Grandma Knows Best
Ray (Brandon Barash) and Alicia (Amanda Clayton) couldn't be more over the moon when she gives birth to their first child who they name Hannah. But when they return home Alicia's mother, Joan (Patrika Darbo - Patrika Darbo), visits and doesn't think the baby looks like either of them, something which Alicia can't stop thinking about especially as she struggles to calm Hannah when she cries. On visiting the doctors they discover Hannah is suffering drug withdrawal symptoms which whilst Alicia had a problem with prescription medication in the past had been clean for more than year before becoming pregnant. As Alicia continues to struggle and with Ray's support they return to the hospital where after running a DNA test they discover that Hannah is not their child and on examining CCTV footage discover the baby was switched by a man. Now Alicia and Ray must do all that they can to retrieve their baby unaware that the man who switched babies is involved in paid illegal adoptions.
"Cradle Swapping" is another one of those made for TV movies which makes the mistake of telling the audience too much to soon. In this case the early scenes first show the bad guy, Tony, telling his pregnant girlfriend not to get attached as the baby is up for adoption and a few scenes later when the woman is giving birth we see his anger when she is told the baby is born with her drug addiction. As such you know that Ray and Alicia's baby will be swapped with the drug addicted one and of course that will lead to recriminations from Ray initially believing that Alicia's previous addiction to pain medication might be at fault. And then when the truth comes out we have the desperate attempt to find their actual baby. "Cradle Swapping" is the sort of movie which when the pieces are put in to place so early on it basically writes itself.
The thing which "Cradle Swapping" has going for it is the casting of Amanda Clayton and Brandon Barash. Now on one hand Clayton plays the typically distraught mum but her outbursts are not hysterical they are pure moments of gut wrenching emotional rage and they make for powerful scenes. But then you have Barash who plays Ray as much calmer who rather than being unsupportive is right behind his wife and is very much leading the way when it comes to finding the guy who switched their baby.
What this all boils down to is that "Cradle Swapping" is a nice variation on the familiar storyline of a baby switched at birth with not just the whole addicted baby side of things making it more interesting but also the supportive role which the husband plays in this.
