lymullen

"The Provocateur," or on my cable station "The Art of Passion," is not a very good Lifetime movie. The only thing that kept me going was that it was about art and started with a good song that I unfortunately could not find on youtube. I was able to find a few others including Sky, Sand & Sea by Alexandra Staseson and Yellow Daffodils by Malia feat. Eric Truffaz. Both of which are excellent. The movie, however, not so much.

There were several things wrong, first, the two stories the stalking and the supposedly steamy romance between the artist and the doctor--the plot jumps from one the other in a way that is jarring. They'll be talking about the stalking then the music will change to cue, the sultry part of the movie was back again. It was hard to invest in either plot.

I would not have minded that so much, but the lead actress played the role like she was a college student. Not a sophisticated emergency room physician.

At one point this was her dialog: "anyways what time is it at?" And she sounded this juvenile and unsophisticated throughout the movie. It almost seemed like an older man/younger woman movie, but he was only slightly older. Forties to her late 30s. Not a big enough age gap.

Now the artist was straight yummy! After a black tie event, they went to his place, and he changed into his artist's wear--unbuttoned shirt, casual trousers and picked up his sketch pad ...whew that was hot.

But it was all wasted tho. Thanks to his unconvincing love interest.

I read the reviews after watching. The actresses playing mother and daughter are close in age. It didn't bother me, although there was a close-up of Maddie once, and I thought she looked far older than 17.

I felt sorry for the teacher. I don't think they showed him getting his job back at the end.

My main issue was with the ending. I loved the beginning. Mean girl Sasha ruled the school, and newcomer Kelly decided to take her down a peg after Sasha outed her foster family as a recipient of Habitat for Humanity assistance. The "#SuckItSasha" part was fun.

Danny's premeditated death was somewhat justifiable, but a girl as streetwise as Kelly should have called the police on someone like that. The other death was a tragic accident.

Overall, I liked the movie, but the ending felt unfair. Maddie waited days to come forward about the accident, so her happily-ever-after prom ending felt unearned. And there was no resolution for Kelly at all. I think the story needed a different ending, perhaps showing Maddie's mom visiting Kelly in juvenile detention and reaffirming her forgiveness, concern, and support.