In this PG-13-rated thriller, a surrogate mom (Jaz Sinclair) for a couple becomes dangerously obsessed with the soon-to-be father (Chestnut). This is a one-dimensional thriller and she's a criminally insane baby mama-nobody's feeling sorry for her, only themselves for wandering into this flick. Trying to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge nugget of a plotpoint that her abusive boyfriend manipulated her into becoming a psycho only complicates an uncomplicated concept, however. Sure, Jack Olsen's script tweaks the formula a bit, offering up the woman paid to carry a couple's baby as the aggressive villain-type and giving her a sympathetic air.
#PARKSIDE REGAL MOVIE WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS TV#
Read the whole review at Detrimentally Obsessed with The Perfect Guy from Lakeview Terrace such that it amounts to a No Good Deed, this umpteenth urban take on Fatal Attraction plays out like an archly melodramatic TV Movie-of-the-Week on the big screen. Still, When the Bough Breaks is overall a lazy if not competent thriller that could have just as effectively been directed by a board room as it has been a man for hire like Cassar. This meaning that the pieces are in place-Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall are seasoned veterans of this type of melodrama (unfortunately) and audiences can go through the motions of the film knowing the story beats that will clearly be hit and yet despite all of this being somewhat blatant rip-offs of other movies we've seen over the years both Chestnut and Hall as well as newcomer Jaz Sinclair are each more than capable of pulling anxiety and tension out of the situations they're characters find themselves in. To those points, When the Bough Breaks is a movie that will take more heat for what it stands for and represents rather than the actual content in produces. That the film doesn't bother to have any fun with its otherwise farcical tone is a shame as trying as hard as the film does to come up with credibility when all they have is camp only makes the final product that much worse. Rather, Cassar's film takes itself so seriously and genuinely yearns to be a somber drama that it just turns into a plodding and rather boring affair instead of pure trashy fun. And yet, this familiar story of seduction offers nothing new by way of cheap thrills or even openly ridiculous tension.
One might think, given these circumstances, that When the Bough Breaks might be a bit of a relief to the onslaught of tentpoles and big-budget/high concept offerings the summer movie season has just delivered in that it is (technically) an original story that remains just familiar enough to attract the necessary audience to justify its existence-not to mention it's a movie mostly made to cater to adults. Everything feels rather staged and mostly inauthentic save for a single character who seems to be the only one in this universe within which such movies as this take place that understands real struggle while everyone else walks around-money being no object-without a care in the world.
#PARKSIDE REGAL MOVIE WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS SERIES#
Director Jon Cassar has worked on many a television series which makes sense because When the Bough Breaks is very much along the lines of what the Lifetime network routinely produces. It is evident from the word go that When the Bough Breaks is campy trash, but the most critical question campy trash always has to answer is whether or not it's fun campy trash.