A Deadly Encounter (2004)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Fresh and Exciting

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The female lead was stiff and wooden and the ex-husband was not engaging in the least. The lead's friend had all the talent you'd expect to find in a middle-school theatrical production. The lead's mother was not even in it; she looked more like a producer's assistant running lines with the lead rather than someone actually acting. Within ten minutes, I was rooting for the bad guy. It was so bad that I ended up reading a package insert from a box of sinus pills I found in the drawer of the nightstand. The possible side effects were a lot scarier than this movie.

Settling down with a cuppa for an afternoon film, the idea of a single mum being stalked by a loony driver seemed quite entertaining. How wrong I was! The single mum who works nights is run off the road by a man furious at a driving mistake she made on the road. But because her phone number is in the car window he can track her down! Therein follows a ridiculous trail of events, totally unrealistic things in the circumstances e.g. leaving her child alone ( who is never allowed to be alone )in a motel to order pizza very late at night whilst she goes to see her ex husband hoping for a reconciliation. The sex scene here was totally unnecessary to the plot of the film.The ending was just silly! And there is a very obvious time goof in that she leaves the motel at night and gets out of the car in the daylight.

A lame ending and some silly plot elements take the zing right out of what could have been a decent enough made-for-T stalker movie.Laura Leighton may never win an Oscar, but she deserves better material than this lazy effort. A first year film student could have written a more sensible and more gripping script than this, and almost anybody over the age of puberty could have scripted a better conclusion.The premise of a furious driver stalking a fellow motorist who cut him off on the freeway is reasonable, if over-the-top considering the two did not actually have an accident. Some people are nuts (for want of a more politically correct word), and extreme road rage is not unknown. However, in the world of fiction scenarios of this sort should not end in as lame and downright senseless fashion as they do in this instantly forgettable movie. And we won't even worry about some of the implausible and illogical things that happen in between - the brightest mom on the planet, this woman is not.

Not a bad MOW. I was expecting another film based on womens issues but was pleasantly surprised at the element of suspense. Sure, parts of the plot were pretty hokey but for the most part the movie kept me guessing. Was the nut bar connected with the ex husband, somebody in the tavern or was it the guy (person) that she cut off? Daniel Magder was excellent. I've seen him in Mom's on Strike and in Guilt by Association, both MOW's and he is very creditable, especially the way he challenges his mother the way a preteen would typically act.Laura Leighton also played the typical mother (ex-wife) that both men and women can relate to. She was frustrated enough to seem real.See it if you missed it. It's worthwhile.