'Til Lies Do Us Part (2007) starring Paula Trickey, Al Sapienza, Thomas Calabro, Cynthia Preston, Felix Pennell directed by Robert Malenfant Movie Review

'Til Lies Do Us Part (2007)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Paula Trickey and Thomas Calabro in 'Til Lies Do Us Part (2007)

Trickey Detective

Both Michael Douglas and Clint Eastwood have had to deal with possessive women in their movies but here is a movie with a possessive man. "'Til Lies Do Us Part" features a private investigator who becomes delusional about a woman who hires him because she suspects her husband of having an affair and he turns into a bit of a bunny boiler when it comes to her. It's not a bad idea and could make for a decent big budget thriller except "'Til Lies Do Us Part" is a TV movie and as such suffers from over acting and a script which takes short cuts to get to where it needs to be.

Trey (Thomas Calabro - Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus) and Leeza (Paula Trickey - McBride: Murder Past Midnight) have been married for 10 years but with Trey's business bringing him in to regular contact with his ex Jeanette (Cynthia Preston), Leeza is becoming concerned that maybe there is something going on. After seeking advice from her friend Leeza calls upon the services of a private investigator, Ethan Woods (Al Sapienza), to try and discover the truth as to whether Trey has been unfaithful or not. Unfortunately for Leeza Ethan is delusional and falls in love with her, going above and beyond to remove Trey from the picture by any means so that he can take his place.

Al Sapienza as Ethan Woods in 'Til Lies Do Us Part (2007)

I actually think the storyline to "'Til Lies Do Us Part" is not that bad and has echoes of "Fatal Attraction" as we have Ethan turning stalker as he tries to manipulate his way into Leeza's life. It does mean that it is also very obvious and this is one of the negatives because an opening scene establishes that Ethan has prior for turning stalker and so when Leeza hires him you already know what is going to happen. That is really the movie's weakness because it becomes far too obvious as we watch Ethan not only secretly plant cameras so he can watch Leeza but manipulate the situation to get close to her. And that weakness comes more from typical TV movie writing and direction than anything because far too often it is less than subtle in dropping hints as to what is coming.

Now this leads to where "'Til Lies Do Us Part" does fall down big time because in a way these sorts of movies are predictable by nature and so rely on good characters to draw us in but we are lacking them here. Trey and Leeza are just far too one dimensional and unbelievable that you don't really connect with them, which is partly down to the weak writing which sees Leeza accuse Trey of having an affair one minute and the next be all loving. And then there is Ethan and whilst he is creepy he is also pantomime like in his level of creepiness and it is just that little bit too over the top when he gets angry to be taken seriously. As such the performances from Paula Trickey, Thomas Calabro and Al Sapienza end up being standard TV movie fair and forgettable.

What this all boils down to is that "'Til Lies Do Us Part" is basically a switch up on the angry woman stalker storyline and has potential to be good. But because shortcuts are taken when it comes to writing and characters it ends up weak and too predictable.


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