The Preacher's Mistress (2013)

Wonderful Movie

Excellent but underrated film

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The first must-see film of the year.

Struggling single mom who has nightmares of a past abusive relationship starts dating a guy who's too good to be true. I normally don't watch these types of made-for-TV movies. I prefer the lighter ones, like romantic comedies and Christmas movies. But I like Sarah Lancaster so I decided to give this a shot. As I feared, it's not very good. All of the twists are telegraphed far in advance. I mean, the promos for this and every synopsis you find online gives out major plot elements anyway but assuming you went into this completely oblivious to all of that, I still think you'll figure everything in this movie out at least 20 minutes before the main character does. Also they hammered home how hard up she is financially to the point that it became kind of annoying. In the first half-hour they couldn't go a full scene without this chick reminding someone that she's broke as a joke. And yet she lives in a nice house, drives a nice car, wears nice clothes, etc. It was unbelievable. Oh and the Value Mart conversation between her and her friend was hilarious to me. I think this was supposed to make us relate to Sarah's character and think "Wow, this woman has to shop at discount stores! She's like people!" It's pretty funny. The acting by all involved ranges from terrible to adequate. It's not like the material is challenging but I guess people strike out in softball, too. On a superficial note, Sarah is stunningly beautiful and Natalia Cigliuti is pretty easy on the eyes, too. So there's that.

Lifetime has some of the worst movies but this is at the top , the acting was the worst, and some of these actors CAN act but not here. I was laughing all the way through, its just plain horrible, I'm going to start writing a script now and sell to lifetime, obviously they pay for anything. the scene on the top of parking garage when they kidnap girl from "Chuck" OMG could they be any worst actors in the world , I don't think so....... If this network is going to spend the money on movies for this channel its just as easy to film good movies as it is bad. and this one is bbbaaaaaad! Looking forward to Flowers in the attic at least I know there is talent in this show, why cant you keep all your movies/shows at this caliber

This movie is a delightful addition to my favorite Lifetime category which I lovingly call "Get The Bitch." It's when the lead actress finally does something so stupid that you're compelled to start rooting for the villain. This time it's when our lonely lovely is distraught enough to confront her bad-beau at his church - an idea so terrible that she then deserves everything that happens afterward - as well as before.To be clear, this movie was quite enjoyable overall as a good many of the movies in the "genre" are. A woman with a young boy becomes a damsel in slight distress and is befriended by a a man who, quite naturally, becomes her boyfriend. Of course, nothing is what it seems to her, even though we know exactly what's happening. If the title itself doesn't offer enough of a clue, "The Preacher's Mistress" is soon over her head with enough problems to last a lifetime - possibly quite literally.But while her naiveté and stupidity are actually very believable, the ending isn't, and as a viewer, that's distressing because the final scene of endangerment could have easily been done, say, as an attempt to stage suicide, with our poor mistress being saved in a nick of time by the private investigator her mother had hired to follow the no-good boyfriend.Instead, we got a preposterous denouement in which the investigator had to be idiotic enough, not to mention close enough, to allow it all to happen before our drugged heroine saves both herself and P.I. guy. Then, throw in an instant romance and roll credits.

I don't think I really have any major spoilers in this review, but to be on the safe side I have given a warning--as perhaps someone who has not seen the film might not want to know even this much in advance.This film is definitely a modern day tale--with a single, unmarried mother with a young son, struggling to try to meet the bills.The story actually starts out pretty good.Gwen works for an ins. agency, she has a mother she considers too controlling, a best female friend at the office, and she's trying to better herself by taking an on-line real estate course. In the meantime, she can't meet her mortgage. However, she refuses to consider selling the house and moving into something she could actually afford. How she was ever able to afford such an affluent house in the first place remains a mystery.Then one day, out of the blue, she has a flat tire and this nice looking man happens along and changes the tire for her. Soon they're involved in a romance. Only he isn't who he seems, neither is another character in the storyline.The problem is the writer gets a little too clever with the tale and it ends up being rather unbelievable. We also have no way out for the heroine beyond the villain spilling their guts--which I've always considered to be weak writing.We also conveniently manage to come up with a new, albeit sudden romance for the heroine by the end of the film.4 stars