The
lowdown: 'Too
Good To Be True' is a made-for-TV psychological thriller that was first
broadcast on ITV1 on
22
September 2003. It stars Peter Davison and Niamh Cusack as Robert and Tina
Lewis. The telemovie begins
with
what appears to be a normal family holiday in Spain, with Robert and Tina
enjoying a day at the beach with
their
two children. However, Robert and Tina have in fact been divorced for four
years; Robert has remarried and he
sees
the chidren twice a week, yet they still go on holidays together and Robert
has a key to the front door of Tina's
home.
Robert becomes jealous when Tina begins dating Matthew, a lawyer she met
on a singles website. Robert
is
secretly still in love with Tina and wants her back, and his behaviour
becomes increasingly disturbing. However,
his
efforts to break up the budding relationship between Matthew and his ex
fail, even though he has shown Tina
proof
that Matthew lied about his first wife, who died in a car crash rather
than divorcing him.
Robert
then confronts Matthew and beats him up, and is sentenced to six months'
jail. Meanwhile, Tina is expecting
her
third child, and Robert incorrectly assumes that it is his, and they had
made love on one occasion after Tina
briefly
ended her relationship with Matthew. Tina and Matthew decide to get married
before Robert is released from jail,
but
after taking care of his second wife he pays them an early-morning visit.
Tina comes downstairs to find Matthew on
the
floor, apparently dead, and Robert insisting that they get back together
and take the children overseas. Tina stabs
Robert
in the back and he dies, and the last scene is of the children placing
flowers on Robert's grave while Matthew
and
Tina stroll in the cemetery with their new baby.
The
verdict:
'Too Good To Be True' is a well-made example
of the stalker genre, which keeps the viewer guessing until
the
end. Is Matthew as wonderful as he appears to be? Was there a sinister
motive behind his wife's death, and why
wouldn't
he tell Tina? After all, you just don't know who you are meeting on the
internet... Peter Davison is superb as
the
increasingly obsessed Robert, in a role that is very much against type
for him. (Much like David Tennant's character
in
'Secret Smile', in fact). While the ending is a bit predictable - you just
know Matthew will still be alive and there will be
a
happy ending - this telemovie is well worth a look.
Video clips:
Late-night phone
calls 2.8mb
Robert and Matthew
4.8mb Robert
dies 7.4mb |
|
