My Daughter Must Live (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

Quite a lot going on

[phd_travel · 6/10 · 18 August 2015]

This TV movie is more involving than usual. A young girl needs a liver transplant. After testing the mother realizes her husband isn't the father and it's the ex boyfriend who could be the only donor. Unfortunately he can't go back to the town because he stole some money. Don't understand why the daughter couldn't go to him instead to get the transplant but then I guess there would be no movie. There is quite a lot going on.

Broadway actress Madeleine Martin plays the rather bratty girl. Joelle Carter is quite good as the mother who has to face quite a lot.

Worth one watch despite the plot hole.

Not good

[geoffox-766-418467 · 8 February 2015]

I can't blame the actors as they were doing their job as best they could. I blame the writer and director. A poor excuse of a subject, repeating so many other LMN plots and such. Poor suffering wife who did wrong and we are supposed to feel sorry for her. The typical innocent child at risk with a disease.

All turns out fine and suddenly the wife who had her hair tied severely back and at the end her hair is perfectly coiffed into a flowing lock look. Please!

I don't know why I watch LMN as they always have these long suffering dames in trouble and it is always the guys fault. They try hard to make the male species villains in life. And the sainted woman can do no wrong. So, why do I watch these bad films? I must be desperate.

Anyway, it's better then these Killer Kids and Intervention series which are annoying.

The end

Watch Maury

[rachelstuartwhite · 3/10 · 11 May 2020]

If you want a paternity test plot twist, it's more exciting on Maury. You ARE NOT the father! Thank you for coming. But also, thank you to my live studio audiance!😂😂😂

Better than many

[movieHIT88 · 7/10 · 22 November 2021]

I quite liked this film. Quite believable I think. It showed that all families and family relationships can be quite complicated, but with love we can make it work. I must have enjoyed it as I had a few tears in my eyes at the end. I would watch again.

Not worth your time...

[LiveLoveLead · 3/10 · 22 December 2014]

I usually like the average Lifetime Movie, even with the cheesy, predictable, woman scorned and child abduction plot lines, but this one was awful. The acting is horrible. The characters are shallow and obnoxious. The script and direction leave much to be desired. The pace of the movie is slow and monotone. Because it's so drab and boring you just don't care what's going to happen. To top it off, you can pretty much predict the whole story. No surprises. And the ending is tied up in a perfect little, "they lived happily-ever-after" bow. This one is really a waste of time...in my humble opinion. It's such a waste of time, that I can't find enough to write about on this review to meet the 10 lines of text required by IMDb. Skip it!! Dec 2014.

A Mother's Dilemma

[lavatch · 8/10 · 10 August 2020]

The O'Malley clan is indeed a complicated family. Early in their relationship and just prior to their marriage, Regan and Hugh had a brief falling out and took a break. At that time, Regan had a one-timer with her ex-high school beau Dan Travis. Now, sixteen years later, young Katie O'Malley needs a liver transplant, and the DNA testing is confusing because it is not a perfect match for Regan and Hugh. It turns out that Regan forgot that it only took one time for there to be consequences, and the search is now on to re-connect with Dan Travis for half of his liver for Katie.

On the surface, the theme of "My Daughter Must Live" might be a lesson from Biology 101. Instead, the film focuses on the melodramatic dilemma of Regan discovering that her old flame Dan had changed his name to Mason Pritchard, in order to avoid the wrath of a local godfather from whom he stole money.

The relentless Regan tracks down the "new" Dan Travis in Rockford, Illinois, where he has a fiancée, Amelia, who is very pregnant. Dan does not want Amelia to know about his past, and he fears that he may be killed by the local don if his past identity is discovered.

One of the most interesting characters in the film is the godfather, Wagner, who styles himself as "a man of respect." Yet he has no difficulty in taking thousands of dollars in hush money from Regan in order to allow Dan/Mason to transplant half of his liver to little Katie. Regan has drained her bank accounts and taken out a second mortgage to pay the don.

The emotionally packed conclusion ties up all of the loose ends of the film, as a new and happy "extended family" is depicted in a fun-filled barbecue with delicious hotdogs. Dan/Mason has recovered from his surgery, and little Katie has a brand new liver.

The theme of a mother's love for her daughter clearly comes across in Regan's act of atonement and a substantial amount of debt for a past transgression of a single roll in the hay. Though understandable, it was only disappointing that Wagner did not put in an appearance, or at least help to foot the bill, for the barbecue.