"Cheater's Club"

I don’t know who’s been greenlighting screenplays these days, but there seems to be an awful lot of ill-conceived plots about irresponsible behavior in movies lately. We’ve covered several such flicks here at the Late Nite Landfill, including “Sol Goode,” “The Real Cancun,” and most irresponsible of all, “These Girls.”

And those are just the movies featuring young people. On top of that, there’s a plethora of films that Channel 7 runs in its late night slot that originated either late nights on Cinemax and Showtime or in prime time on Lifetime, all revolving around adults engaging in duplicitous, promiscuous and often adulterous behavior. Films like “Cradle of Lies” and “Attraction.”

The latest to hit the landfill is “Cheater’s Club.” I kid you not when I tell you that the plot involves a group therapist actually encouraging women to cheat on their husbands! This leads to all sorts of dire consequences. Intriguing that this was a Lifetime movie – where cheating is usually the idea of the man and shown for the evil it is. Perhaps the “dire consequences” were added so as not to appear to be advocating a double standard, but the very premise seems a bit dubious to me. Oh well...

This one stars Joss Whedon alum Charisma Carpenter, who has become a television veteran in a relatively short amount of time. With seven years as Cordelia Chase on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” a three-episode stint as Kira on “Charmed,”
and the recurring role of Kendell Casablancas in eleven episodes of “Veronica Mars,” Charisma has become a darling of both genre fans and the comic book cognescenti. While some actors hate being typecast in such roles, Charisma is apparently grateful for being embraced by fantasy fans. So much so that, during its checkered development history, Charisma has campaigned several times for the coveted role of Wonder Woman. And it may yet come to pass. Certainly the Phantom would approve.

Of particular note for Miss Carpenter is a role she didn’t get in the 2005 remake of “The Fog.” After Fergie bailed on playing lighthouse DJ Stevie Wayne (played by Adrienne Barbeau in the original), Charisma was considered… but not for long. Studio execs decided she was “too old” and “not popular enough”... and astonishingly, replaced her with anti-thespian Selma Blair (and if you think I’m being too harsh by using that adjective to describe her, you haven’t read my post on Selma’s movie, “Kill Me Later” )

The rest of the cast is unremarkable so I’ll refrain from making remarks about them.

I don’t have a trailer for this one, just a clip. Based on the plot synopsis, it seems that what’s probably happening here is that Charisma Carpenter is trying to make up to her husband for her indiscretion. All things considered, this surprisingly plays out in a rather mundane, pedestrian fashion.

DISCLAMER: The onscreen commentary at the end of this video clip did not originate with the Phantom, but rather with the person who posted the clip on Daily Motion.

View the clip here:



Or watch the entire movie on WABC-TV Channel 7 on Sunday, May 4th at 11:35 PM… if you dare!