Sex & the Single Mom (2003)

Expected more

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Many Lifetime flicks contain the spouse with the "hidden past," the psychotic neighbor or babysitter or student, who usually whacks a few folks and at the climax wields a carving knife at the hero or heroine. Most of the balance of the network's offerings are like this one: all sorts of romantic, sexual and family angst amount the personnel in the cast.Here, Gail O'Grady (moving-up on Meredith Baxter in this genre), and her daughter deal with all sorts of feminine romantic problems, but if there is any relationship to "real life," I didn't see it.Everyone has problems, and they all have a significant depth to the person(s) dealing with them, and one has to deal with them as they occur, and proceed onward.If real-life problems can sometimes occur in what might be termed "ten-foot square by a mile deep," Gail's problems here, as with most femme leads in this type of offering, seem to be "a mile wide and three feet deep." One follows another, and there is no way to empathize either with her or her daughter in any realistic manner.And where the female characters here are shallow and somewhat vacuous, the males (typically on Lifetime) are doophuses, and (if possible) even more shallow.The actors are pleasant in appearance, C-level in terms of material and performances, and while the subject matter is not unimportant, the way it is presented here is.P.S. I saw this flick on a weekend morning. Was doing some other things, and another person was watching, and my fascination was in it mediocrity. The sequel, "More Sex..." had begun, and about a half-hour into it, I noticed the former lover who had impregnated her, and had earlier announced his returning to his wife (but only after "messing-up" the bed clothes with her in their hotel room) appeared at her door, announcing a now impending divorce. He was in process of wondering why she hadn't informed him of "his son," and wimping about, just as we had to leave. However, had I not had to leave the set then, I'd have changed channels. From this point I'd have preferred somebody stick a knitting needle into my eye rather than having to endure whatever the remaining 1-1/2 hours had in-store.

I saw this one when it came out, then again last night with the new sequel, and just had to comment.I really like Gail O'Grady and I think she does a good job with her character. The daughter is also well played and is a fairly realistic portrait of some 15 year olds (I have one myself, fortunately she has a much better self concept than Sara!) The situation is interesting, with Jess being a little more than mildly hypocritical, and Grant Show is certainly nice to look at. Those are the good parts...On the bad side, Jess's neighbor is not to be believed. I don't know ANY moms who would let their teenage son, in the age of AIDS and other nasty STDs, "do it" at home because "he's going to do it somewhere". Give me a break.Then there's the whole unbelievably rosy "I can do it all" ending. SURE, ANYONE can have a baby, go to law school, and continue their successful paralegal career uninterrupted! SURE, EVERY 15 year old is willing to sacrifice her all-important social schedule to care for Mom's new baby and, sure, good old Grandma will gladly sacrifice her peaceful golden years to babysit that little guy every day! We'll just buy two of everything and she'll pitch right in. MY MOTHER would have been on the first plane out of town!! Oh well, you have to take it for what it is: a guilty pleasure. Lifetime Movies are kind of like junk food: you know they can't POSSIBLY be good for you, but you just can't help yourself!!

A Good movie though the script does get a bit hokey at times. It's not trying to change the world, just share a story. O'Grady & Show as the lead characters share quite an electrical chemistry & the 2 are a great pair on screen. It's as if they "know" each other! O'Grady is a beauty & Show is a babe! What a team! From a literary standpoint, there are some incredible themes and the filming of the parallel themes of the the mother rediscovering her sexuality while her daughter begins to discover hers, are well done. The mother/daughter relationship overtones, not just between O'Grady's character & her young teen, but between O'Grady & her mother, were interesting, realistic & could have been further pursued a bit. Over all, it's a chick flick, but a good flick!

When I first saw a perview for this movie on Lifetime, I figured that it would just be another cheesy, fake, annoyingly dull Lifetime original. But because I had seen some rather intresting, and heartwarming originals, I decided to tune in. I remember lieing there in shock at how amazingly real the movie was, and how it really grasped onto some of the hardships of teen life. The lead girl, reminded me of me, Im a lot like her, and it surprised me at how real they made her character. Of course there was some scetchy scenes, like when the mother comes home, and finds her daughter in bed with her crush. It wasnt very realistic, and it seemed to be a very choppy part of the film. Other than that I suggest this movie to any teenagers who want to see a movie about real life, and that deals with issues that we really deal with. And I suggest it to adults who want to know what their kids are really doing. rateing 6 stars