Review of When the Bough Breaks (2016) by Michael P — 11 Sep 2016

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. 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. 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. 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.

In this PG-13-rated thriller, a surrogate mom (Jaz Sinclair) for a couple becomes dangerously obsessed with the soon-to-be father (Chestnut).

Think of it as The Heavy Hand that Rock the Cradle. She traipses around in very little clothing and compromises a stalwart family man's marriage, all the while threatening to keep or even - gasp - harm their baby. While some of these scenes could possibly elicit thrills, director Jon Cassar feels obliged to soundtrack these specific moments with an overpowering cacophony meant to hammer home the point that this is an ominous moment...as if all involved know that the story itself is incapable of doing this. Such histrionics quickly turn this intended thriller into a comedy, breaking balls when it should be breaking boughs.

Bottom line: Crock-a-Bye Baby.