacker goes to mental hospital, comes back 18 years later to finish the job), it might have worked. But instead it meanders, hither and yon, and never finds it's cohesive voice. There are worse melodramas, but there are better (and far less irritating) ones too.

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.