Review: 'Her Stolen Past' defies suspension of disbelief

Posted Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 3:08 PM Central

by John Couture

I get it. You are supposed to suspend disbelief when you watch a movie, but every rule has its limits and Her Stolen Past dances precariously on the edge.

I also understand that I am not the target audience for this film by a long shot, so perhaps take what follows with a pinch of salt. I have very specific issues with made-for-TV movies and I'm not a huge fan of soap operas, so when they come together, I'm less than thrilled.

When her mother is killed, Sonya returns home to put her late mother's affairs in order. Among her mother's belongings, she finds the birth certificate of a kidnapped baby from years earlier and her suspicious wilds start tingling. As she starts to unravel the mystery she comes to question her own life as well as putting herself in the crosshairs of a murderer.

What the trailer above doesn't hint at is that the film is very much a harlequin romance with a whole subplot with a beefy detective. Don't even get me started on the plotholes there, let's just agree that this little diversion is silly and Lifetime was wise to excise him from the trailer.

The film debuted on Lifetime earlier this year and I suspect that it was a hit for its target demographic as it certainly checks off all the boxes for the Fifty Shades and Twilight crowd. In fact, I'm only slightly joking when I say that I was surprised there wasn't a supernatural angle in the film as well. Maybe next time.

I guess my biggest concern about the film is that it had all of the subtlety of a Nancy Drew mystery. Add on top of that the almost, but not quite "ripped from the headlines" feel and you just about hit Yahtzee with the made-for-TV tropes. Not that there's anything wrong with them, I just don't particularly enjoy them very much.

Your mileage may vary, but the acting is very wooden and will constantly remind you that you could have found something better to do with that 90 minutes. Put it this way, if you're a huge fan of Hallmark holiday movies, then you'll probably be able to tolerate Her Stolen Past. If like me, you secretly hide the Hallmark channel on your DirecTV channel guide during the months of November and December, then you'll want to steer clear of this one.

Her Stolen Past is now available on DVD.