the audience applauded

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie is like most of the Lifetime "he/she seems nice but is really a psychopath" types that are entertaining and good for a laugh. There are some familiar Lifetime actors, including Shannon Sturges, who overdoes her phony sweetness, and Perry King and William R. Moses, both probably underrated because of their association with Lifetime movies. Michelle Greene adds spice in the scene outside the kitchen at the brother's funeral. I just wonder, since there are no goofs listed, if anyone else wondered, in one of the movie's early scenes, why Greta the housekeeper is complaining that the new wife has been mistreating her for three months, when the happy couple has returned from their honeymoon just minutes ago.

In THE PERFECT WIFE, Lesley Anne Down stars as a divorcée whose ex-husband has married a gal half his age and with something more in mind than matrimony. Turns out the new wife is seeking revenge in the death of her brother, and she believes the doctor had something to do with his death. Down starts to figure things out about halfway through, but no one will listen to her. Perry King plays the doctor, and Shannon Sturges is the new wife. No one exactly knocks themselves out in the acting department, and the plot tends to drag. Save this one for a rainy night. If you're me, you sometimes watch these things to see how much a given actor has aged.

Yes, Lifetime has a habit of making the male species look stupid. And this soap opera ain't kidding when they make Perry King, supposedly a well renowned medical doctor, unable to see the evil surrounding him. Puts your trust in doctors, huh? How can anyone not see what's going on? Is he that stupid? And the evil wife, with a face like a horse, goes around killing off his entire family without a trace. How does she acquire all the drugs? That isn't explained. How does she get off being a secretary in a hospital without any credentials? I guess the director, Don FauntLeRoy asks us to just believe it. I didn't. I kept yelling at the screen at the stupidity of King with all right in front of his face. If the wife was that attractive, maybe, just maybe, I'd accept it. But she's not even that. Shannon Sturges is the perfect wife and I tell you she has the face of a horse. I wouldn't cross the street for her, yet our perfect husband does and quickly. After everybody in the cast get knocked off, I wasn't satisfied with the come up pence given to our villainess. She deserved more than she got. William Moses plays the doctor's brother who unfortunately you know his outcome from day one. Pleasure to at least see one pretty face in this clinker. That of Lesley Anne Down. She gives the film a 2 count just on the relief of seeing someone fetching in this mess. Perry King deserved his fate. What a jerk.

Seems some made for TV movies are enjoyable. Yes, the husband is a bit of a dim bulb but Perry King doesn't overplay his naivete. In fact, that's a large part of the movie's appeal. No one overacts. Music is kept to a minimum. The plot is driven by competent acting on all parts. Good mystery. Will have you rooting for the good guy to win.