DANGEROUS LIES : Monday 4th May 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'Dangerous Lies' which went live on the streaming service on 30th April and which I saw from the comfort of my own home on Monday 4th May.

'DANGEROUS LIES' is Directed and Co-Produced by Michael M. Scott in his feature film debut, although this is his 54th Directorial outing and his 24th Producer credit after numerous made for TV movies and series over the years dating back to 1983. This film has garnered generally mixed or average reviews, has a fairly brisk running time of 96 minutes, although it does play out rather like a made for TV movie rather than a fully fledged feature film.

Katie Franklin (Camila Mendes) and Adam Kettner (Jessie T. Usher) are a young married couple who are struggling to make ends meet as Katie works in a diner to earn a crust to pay off their seemingly ever mounting debt burden, while Adam is studying for his final exams that he hopes will set him up on a pathway to a successful well paid career. The opening scene shows Adam saving Katie's boss in an armed robbery at the Smile Diner where she works as a waitress, by rendering the assailant unconscious with a frying pan.

Fast forward four months after the dust has settled on the armed robbery and Katie has been hired as a carer for Leonard Wellesley (Elliott Gould) - an 88 year old wealthy single man who lives alone in a grand old house in an upmarket suburb of Chicago. Over the months Leonard has formed an attachment to Katie, and has come to value her daily visits and considers her a true friend. Their relationship is built on a mutual respect for each other, trust and responsibility. Leonard has no family, has lived in the house his whole life and has lived alone for the past thirty years since his parents died. He tells Katie in passing one day that he often hears footsteps and strange noises in the house at night, but she dismisses this. 

One day Katie opens up to Leonard about her financial woes. He responds saying that he can help her out with money, and that he has some tucked away and who else is he going to help out if he can't support a young married couple just starting out in life. Katie refuses Leonard's kind offer, and asks him to offer Adam a job instead as a gardener, when he tells her that he had a gardener a couple of years back who came and went within two weeks and was never heard from again. Adam is quickly hired to tend to the garden and mow the lawns but to keep himself scarce from the main house. A rather pushy Real Estate Agent Mickey Hayden (Cam Gigandet) comes knocking on the door and says that he has a client who has his heart set on the house, and asks to see the owner. Katie explains that the house is not for sale. Unknown to the pair, Hayden starts following them as they go about their daily business.    

Shortly after, Leonard's writes out his pay cheque for Katie sealing it up in an envelope. Upon opening the cheque before depositing it in the bank she discovers that it is made out for US$7,000. Katie is reluctant to accept it, but Adam convinces her to use the cheque to pay the already overdue bills that are due today, and pay the rest back to Leonard tomorrow, thinking that he mistakenly made the cheque out for seven thousand instead of seven hundred dollars. The next day, they arrive at Leonard's home to find him dead in his chair in the attic while listening to his old records that his parents used to play when he was younger. Before calling the authorities Adam searches through an old trunk that contains some keepsakes from Leonard's past. He also uncovers a false bottom to the trunk, and underneath finds a stash of bank notes. They call the authorities but leave the cash concealed where they found it. Later, Adam wants to take the money, after all Leonard had no family, no relatives, so who's to know? Katie is reluctant but agrees. As Adam enters the house to collect the money, he is knocked unconscious from behind by a mystery intruder, who doesn't find the cash. So they drive to the bank with close to US$100,000 in bank notes and place it into a safety deposit box.

At Leonard's funeral, which is attended by Katie and Adam only, in walks Julia Byron-Kim (Jamie Chung) who say she is Leonard's appointed lawyer who tells them about his will. Back at the house Julia advises that Katie has been left everything and hands over an official looking Last Will and Testament document as proof. The couple are both shocked and overjoyed by this sudden windfall.

Subsequently they pack up their old apartment and move into the house. Katie is reluctant to accept the inheritance, and over dinner Adam announces that he is already planning new cars for them both, a month long holiday, all the trappings of their new found wealth and splitting up their cash reserves into various bank accounts to minimise their tax implications.

Settling in to their new home, one day Hayden reappears unannounced and states again that he has a buyer who really has his heart set on the house and that money is no object. He threatens Katie, insisting that he must buy the house. She vehemently refuses and threatens to call the Police unless he leaves right now. When Adam returns from a fake phone call urging him to come to the Police Station to make a statement he tells Katie that he believes he is being followed. Katie draws the conclusion that it must be Hayden. Detective Chesler (Sasha Alexander) becomes suspicious of Adam and starts to investigate the circumstances surrounding Leonard’s death.

Later, when looking for Adam, Katie out of curiosity, ventures up to a dusty dark living space above the garage. Katie discovers a body, hidden out of view on a mezzanine, with uncashed cheques made payable to Leonard's former gardener who suddenly disappeared two years ago, Ethan Doyle, who had been shot and killed. A bag of diamonds which had become dislodged from the body falls at Katie's feet. She wants to call Detective Chesler, but Adam convinces her to keep the diamonds. He discards the decomposed body in the dead of night in a city dumpster and burns all evidence of Ethan's existence in the fireplace back at the house. However, over the next couple of days the body is uncovered, and Detective Chesler is called to the scene by the Police Officer in charge of the investigation because they found a faded old laundry ticket inside a back pack linking the body back to Leonard's address.

Detective Chesler has a private meeting with Katie suggesting that Adam and the shooter at the diner possibly knew each other. Katie's suspicions of Adam are heightened, especially after finding an empty bottle of pills that wasn't accounted for in her logbook of Leonard’s daily medications. She meets with Julia for advice and to agree the next steps. Julia warns Katie about Adam betraying her (because a windfall like they have experienced does strange things to people), and advises that the Police are getting a search warrant for their house. When they go to the bank together to inspect the safety deposit box, they find it empty. Julia suspects that Adam stole it and tells Katie to get him in the house and call her.

Back at the house, Katie confronts Adam about the money which he has laid out on the bed packing it into a hold all, urging them both to get outta there. He tells her that he researched Hayden and discovered that he is actually a jewel thief who was recently released from prison, and not the Real Estate Agent he is making out to be. They deduce that Ethan was Hayden’s partner and Hayden killed him to get his share of the diamonds, which Adam has estimated to be worth US$3M. Ethan, critically wounded, fled to Leonard’s house where he died shortly afterwards. Hayden obviously knows the diamonds are stashed somewhere in the house and is eager to find them at any cost. As Katie and Adam are preparing to leave, Hayden emerges and holds Katie at gunpoint, asking for the diamonds. Hayden and Adam face off pistols raised at each other and exchange gunfire. Both are killed. Katie rushes over to Adam, with his final words being 'in the garden' before he dies of his wounds. 

Julia then arrives on the scene and tells Katie that Hayden was the one who killed Leonard, giving him an overdose of his medication, and that the noises that Leonard heard at night would have been Hayden breaking in and searching for the diamonds. Julia reaches for Hayden's gun and holds Katie at gunpoint, revealing that she is also part of the plot. She had met Hayden during her public defender duties and orchestrated everything, including Leonard’s forged last Will, in order to get a share of the diamonds. Detective Chesler arrives in time and shoots Julia dead.

We then jump to four months later, and a pregnant Katie is weeding the garden. Detective Chesler comes by the house to advise her that the case is now closed and that Adam is taken off the suspected persons list and as such his name and reputation remains unblemished. Katie tells the Detective again, that she still has no idea where the diamonds are, and if she did she would tell. The two part ways, and Katie returns to the house but not before turning on the garden sprinkler.

'Dangerous Lies' moves along at a good pace for all of its efficient 96 minute run time, but it does feel somewhat pedestrian and much like a made for TV movie. The film offers no real surprises but it is watchable albeit contrived, and a good time waster if you're hankering after some mindless movie entertainment while in enforced self isolation. You would have to wonder how such an affable well meaning good natured intelligent young couple could become so embroiled in several murders, several more dead bodies, stolen diamonds, secretly stashed cash, a crooked lawyer, and both being threatened and held at gunpoint while still being so lucky inheriting a small fortune, a grand home and everything contained therein. Life changing on all counts indeed! The limited number of principle characters keeps the attention focused albeit in a shallow way amidst the plot twists and turns that are ultimately fairly predictable or don't go anywhere at all or remain unanswered. It's a bit like 'Knives Out', but for kids, and the title of this film is a little ambiguous.

'Dangerous Lies' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-