My Stepson, My Lover (1997)

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I had "Body Heat" deja vu at the end of this film when I saw Caitlin spoon-feeding ice cream to her stepson.While it seemed like first the father, then the son, were control freaks, Caitlin is the one who's sitting pretty with all the money at the end.Could she possibly have dreamed up this whole scheme when ultra-rich Rick was medivacked to her hospital with a life-threatening heart attack? The last scene leaves you wondering.I knew this Lifetime Movie Channel flick would be better-than-average when I saw it starred Rachel Ward, who'd already done some better than average noir thrillers. I know Terry O'Quinn strictly from the Stepfather movies, which I loved, but I was a little stunned to see him regressing to type when he realizes his wife is sleeping with his son.A couple of the plot twists are a little ridiculous. Did O'Quinn really expect Caitlin to wait till he came back while he went out to murder his son? And wasn't it a little bizarre to see Caitlin allowed to visit with her stepson unsupervised in a jail cell? I did like the romantic reunion of the pair -- when he devoured her spoonful of oatmeal (or whatever it was) and then her...I'm not ashamed to admit I watched this film twice to try to prove my "Body Heat" theory...I'm not exactly convinced, but I was never bored.

Unfortunately, a 1 is the lowest rating you can give, and for this movie, a 1 is what I call generous.**This will contain spoilers** I've seen enough Lifetime movies to know better than to expect quality movies. Sometimes, I'm pleasantly surprised, other times, they're mediocre, but never have I seen one so disgusting, nor have I ever been subjected to such horrible acting.Let's start with this woman, Caitlin, who grows tired of her new husband being away on business. For the first half of the movie, she's tempted to have an affair with her stepson. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she just suddenly decides to go over to his cabin and start an affair with him upon her husband leaving her yet again.Move along to the night her husband discovers their affair. She follows him to her stepson's cabin and finds her husband's body. Does she scream? No. Does she cry out, "Oh my GOD!"? No. She merely looks like she just a terrible movie (pun intended) and runs away. However, when his death is confirmed by a doctor, she gets frantic and starts to cry. Now let's be serious, if you saw someone laying on the ground with their head surrounded by a pool of blood, would you think they're alive? And even if you did think they were, you'd still be hysterical, no? Making our way to the trial, instead of hoping her husband's murderer is convicted, she sits there with a smug look on her face every time the defense attorney makes valid points in her stepson's favor...but of course, she still claims to have "loved her husband." As the trial progresses, she's informed that unless the gun is found, her stepson will be found guilty. So she goes back to the cabin and whoops, she finds the gun there, although the police looked several times...so the policemen searching were either blind, incompetent...or both.Upon finding the gun, she gets to testify on her stepson's behalf...how sweet. She gets up there, acts all nervous, complete with acted all flustered when asked to raise her right hand to be sworn in. Furthermore, she's questioned by the defense attorney while giving the most deplorable "woe is me" act I've ever seen.Her stepson's jury deadlocks and he's released, and what a surprise, they go back to their sleazy affair. One night, back at the cabin, she suddenly gets this urge to feel around the top of a drawer and oh look, she finds the key to her husband's gun box! A key her stepson claimed he didn't have. So she calls her stepson's attorney. Not the police...not the prosecutor...but the attorney that got her stepson off. He tells her to leave immediately and come to see him, so where does she go? Back to the cabin, of course. Her stepson comes out of nowhere. They exchange words (which happens to be when the acting is at its worst) and he attacks her, but the klutz falls off the same balcony as his father. Again, she sees the body, and merely stares. No screaming, no panicking, nothing.The movie ends with the implication that Caitlin marries her surviving stepson (as if it's likely that someone would survive such a fall) and his former lawyer comes to visit them and watches her feed him, as he's crippled. Now, you'd think that this would seem abnormal to an attorney who just received a phone call from the woman about how her stepson killed her husband, but instead, he just sits there having dessert with them.The movie makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and never should have been made to begin with. And to be honest, one of the biggest contributing factors to it being to despicable was this woman's lame attempt at a southern accent.

"Made for TV" is a pretty good synopsis, and the title, "My Stepson, My Lover" doesn't leave a lot to the imagination. ** some SPOILERS ** We find out during the murder trial that mom had died of an overdose, son blamed father, "Rich", and hated him. Along comes new, younger and attractive, wife who son seduces while she is helping him build a cabin on the lake while very wealthy father is traveling on business. Son makes sure father knows about it, gets him in a rage, kills him in a push onto the rocks, plants gun, gains a dismissal at trial, when his stepmom finds out truth is upset, and in a cheesy ending a brief struggle has son fall onto rocks, survives as a paraplegic, last scene she is shown feeding him ice cream, as a nurse also feeds him using a syringe and a tube down his throat.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** I remember watching this made for TV movie when it first came out in 1997. I believe it came on the USA cable network. Just by seeing the previews and hearing the title, it was easy to figure out there probably wouldn't be much of a good story to this movie. And I was right, the story just flat out sucks. Looks like this movie was penned by ex-Baywatch writers. To sum it up, a rich dude has a heart attack, pretty nurse(Rachel Ward) takes care of him, rich dude then dates and marries said pretty nurse. Nurse then has an affair with her stepson who is an incredibly good looking young stud. Young stud and the hot older nurse who is also his step mom then get entangled in a murder plot that involves young stud's father, aka her husband, blah, blah, and more blah blah. To show you what I mean by the awful writing, they have the stepson ride up on horseback to reinforce his "studliness". Oooooh look the writers are giving us symbolism!!! This kind of lazy and incompetent writing is just flat out insulting. So the plot is forgettable.BUT, I was hoping this film would make up for lack of a good story with some steamy sex scenes with gorgeous Rachel Ward! Unfortunately, there are barely any sex scenes in this film. I realized we wouldn't get any nudity in this made for basic cable TV film, but I thought there could still be some passionate moments with Rachel and Joshua Morrow. Again, what they do show is very dissapointing and mostly takes place off screen with the characters. There's barely any sex or moments of passion in this film. It is interesting to note that Morrow who played Eric was only about 21 or 22 when this movie was made! That's 18 years younger then Ward herself!! Anyway, if you were hoping for some steamy sex scenes from a hot older woman and a good looking younger guy, like I was, then you will be VERY dissapointed. There's barely anything here to get excited about. Oh and the plot? Well like I said, it's just a big BLAH.