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Every now and then I forget that I’m an intelligent woman who can read books. By forgetting this, I get sucked into the horrible world of made-for-television movies on Lifetime. Oh, what a waste of a Sunday afternoon! Thanks to a tip from a friend, I wasted two hours watching a movie about stolen embryos. But that’s not the worst of it. I continued watching the next movie. And, oh, was it special.
The Last Trimester, as you may have guessed since I’m writing on this blog, was about adoption. The movie starts out in the normal horrific manner that all adoption movies touch on in some form or fashion, with the removal of a baby from the adoptive parents home due to the birth parents. I mean, these parents were in the middle of a celebratory party for the arrival of the new baby to their family and in walks Social Services! No wonder the general public thinks that these things are both the norm and that this is how it actually takes place.
After some time and some marital problems, the couple decides to adopt again. But, oh, things go wrong. Long story short(er): the adoptive father once dated the birth mother but did not tell his wife. Birth mother gets $11,000.00 out of the adoptive mother during the pregnancy, even moving in with the family. We’re also lead to believe by the powers of editing that the adoptive father is the biological father of this woman’s baby. When she ends up murdered, all fingers point at the adoptive father. The “detective” on the case turns out to be the big, scary biological father and kidnaps the adoptive mother and the baby. In the end, big gun fight and the biological father ends up dead.
Yes, that’s really the short version. I may have left out some points but my brain has been fried by “the dumb.”
Now, I can look at this movie and think, “Well, the general public can surely tell that this is a complete work of fiction.” But can they? Obviously, Lifetime doesn’t have much credibility in the world but are movies like this doing any good? “It’s just a movie” is always such a lame attempt to justify utter stupidity on screen.
The truth remains that scammers do exist in the adoption world and, yes, families need to be made aware of that fact. But I fear for potential adoptive families when movies like this are on the television. Why? Especially if a family is considering an open adoption or has a relationship with the expectant mother prior to birth, I can just imagine the potential adoptive mother’s mom calling up on the phone and telling her that she needs to get out of the house, ASAP, and change her name and .. and .. and …
It’s not adoptive families, birth parents or adoptees I’m worried about, not at all. It’s their extended family members who, by association to someone touched by adoption, think that they are experts as well when they are merely gleaning their information from media hype, bad movies and celebrity adoptions.
Anyway, consider this your warning to avoid the movie. It’s not worth your time. Also, call your mom, grandmother, aunt and best friend and tell them to either not watch the movie or not to bother you with hypothetical horror-filled questions based on the movie. It will greatly save your sanity.
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For more on movies, read these posts.
Oh my, that second one just takes the cake with convoluted relationships!!
Jenna, I made DH watch this one with me
a few months ago. It was SUCH a bad movie that we just had to HOWL because it was inane. Our favorite scene was with the emom and the potential amom jogging side by side on the treadmill. For some reason, that cracked me up.
DH’s favorite line from the movie was something that the lawyer said that was hilarious. I wish I could remember it now. Do you realize that not one single piece of paper was ever signed?
After the movie, DH was actually really, really mad at me and said, “I will never get those two hours back!”