Secret Lives of Housewives (2022 TV Movie) User Reviews

A bland guide on how to screw up your child

[JJSM22 · 5/10 · 10 May 2022]

For the most part it's your basic boring Lifetime movie. There isn't much chemistry between the characters and the dialogue is unoriginal. Although you could see Langston's reveal as the killer from a mile away, the actors strong emotional outburst was well portrayed.

The ending is an example of how to screw up your kid, the parents could have gone to the police and gotten him help but instead they literally helped him get away with murder. The ambiguous ending does make you want a sequel just to see what the kid's gonna turn out like.

Secret Lives of Housewives

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 12 June 2023]

Kendra Davis nearly has an affair with a younger man. Temptation beckoned, but she ultimately chose not to break the vows she made to her husband. However, when her almost lover dies, the delicate balance she'd been trying to achieve in her marriage shatters.

Grief stricken, Kendra works to hide her devastation from her husband, but soon she begins to suspect that he might have had hand in the young man's demise. Unable to let it go, Kendra starts to investigate. As she does, it becomes clear that she wasn't the only person involved with her dead paramour.

With its title, it sounds like a Jackie Collins-type film, but it's a standard lifetime film which is slow-paced, yet still arresting and twisty enough to hold your attention. And there's a neat twist at the end. It's not amazing but passes the time adequately.

Title should be "The Making of a Serial Killer"

[deedrala · 3/10 · 14 February 2023]

"Secret Lives of Housewives" doesn't fit the movie hardly at all, since there were only two characters who were messing around with the single guy before he was murdered, and neither of them were leads. The lead character stopped just before succumbing to an affair, so the "secret lives" part didn't really apply to her.

"The Making of a Serial Killer" would be the perfect title since that's what the ending consisted of: the parents covered up the murder and the killer by getting rid of the evidence instead of doing the right thing, which would've been to take the kid to the police and tell the truth, and then to a good therapist. And not surprisingly, the last scene showed him standing over his next victim (?) with a butcher knife.

Speaking of titles, Jessica Morris seems to be going for the title of "Actress Who's Been in More Lifetime Movies Than Any Other Actress". At least in this one - (what, her twentieth LMN part?) - she attempts to act, unlike the others she's been in.

It wasn't until Peter went to leave with the wrench that it finally hit me that the son was the murderer. But how long ago had he found it before finally attempting to get rid of it? Of course his wife had to wake up and catch him as he was leaving, which led to the climax...

Also, the son was too smart to have been so careless with his victim's cell phone as to forget it was in his dirty laundry. But at least it gave the audience the rare chance to see Morris' character actually do something she never does in Lifetime movies: housework.

Grade D / 3 out of 10.

Boring & Bland

[duneplatinum · 3/10 · 13 May 2022]

Hardly any riveting emotion throughout, bland in tone and formulaic. Mellow drama without much drama... is just mellow.

Put in the effort! These films no doubt make money and take money to make- but doing the bare minimum isn't gonna cut it any more with all the competing content.

Good, but predictable!

[Chartreuse1 · 7/10 · 11 May 2022]

The movie focuses on a suburban family made up of mother, father, and son that has issues, to put it mildly. Kendra, the mom, has been flirting with the a younger man, who ends up dead. Her husband knows about her seeing him but so do other people and that's where the movie starts to get interesting. Who killed the guy and why? Definitely worth a watch and recommended! Jessica Morris as the mom does a good acting job!

VIEWS ON FILM review of Secret Lives of Housewives

[burlesonjesse5 · 7/10 · 17 May 2022]

2022's Secret Lives of Housewives premiered in May of this year. "Housewives" is a Lifetime flick, populated by domestic conflict and a Lifetime legend in the sexy Jessica Morris. I don't get why "Housewives" got its title however considering how it ended and that it's a murder mystery. I mean there are husbands and angst-y teenagers involved too.

Secret Lives of Housewives doesn't pander to typical Lifetime schlock because it doesn't reveal who is cray cray and out of sorts from the get-go. I mean there are whispers but hey, it's not like everyone has a sign on their forehead saying, "I'm the killer with the wrench in the garage" (hint, hint).

Filmed in Atlanta, GA (aren't most movies these days?) and featuring another child character who is mentally creepy (Langston Davis played by Charlie Hitt), "Housewives" is a whodunit with plenty of possible dun did its. It begs the question of what if a Lifetime pic had its "knives out" or garnered a "clue" (more hints).

Helmed by Dave Thomas (not the Wendy's guy), Secret Lives of Housewives is well directed considering that the budget was probably nil and the set locations were sparse (with the added distant views of "Hotlanta" and the typical Lifetime, high school aerials). Thomas knows where to put the camera and well, I liked his use of overhead shots.

"Housewives" chronicles a young man who gets murdered because he's having an emotional affair with an older woman (Kendra Davis played by Jessica Morris). It's up to two detectives and Kendra herself to figure out who committed said murder. Look for plenty of spy cameras included, a few flashbacks, and a sort of twisty ending involving a family cover-up and/or snow job. Secret Lives of Housewives is not a "desperate" attempt to emote Lifetime as Hitchcockian fare. It's feasible.

Secret Lives of Housewives entertaining who done it

[jairaiharrison · 8/10 · 24 September 2022]

A typical lifetime movie plot. I kind of like it. It kept me interested to the end. Three quarters in I guessed right on who murdered Eric. Up and coming actor Justin Berti put in a commendable performance as Peter. The movie was never boring. It kept interest in this who done it. The pace of this movie moved right along. I never had a thought of changing the channel. The actors turned in a fine performance. The actor that played the son looked lost. He needs to attend acting school if this is going to be his career. His facial expression was lacking in different scenes. Not to many commercial interruptions.

Bizarre ending

[jthomas-73229 · 20 October 2023]

Spoiler:

First of all, I thought the killer was Samantha. She had a obsession with Erik.

Did Peter have an affair with Heather? Was Heather married?

Second, what a ridiculous ending. So the detectives never found the murder weapon and charged Will for Erik's murder and put him away? Apparently not as we see Langston ready to stab. Will. You would think if Will was not charged with murder, the parents put him in a place for therapy?

This was one of those Lifetime movies that left you hanging. The actress that played Heather is in so many Lifetime movies, this was one of her worse. Her husband I never saw before.

I probably wouldn't recommend it.

Nice plot twist & atypical ending

[gymnckv · 7/10 · 15 June 2023]

This movie was above average for a Lifetime movie. That is largely down to a nice plot twist and a morally ambiguous, atypical ending.

I spent most of the movie thinking either the best friend/frenemy Samantha or husband Peter did it.

Meanwhile, the son was disturbed and clearly disrespectful to his mom, with violent tendencies. Plus he did all the weird surveillance in the home - hidden cameras everywhere - that was never clearly explained. Still, I wasn't expecting Lifetime to go THERE.

That choice was a refreshing change of pace. Or maybe it reflects the changing mores of who Lifetime considers to be middle America and its target audience. People who can excuse anything with no regard for truth or ethical mooring. Look at former President Trump's deliberate mishandling of classified documents and obstruction - his followers don't care. In this movie, the parents put "protecting" their son from accountability for his actions above everything else, including being good, responsible citizens.

As a result, as viewers we don't know necessarily see them as villains, but we end up not liking any of the characters. We're not supposed to approve of such immorality. But we can certainly recognise ourselves in it.

Sleeping With the Enemy in Suburbia

[lavatch · 8/10 · 2 February 2023]

This film had an intricately conceived narrative design in which nearly all of the characters were liars. At heart, they all seemed like decent people, but they were not communicating honestly among themselves. The result was outstanding dramatic tension leading to the surprise ending.

The action centers on Kendra Davis, who went out for drinks with Nick, her contractor. Nick was quite the charmer, and he was unusually busy with amorous connections to Kendra's best friend, Samantha, and another acquaintance, Heather.

It would be an understatement to say that the young son of Kendra and Peter is in the center of things. The kid is adept with technology, and he has been spying on his parents. He now finds himself enmeshed in adult problems.

When the contractor Nick is murdered, there is no shortage of suspects. Any one of the characters could be sleeping with the enemy. There was an effective build to the action that had a dynamic payoff. Even the shrewd detectives seemed stumped on the case. The locations, the acting, and, above all, the script were superb in this suspenseful yarn set in suburbia.

Not bad

[haroot_azarian · 23 June 2023]

I have always liked Jessica Morris. She is a very talented actress. In all the movies I have seen she is consistently good, now if the script or plot or supporting cast are off, she still does her job very well. This movie was no exception. The plot was good, could have been better which I will say why in a minute, and the cast performed well also.

The few things which bothered me about the movie was why the kid took Erik's phone? I can understand why he took the murder weapon.

If Peter was a prime suspect I am sure the police would have had enough probable cause to get a surveillance warrant, especially if Samantha told them about Peter's altercation with Erik. So in reality they could have not just easily driven off to get rid of the murder weapon.

Now why go through all the trouble and bury the murder weapon (which could be retrieved through sniffer dogs or whatever at a later date), and not just toss it into a river, creek, pond or a lake instead?

And finally, the movie could have ended with them going back to being a happy family, and not create a Jeffrey Dahmar or Ted Bundy instead. I thought it was pointless, unless the makers were thinking of a sequel.

In a nutshell this was a good watch.