When Alyssa, a woman now a mother, who knows what it was like to be kidnapped, lets her young daughter (maybe 7) go to a public bathroom by herself. I couldn't believe she did that all because Emma was begging and for some reason Alyssa couldn't get up from the table and take her? Had that been the moment little Emma was taken, it would have been extremely difficult to keep watching. Then she flips out when her, sort of boyfriend Grant, takes Emma for ice cream but leaves his phone in the car. Then when Emma actually is taken (not a spoiler), Alyssa turns her back. She's all over the place.
I watched this because I generally like Jen Morris and Jason-Shane's movies. I remember them from soaps back in the day. However, I didn't really care for Alyssa. She was a pretty self-involved character and I don't blame Emma's father for being pissed at her. She allowed the detectives to make him a person of interest w/o 1.letting him know their daughter was missing or letting him know she kind of let them think that he could take her. I totally didn't blame his lashing out at her. Also, in the movie, all we know about him is her POV, so when he does lash out about how she has affected his relationship with his daughter, it actually makes sense given her behavior by that point in the movie.
What makes her even more self-involved is that she uses her friend Grace and her never-mind-he-isn't-her-boyfriend Grant as babysitters for Emma, and yet when this happens, she either sics the police on them or pursues them herself as suspects. She allows them to be blindsided by being considered suspects or she's breaking into their homes.
In Deadly Seduction (only mentioning this movie bc it's very similar), the protag didn't actually believe someone close to her was capable of the crimes happening. This is in spite of the character humiliating her in her personal life. Very different from Alyssa, who by the end of this really doesn't deserve those people remaining in her life. I really didn't care for how both of them allowed her to get away with accusing them of crimes because of reasons she made up in her head...and ironically, it was a pretty clear example of what Emma's dad was saying. Grace nor Grant need a friend like Alyssa.
I also love when these movies (bc it's Lifetime) make the men suspicious or not that great, but also because it's Lifetime, the villain is a woman. I sort of suspected whodunit very early because you just pick up vibes in these movies. I wasn't surprised by the villain at all nor their motivation.
I am fine with her captor being released after serving his time. That did not bother me. However, trying to get us to believe that losing his daughter to foster care bc of XYZ caused him to kidnap and destroy lives...and get out of jail with a victim that treats him better than the father of her child was not acceptable. She was so comfortable with him yet thinks he could have kidnapped Emma?
It's a very basic Lifetime movie that's watchable for at least one viewing. Like I said above, the movie almost ruins itself with the early blunder of letting the little girl go off by herself given Alyssa's history and her PTSD, but I kept watching. I wanted little Emma to be ok, but I got tired of Alyssa. I like Jason-Shane and Jason Cook, but maybe JS should have been Emma's father. The movie should have had Emma's father more involved in trying to find her and he's never seen again after his one scene especially given that the movie makes it seem like Alyssa is the impediment to his relationship with his daughter.
The climax is a little bizarre with the movie making the villain seem more deranged than the original kidnapper. The movie gives Alyssa a better "relationship" and closure with her kidnapper than Emma's dad and that's just so odd to me. I guess there's supposed to be some Stockholm Syndrome aspects (Lifetime's interpretation), but she's a little too nice to the man who stole her from her family and traumatically changed her life and basically made this situation possible. It's so bizarre.
Something positive: Abduction Runs in the Family is a better and more clever title than this movie deserves.
I watched this because I generally like Jen Morris and Jason-Shane's movies. I remember them from soaps back in the day. However, I didn't really care for Alyssa. She was a pretty self-involved character and I don't blame Emma's father for being pissed at her. She allowed the detectives to make him a person of interest w/o 1.letting him know their daughter was missing or letting him know she kind of let them think that he could take her. I totally didn't blame his lashing out at her. Also, in the movie, all we know about him is her POV, so when he does lash out about how she has affected his relationship with his daughter, it actually makes sense given her behavior by that point in the movie.
What makes her even more self-involved is that she uses her friend Grace and her never-mind-he-isn't-her-boyfriend Grant as babysitters for Emma, and yet when this happens, she either sics the police on them or pursues them herself as suspects. She allows them to be blindsided by being considered suspects or she's breaking into their homes.
In Deadly Seduction (only mentioning this movie bc it's very similar), the protag didn't actually believe someone close to her was capable of the crimes happening. This is in spite of the character humiliating her in her personal life. Very different from Alyssa, who by the end of this really doesn't deserve those people remaining in her life. I really didn't care for how both of them allowed her to get away with accusing them of crimes because of reasons she made up in her head...and ironically, it was a pretty clear example of what Emma's dad was saying. Grace nor Grant need a friend like Alyssa.
I also love when these movies (bc it's Lifetime) make the men suspicious or not that great, but also because it's Lifetime, the villain is a woman. I sort of suspected whodunit very early because you just pick up vibes in these movies. I wasn't surprised by the villain at all nor their motivation.
I am fine with her captor being released after serving his time. That did not bother me. However, trying to get us to believe that losing his daughter to foster care bc of XYZ caused him to kidnap and destroy lives...and get out of jail with a victim that treats him better than the father of her child was not acceptable. She was so comfortable with him yet thinks he could have kidnapped Emma?
It's a very basic Lifetime movie that's watchable for at least one viewing. Like I said above, the movie almost ruins itself with the early blunder of letting the little girl go off by herself given Alyssa's history and her PTSD, but I kept watching. I wanted little Emma to be ok, but I got tired of Alyssa. I like Jason-Shane and Jason Cook, but maybe JS should have been Emma's father. The movie should have had Emma's father more involved in trying to find her and he's never seen again after his one scene especially given that the movie makes it seem like Alyssa is the impediment to his relationship with his daughter.
The climax is a little bizarre with the movie making the villain seem more deranged than the original kidnapper. The movie gives Alyssa a better "relationship" and closure with her kidnapper than Emma's dad and that's just so odd to me. I guess there's supposed to be some Stockholm Syndrome aspects (Lifetime's interpretation), but she's a little too nice to the man who stole her from her family and traumatically changed her life and basically made this situation possible. It's so bizarre.
Something positive: Abduction Runs in the Family is a better and more clever title than this movie deserves.