Ping Pong Obsession
After the death of her husband, Sarah (Andrea Bogart - The Wrong Neighbor) and her daughter, Allie (Sierra McCormick - Twisted Sisters), move to a new home and starts a new job at the retirement home where her mother-in-law, Gladys (Beth Broderick), lives. And it doesn't take long for Sarah to find herself with a male admirer in Mike (Trevor St. John - The Neighborhood Nightmare), the self-appointed head of the neighbourhood watch, who immediately takes a shine to her. But for Sarah she is more interested in Chris (Rocky Myers), a handsome fireman whose mother is a friend of her mothers. Trouble is that Mike has it in his head that he is destined to be with Sarah and nothing is going to stop him.
There was a time where every new TV movie I came across I would hurriedly watch and review. But these days it is very hard to muster that sort of enthusiasm and movies such as "The Neighborhood Watch" are a reason why. Before you are even a third of the way through the movie we witness that Mike is infatuated with Sarah, imagining sharing her bed and a hot tub with her. It means we know that when it comes to other people being in Sarah's life, such as hunky Chris, Mike will be jealous and dangerous. It tries to add some variety to things with a neighbour who is obsessed with Mike and wants to date him but it never really stops "The Neighborhood Watch" being about Mike being creepy, delusional and with access to Sarah's house.
But "The Neighborhood Watch" has one thing going for it, lots of characters from the main focuses to Julia who is obsessed with Mike, then there is Allie who meets a handsome neighbour and let's not forget Gladys. It isn't that the movie creates any sense of doubt as to what is going on when it comes to the characters but you do wonder what part they will play when things start to get crazy, which of course they will with not only danger but a revelation. In fact the movie gets a little crazy earlier than you expect with a hilarious game of table tennis.
What this all boils down to is that "The Neighborhood Watch" at its heart is a pretty standard made of TV movie involving an obsessed character. But it does have some interesting ideas and scenes, some more entertaining for being wrong than right.
