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5.5/10
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As the police search for a missing pregnant woman, new evidence emerges that throws suspicion on her seemingly devoted husband.As the police search for a missing pregnant woman, new evidence emerges that throws suspicion on her seemingly devoted husband.As the police search for a missing pregnant woman, new evidence emerges that throws suspicion on her seemingly devoted husband.
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Did you know
- GoofsThe court house depicted shortly after Scott is taking in for questioning is the Regional East County Court House in El Cajon, CA which is more then 438 miles away from Modesto.
- ConnectionsReferences Good Morning America (1975)
Featured review
Average TV-movie on a notorious case
The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story is a TV-movie starring Dean Cain as Scott Peterson, the man accused of killing his 8-month-pregnant wife Laci (Meredith Lieber) and who'd had an affair with Amber Frey (Tracy Middendorf) in 2002.
The movie was filmed before the murder case against Scott had even began, so of course the movie has to be rather ambivalent in its treatment of him. That is one of the major flaws of the movie. Without a settled case, the movie really beats around the bush as to whether or not Scott did the murder or if he was just a man with a bad secret who was wrongfully accused.
For his part, Dean Cain plays the role well with hints of guilt, but the part was scripted as such it seems and he is not an endearing character. He could have been more convincing early in the script, before the revelation that he was a suspect, then shown as more conniving. From the get-go, his character just shows too many guilt signs and ever action of his says "look at me, this is a warning sign" instead of being more subliminal early.
In all, there is a complete lack of a true central character. Laci is non-existent as a character in the movie, mostly just referred to in the past tense. The parents, rightfully so, share a large portion of the screen time and most of the sympathy of the viewer. But there are a lot of useless actors with bit roles (investigators, for instance) in the script to keep it true to the real-life people instead of amalgamated into a few more meaningful, dramatized characters.
Overall, a lackluster effort and a movie made too soon with no real connection to the murdered individual. It just seems like the TV movie that it is instead of something more. 5/10
The movie was filmed before the murder case against Scott had even began, so of course the movie has to be rather ambivalent in its treatment of him. That is one of the major flaws of the movie. Without a settled case, the movie really beats around the bush as to whether or not Scott did the murder or if he was just a man with a bad secret who was wrongfully accused.
For his part, Dean Cain plays the role well with hints of guilt, but the part was scripted as such it seems and he is not an endearing character. He could have been more convincing early in the script, before the revelation that he was a suspect, then shown as more conniving. From the get-go, his character just shows too many guilt signs and ever action of his says "look at me, this is a warning sign" instead of being more subliminal early.
In all, there is a complete lack of a true central character. Laci is non-existent as a character in the movie, mostly just referred to in the past tense. The parents, rightfully so, share a large portion of the screen time and most of the sympathy of the viewer. But there are a lot of useless actors with bit roles (investigators, for instance) in the script to keep it true to the real-life people instead of amalgamated into a few more meaningful, dramatized characters.
Overall, a lackluster effort and a movie made too soon with no real connection to the murdered individual. It just seems like the TV movie that it is instead of something more. 5/10
helpful•44
- tcdarkness
- Feb 14, 2004
Details
- Runtime1 hour 24 minutes
- Color
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Top Gap
By what name was The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story (2004) officially released in Canada in English?
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