Secrets of an Undercover Wife (2007) starring Shawnee Smith, Michael Woods, Gordon Michael Woolvett, Lori Ann Triolo, Robert Moloney, Jane Sowerby directed by George Mendeluk Movie Review

Secrets of an Undercover Wife (2007)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Shawnee Smith as Lisa in Secrets of an Undercover Wife (2007)

Not Many Secrets

To sum up "Secrets of an Undercover Wife" is that it is a run of the mill made for TV thriller which if you are a fan of Shawnee Smith you will probably really love. Basically it is ordinary and delivers what you expect from a made for TV movie; plot holes, poor characters, standard camera work and a loose touch on reality. And that is it, there is nothing which stands out as being good or really terrible just ordinary from start to finish.

Having just said 'I do' Lisa (Shawnee Smith - Saw III) is devastated when the FBI arrest her new husband Paul (Robert Moloney) as they exit the church. The charge is fraud but also murder as a business partner was killed a year earlier. With Paul unwilling to cooperate with the FBI Lisa, with he aid of Max (Jane Sowerby), the owner of a Bail Bond firm, set about discovering the truth which leads Lisa into danger with the Irish Mafia.

Jane Sowerby as Max in Secrets of an Undercover Wife (2007)

As a movie reviewer some of the hardest movies to review are not the epics which touch your or the ones which are so bad they make you angry but the ones which are so ordinary there is little to say which is new. And so "Secrets of an Undercover Wife" is ordinary, it has an ordinary and unexciting storyline where Lisa decides it is up to her to clear her husband's name and so goes undercover at a finance company which is connected. You can pretty much see everything coming a mile off and there are few twists, well other than the box of tricks which Max seems to have at her disposal for spying. And yes the element of going undercover, from Max having Lisa become a blond to planting keystroke loggers on a computer is all very corny.

But the thing is that "Secrets of an Undercover Wife" is no better or worse than 100s of other thrillers which are made for TV. The corniness of it is expected as is the heightened drama at the end as Max comes to Lisa's rescue. Maybe if there had been some ingenious camera work or direction it would have been more exciting but there wasn't and so you have a movie which plays out in front of your eyes but rarely grabs your attention.

The one thing which may grab your attention is Shawnee Smith who some may know from the "Saw" movies. Now whilst Smith as Lisa does get into character and delivers a performance better than expected the character is just an ordinary character. It's the same with Michael Woods who plays the ominous Michael Fallon and Jane Sowerby adds a touch of humour as the cynical Max. But with out wanting to sound repetitive these are not unique characters, there is nothing which makes them stand out and be remembered.

What this all boils down to is that "Secrets of an Undercover Wife" is nothing more than a middle of the road made for TV thriller. It's only real plus point is Shawnee Smith who delivers a performance superior to what you usually see in TV movies but then with a weak character it comes to little.


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