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The Scoundrel's Wife

The Scoundrel's Wife

List Price: $24.98
Your Price: $22.48
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Slow going period drama
Review: The movie is a slow-moving period drama which takes place in Louisiana at the start of America's entry into WWII. One particular military-type pokes around looking for coastal fishermen (one of which is Tatum O'Neal's character) who may be trading goods with the Germans who are sinking US ships off the coast. O'Neal's character has a not-so-hidden past which causes the townspeople to be suspicious of her and her family (which includes Lacey Chabert).

Tim Curry has the best character, and shows the best acting, as the mostly-drunk Catholic priest. Lacey Chabert was pretty good. Others were so-so.

While the movie itself was OK, the "featurette" was irritating. It consists of "soundbites" (and even has titlecards for each snippet) that are 10-20 second "soundbites" from the 4 or 5 major characters. Arg! The titlecard tells you what the person is going to talk about, and the length in seconds. The person speaks one or two sentences, then fade to black and cut to another titlecard telling us what the person is going to talk about, and the duration in seconds. This is repeated about 20 times (4 or 5 subjects per actor). Tatum is even shown in two different outfits. Talk about tedious! Even with all the filler, it is only a few minutes long.

Funny thing that the DVD cover shows a German U-Boat - the only place you'll see it. Also, the title on the cover and description on the back "The Home*Front" with a star between words. The title in the movie itself is "Home Front", and in the crappy featurette, it is listed as "The Scoundrel's Wife" and is referred to as such by Lacey Chabert.

I don't recall any language, but there is an R-rated glimpse of Tatum's tatas as she and her suspected doctor-friend do the horizontal bop, and Lacey is sort of naked in the bathtub for a second, though the angle is not optimum on that.

Movie is maybe 3-plus stars, with a 1-star extra.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Never knew how close WWII came to American shores!
Review: This movie is about alot of things. Most obvious is a little known piece of history. I never knew that German Uboats sunk our ships in our own waters!

It makes for an interesting premise. I am partial movies taking place during WWII. I rented this and was pleasantly surprised. The pain Camille (played by Tatum O'Neill) feels for what has happened in the past, her husband's death and the strained relations with her kids is clearly felt. Combine that with small town gossip that has demonized her family and one can see how life has been hard on her.

This movie is also about Camille's growing relationship with secretive Dr. Lenz(Julian Sands), a refugee from Europe. In my opinion, up until this movie, I believed his only good role was as George Emerson in A Room With A View. I was a big fan of his when I saw that movie, that is until I saw the other not so great movies he made.

I think he played this role quite well, not his usual hammy self. I was really worried during a few scenes about what would happen to Dr. Lenz thanks to his performance.Usually I hope for his character to meet a bad end. Makes me think of what could have been for Mr. Sands had he picked quality roles like this.

The ending.....I liked the movie and the ending wasn't all that bad. I just think it was too easily wrapped up. This is the deep South we are talking about and I actually expected a more violent end.

Though there is a scene that depicts how one prisoner of war is savagely attacked by the patriotic townfolk. Scary how many similarites this scenario has with what is going on today.

Apart from that I, did enjoy the movie and as a bonus learned a little bit about a part of history that remains unknown to most Americans.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Lacey Cabert's best work yet!
Review: While this is only the begining of what is sure to be a very successful carier in film for Lacey Chabert, without a doubt this is her best work yet. The film is an accurate dipiction of life during this era and offers a very suspensful story that gains your attention from the beginning. Each character adds to the story and work together wonderfully. Any fan of Lacey Chabert of Tatum Oneal, this is a must see.


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