A WEDDING TO DIE FOR FOR/DEADLY VOWS (TV movie 2017) 5.5 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:15 min

 Fred Olen Ray does Lifetime proud with this over the top, made-for-tv melodrama...

A WEDDING TO DIE FOR FOR/DEADLY VOWS (TV movie 2017) 5.5 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:15 min

BASIC PLOT: 

Charlie Dillon (Cameron Jebo) believes he's finally found the woman of his dreams! Helena (Brittany Underwood) is smart, sexy, successful, and shares his traditional values. His parents, Nancy (Kathryn Leigh Scott) & Stuart (Henry LeBlanc) couldn't be happier. Their adopted daughter, Becca (Charlene Amoia), has recently divorced, and the family is hoping this wedding will fill the hole left by Becca's failure.

Helena is a pastry chef, and even has her own business. She tends to be a bit overprotective when it comes to her baking. So, when Nancy suggests they use her friend, Mrs. Mazurek (Darleen Pickering Hummert), to cater the wedding, Helena becomes enraged. She recovers herself, but not before Becca decides her future sister-in-law might be a bit unhinged.

Becca decides to do a little investigating, and what she finds is just the frosting on the cupcake...

WHAT WORKS: 

*THE OVER-THE-TOP MELODRAMATIC ACTING IS PERFECTION It's supposed to be a cloying throw back to the 50's, and it works! Helena's 1950's dresses, the fact that baking is her life, her "old fashioned values", all of this makes it hilarious, campy fun. It's a silly, diverting caricature of a Stepford wife, except this time the Stepford wife fights back. Helena lures you in with her bonhomie, but what lurks behind her smile is something much more ominous.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: 

*SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE SOUND There is something seriously wrong with sound, when Elena talks to herself in the mirror. You can't understand a word she says. Someone should have caught, and fixed this.

*IT'S LATE ENOUGH FOR PEOPLE TO BE IN BED, BUT MRS. MAZUREK LEAVES HER FRONT DOOR OPEN?! I think every woman watching this knows that's BS! Helena comes to confront Mrs. Mazurek at her bakery. We know it's late, because she calls Nancy, but everyone but Becca is already in bed. But we're supposed to believe a woman alone at her place of business, would leave the front door open, while she's closing up? NO ONE WOULD DO THAT, especially not a 60ish woman, who's ALONE! Give me a break!

*WHEN HELENA HITS MRS. MAZUREK WITH THE ROLLING PIN, SHE DOESN'T EVEN COME CLOSE This really should have been reshot, she's not even close to her.

*BECCA IS PORTRAYED AS A SMART, STRONG WOMAN not the type of person who would put up with being the black sheep. This family treats her like crap, & favors their biological child, without even trying to hide it. I know this is done so they won't believe Becca about Helena, but it doesn't work. All it does is make the Dillon family unlikable, and for this type of melodrama, that's a fail. It would have been better if they didn't believe Becca because her recent divorce left her bitter, but she never seems bitter. Instead, it seems like they don't believe her because they don't like her, and that makes them so unsympathetic, you don't care what happens to them. That doesn't work, these are supposed to be the people you're rooting for. (This is a throwback to the original (The Perfect Bride (1991), where the whole family is mad at the black sheep sister, Laura (Kelly Preston))

*WHY WOULD BECCA TAKE GLENN'S PHONE, INSTEAD OF GIVING IT TO POLICE? Becca invites Glenn (Helena's ex brother-in-law) to come to the house, and confront Helena. Glenn turns on his recorder before he enters the house. Helena attacks him, knocks him unconscious, and the police are called. Becca finds Glenn's phone, but instead of giving it to the police, she takes it, and goes for a drive. WTF!?

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: 

*I would definitely recommend this to people who UNDERSTAND and enjoy the art form of melodrama. The director, Fred Olen Ray, is successful at making campy, over the top, fun movies, and people who don't like his stuff, should really get a sense of humor. This is not an Oscar winner, IT'S NOT TRYING TO BE! It's a remake of the 1991 TV movie, The Perfect Bride (1991), but the writers (Rolfe Kanefsky) & (Mark Sanderson) decided to go in a hyperbolic direction, exaggerating the characters almost to the point of parody. Helena is a Stepford wife - with a knife! It saddens me to see only a few other reviewers understood the filmmakers intentions. If you like silly, made-for-tv melodramas, you'll love this. If you like reality rooted movies, avoid at all costs.

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 full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.