Suburban Madness (2004 TV Movie) User Reviews

Is It Meant As A Parody ?

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 6 February 2010]

This TVM can be summed up by one of the words in the title . I'll give you a clue it's the word that's not " Suburban " . It's a mad film , a totally deranged one and one that seems to have a terrible agenda . I thought it might have been directed by a feminist but Robert Dornhelm isn't a feminist sounding name but scriptwriter Kimberlee Reed might be . It's summed up early in the film where cheated wife Clara Harris hires private investigator Bobbi Bacha to tail her husband David . Right away alarm bells start ringing when Bobbi states that it's in our DNA to cheat on our spouses . Hmmm sounds like Darwinism mixed with original sin , a confused way of thinking that is certainly the antithesis to creationism

But this is a confused film .Is it a high farce comedy or a bio-pic ? Yes it's based on a true story about a woman who murdered her husband by running him down after he broke his wedding vows with some slapper but it seems there's two films fighting against one another . There's the cheated spouse of Clara who's husband is rubbing her face in that he had an affair . I mean he takes her to a cocktail bar and explains in detail why he was attracted to blonde haired beautiful blue eyed Lisa . The we cut to Bobbi Bacha and her mini-skirted stetson wearing bimbo associate following some guy who's snogging a cheerleader in a subplot that feels more like an inverted Bond spoof . It's a memorable TVM for sure . Just not in a good way

Entertaining Docudrama about Clara Harris!

[Sylviastel · 6/10 · 8 May 2010]

Dr. Clara Harris was a successful dentist in Houston, Texas, the loving mother of two four year old twin boys, and the wife of Dr. David Harris, the orthodontist. Professionally, they were the ideal couple but they were not only ordinary but their marriage was crumbling. David cheated on Clara with a young receptionist/divorcée, Lisa. In the beginning, we see Clara drive her car over David in a murderous rage over the affair. The film is told from the perspective of the private investigator, Bobbi Bacha, whose practice deals with catching cheating spouses. In Texas, there is a law in the divorce court to benefit those spouses who are faithful and punish those who aren't. Clara slowly destroys herself in trying to save her marriage. It's a sad tale but pretty common.

Sela Ward & Elizabeth Pena were Great

[whpratt1 · 5/10 · 21 December 2008]

Remember reading in the newspapers about this story from Houston, Texas when a wife decided to take the law into her own hands and run down her husband with a car. Sela Ward, (Bobbi Bacha) and Elizabeth Pena, (Dr.Clara Harris) both gave outstanding performances in their roles as friends who make plans to catch their husbands during play time.

Naturally, Hollywood did their very best to add all kinds of extras, such as affairs and a few brief love scenes and two girls who seem to have fallen in love with each other and found a new experience in their young lives.

This is more of a comedy than a murder and the entire film goes pretty flat for a story and even the ending is horrible.

slow, tortuous murder is apparently heroic

[bbraat · 17 February 2005]

I presume from this example, IF David Harris discovered his wife was having an affair, he would have been heroic if he slowly killed Amy Harris while her daughter screamed for him to stop. that's how the makers of this "based on real events" believe people should resolve their marital difficulties.

If revenge killing for having an affair is heroic then David Harris SHOULD have killed his wife because, in reality, she was cheating on her husband, a fact that was hidden from the viewer. This was proved by the private detective upon whose work the movie was based. That private detective has come out against this movie.

This movie claimed to have been based on real events but it was really based on half-truths. It caters not to those who seek truth or equity. It caters to sick, violent people who will use anything to justify domestic violence. Perhaps that's is the one good thing about this movie. It exposed that men are commonly victims of domestic violence at the hands of their wives.

I guess from the film we are supposed to feel sorry for this murderous, cheating wife who opted to kill her cheating husband. Rather than getting the maximum penalty she gets off with twenty years. Boo-hoo, what a tragedy. If the husband ran the wife over a few times he would have gotten the maximum penalty and CBS would be whining how he should have gotten more. No one should expect women to be treated like grown-ups until they accept their punishment like men.

Why did Amy Harris' own mother and brother say that she should not have had access to her own kids because of how dangerous she was. I guess all those facts would have interfered with this film's agenda.

Man Hating Garbage! Lorena Bobbitt Fans, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!

[PleaseHateMe · 1/10 · 19 April 2005]

This movie made no bones about it's unhidden agenda. The simple message here is that ALL men are scum and that they all cheat on their wives. I had a hard time watching this movie until the end but I felt I had to in order to give an actual opinion on the movie as a whole. I had hoped that in the end, the movie would make it up to the viewer but pretty much stood by it's message that it was all right to kill your husband if he cheats on you. If the wife was the one who cheated, I guarantee this movie never would have been made! I thought for sure I had rented a movie that was aired on Lifetime or the Hallmark channel or something. Turns out it was on the USA Network.

Anyhow, I have news for you ladies. Women cheat, too. Just as much as men, if not, more. So please stop putting yourselves on the cross and realize that most people in the world nowadays are not trustworthy. Know that before you rush into a marriage and are surprised at how it turns out.

Clara Harris got off light with a 20 year sentence. She is no better than David Harris, who was a complete moron as well.

Suburban Madness is garbage. I can not recommend this trash to anyone but Lorena Bobbitt fans.

Scraping the bottom of the ( Texas Oil ) Barrel

[nicholas.rhodes · 3/10 · 16 October 2007]

Caught this one on the television here this afternoon under the title "La Frontière de L'Infidelité". Never had I seen such a load of brash and ugly women grouped together in one film. The only good-looker was a guy and he came over as weak willed and lacking in character, running off with some dumb secretary who looked as if butter would not melt in her mouth. Basically the film is a collection of the dregs of humanity hypocritically going to church and then having affairs right left and centre. I wonder what spectator could be interested in this. Doesn't show texan women in a very good light. The man's wife was ugly, and his lover looked a drip. But there's no accounting for tastes, be they texan or other. I just wonder what interest the director was hoping to arouse with this, or is it just a portrayal of daily life in Texas. There are also numerous other characters and I didn't quite follow the relevance they had to the Harris' infidelity case. Anyway, there is NO excuse for infidelity and this nincompoop husband got his just desserts. Satisfying though that may be to see, it does NOT compensate for a generally boring film with too many neurotic women and too much uninteresting chit-chat.

Delivered what I expected

[saberlee44 · 5/10 · 2 September 2006]

I'm not quite sure why I rented this: probably because I was in a hurry to get my films and I was mildly (operative word: mildly) interested to learn more about this case. I expected the movie to be mediocre and basically a dramatization (with some embellishment, probably) of the actual story. The film tried to do a little better, but were it not a story "ripped from the headlines," I would have expected way, way more.

CLARA (Elizabeth Pena) was an orthodontist in a practice with her husband, David. After she finds out that he is having an affair with a recently divorced woman he hired at the practice, she forgives him and fires the woman. The two have what I would call a very "shaky reconciliation." She really wants her family back, but still does not trust him. When he tells her that he is going to meet with his former lover (LISA) at a local steakhouse, she doesn't believe him.

She has her detective, BOBBI (Sela Ward) (I told you she didn't trust him!) follow him, but instead, he goes to the hotel (where he married CLARA and where he sleeps with LISA.) Clara, very anxiously waiting at home for a call from BOBBI calls when she hears nothing. Bobbi tells her to be patient, but Clara hears the country band playing in the background -- the same country band that was playing when she and David had been there. Knowing immediately that David has taken his lover to the hotel, she races over there with her stepdaughter.

CLARA and her stepdaughter (David's daughter) approach the two getting off the elevator. CLARA attacks Lisa, ripping the front of her top open, while the daughter repeatedly hits her father. When the fight is broken off, David almost nonchalantly walks off with his mistress. That is CLARA'S breaking point and when she sees David outside, standing by the door of Lisa's van, she runs him down, then again and again and again.

So, while I felt empathy for her situation, I did NOT condone it nor think she should not have been sentenced to prison. It is just all very sad.

That said, the movie as a re-telling of events is okay. If it were a stand-alone movie, I would have called for much, much more to make it palatable. I would've wanted more character depth from David and a better understanding of why their marriage was failing. There were a few scenes where David felt left out when Clara appeared to be more interested in their small twin boys sleeping in the bed than David, but that's about it.

It's an okay film to pass the time. As my title says, it delivers what I expected. If you're looking for more than that, I'd keep on walking.

A TV drama that is not too maddening.

[OllieSuave-007 · 6/10 · 16 October 2014]

This is a TV movie based on the real story of Houston dentist Clara Harris, who ran over her husband with her car three times after discovering that he has been having an affair with another woman.

The events of the film are somewhat dramatic moments of how the seemingly wonderful Harris family slowly declines after husband Davis Harris begins an affair with his just-hired secretary at his and his wife Clara's dental practice. All these events lead on to that fateful moment, with Sela Ward playing private investigator Bobbi Bacha who narrates the story from her point of view.

The movie is not too bad, and the acting was about average. The plot's momentum goes at a steady pace, but the movie does lack suspense and intrigue that would make the viewing experience more captivating and attention grabbing. The portrayal of Davis and Clara Harris was lopsided, as you are also asked to emphasize with Clara, whom was portrayed as a pretty desperate woman in the story, while not seeing any positive aspects, if only a little, in the adulterous Davis Harris.

Overall, it's an OK little movie to waste some time with.

Grade C

Its message is better than its performance

[calandrensis · 8/10 · 27 February 2008]

So, I think that this movie is worth seeing, just because of its message. It is a tragical family that has no real communication between its members. This is so common nowadays, that you can put yourselves in the characters' shoes. I personally found myself in Clara's life. She was absorbed in her job, her children, everything that could make her seem a successful woman. But this is not true. Her relationship with her husband was not that sincere. Maybe her relationship with no one else is really loving. The message is that we need love - we are mad for it -, but this way we don't offer it. We expect others to love us, as if we were the perfect ones. I suggest your seeing it, not because it is a masterpiece of the 7th art, but because it is a piece of art of real life.

(Excuse my bad English)

Unsatisfying look at a true story

[Wizard-8 · 29 May 2015]

For some reason, I missed all the headlines and news reports that allegedly came out of the true story this made for television story is based on. So I was really depending on this movie to tell me all the facts. To me, it didn't. For starters, the movie didn't seem to focus on the actual case itself. A great deal of the movie is devoted to the the private investigator (played by Sela Ward, who I admit gives a good performance) and her other cases, as well as her home life. These scenes do absolutely nothing except take up time. Had they waited to introduce the private investigator until later in the movie, when she actually played a part in the investigation, I think the movie would have been better. As it is, the movie doesn't go into enough detail about Clara Harris, her husband, and the rest of her family. As well, another big flaw is that we don't really get to see her trial - it would have been interesting to see how the defense (as well as the prosecution) presented their cases. As a result of those flaws, the movie ends up being significantly unsatisfying. By the way, I would love to talk to the individuals at the MPRAA who gave this movie an "R" rating - it's a made for network television movie! It deserves no harsher than a "PG" rating.

I Love It!

[BreanneB · 10/10 · 27 September 2005]

Well, well, well, I must say I actually do love this movie. I thought I would give it one more chance, so I took it out from my local library. I gotta admit it was a lot better then I remembered. Although, I do not sympathize with Clara Harris, I thought this movie was great.

It also brings up a good point of the two sins that were committed here, murder and adultery. Thy Shall Not Kill and Thy Shall Not Commit Adultery. They both committed sins here. Clara should have gotten more then 20 years. That was a pretty lenient sentence for what she did.

Kudos to the cast, crew and filmmakers. Two Thumbs Way Up! 10 out of 10 stars.

Now I will give more details. Clara Harris was a 44 year old Houston Texas, wife, mother aand dentist who was betrayed by her husband David Harris. When Clara found out about she ran him over with her Mercedes and killed him. She is now serving her 20 year sentence at the Gatesville Women's Correctional Facility in Gatesville, Texas. She will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years.

David Harris' parents still side with Clara and are hoping to get her sentenced reduced. They hoped that she would only get two years in prison and even begged for probation instead. Bobbi Basch was the private investagator that Clara hired to follow her philandering husband and his mistress.

Sela Ward and Elizabeth Pena were good; story was bizarre

[vchimpanzee · 6 October 2004]

This story is described as 'stranger-than-fiction'. I'm sorry to hear that it was true. It begins with orthodontist Dr. Clara Harris running over her husband three times, and the commentary on talk shows about what she did. After that, the movie goes back six months.

But what I enjoyed about this movie was the performance of Sela Ward as private investigator Bobbi Bacha. I liked her so much as this character, not just investigating suspected infidelity but also dealing with her daughter's wedding, that I would watch a series based on the character. Bobbi is an expert on failed marriages, having been through several herself.

Lisa Singer (Kate Greenhouse) is divorced and so pathetic that even though she has no real qualifications, Clara's husband David hires her for his dental practice. After all, she is determined to do what she has to--and apparently she does! She has qualifications she didn't even mention.

No wonder David was tempted: Clara was once beautiful but she is now old and fat. Actually, that's David's perception; Clara is actually like most women her age. And at the start of the movie and later on, she isn't bad looking.

But when she first appeared I didn't recognize her. I saw an older, plain-looking Hispanic dentist portrayed by a talented actress who I expected to have only a small supporting role. Elizabeth Pena did a very good job overall.

I really liked the country music in the bar. Much more 'real' than what gets played on radio.

It surprised me a lot to see that so many of these people went to church, because no one seemed to have any morals. I found some of Bobbi's other cases entertaining and even comical. It was strange that someone as smart as Bobbi took so long to realize a connection between two of her cases.

Anyway, if the movie is based on fact, than my major complaints don't mean much. I can't argue with what really happened. I thought Carla's solution to her problem was too drastic, and if I hadn't known the eventual outcome, I would have seen hope for her.

This movie had class, comedy, drama and was real !!!

[fudge-9 · 10/10 · 2 February 2005]

This Movie had Class, Comedy, Drama and it was based on a reality. I would watch a series on this show if one were made. I was interested in more of the Blue Moon clients and other cases, as well as more about why Bobbi Bacha became a PI and a mother of three. I think the series would be excellent. We loved watching Sela Ward on the tractor following the cheatin Husbands. It was great.

The Harris story was tragic and Elizabeth Pena gave her character humanity, you could understand that Brett Cullen (David Harris) was leaving Clara because she was over controlling.

It was amazing to watch Bacha's daughter Cassie get married despite her father being a cheater, her mother catching cheaters and Clara Harris killing a cheating husband.

It makes me wonder why women even put themselves through marriage.

Would love to see Sela playing Bacha on a weekly basis. I can even see the Desperate Housewives calling Bacha to follow their husbands and kids.