Open Marriage (2017) Reviews

• Could have been better without the melodramatic villain

  mgconlan-12017-01-15

  Last night Lifetime offered a "world premiere" of something called "Open Marriage," a TV- movie from our old friends at MarVista Entertainment, directed by Sam Irvin from a script by Jason Byers and apparently shot under the working title "To Have and to Kill." I'd been determined to watch this movie ever since I saw the promos, mainly because — unusually for a Lifetime movie — it features two devastatingly hot guys, Tilky Jones and Jason Tobias. The plot: Becca (Nikki Leigh) is a doctor with a killer work schedule who wants a child and is getting worried because her husband Ron (Tilky Jones) doesn't seem capable of giving her one — not that they've had sex in quite a while. Ron is a struggling builder trying to put a contracting business together but he needs a big job to do that — which he hopes he has when the city they're in decides to build a community center and he thinks he has a good chance at landing that contract. Becca has a friend from her college days, Mindy (Kelly Dowdle), who's married to a 1-percenter (though we're never told just where his money comes from or what he's doing career-wise now) named Max (Jason Tobias), who's pretty much the same physical type as Ron — only Max has frizzier hair and Ron has an elaborate tattoo covering most of his left arm, which is the main way you can tell them apart. The film shows us a lot of Ron and Max in bathing suits and nothing else (way to go!) for the straight women and Gay men in the audience, while any straight men watching this get enough glimpses of Becca and Mindy similarly attired in swimwear to get their sort of charge. During one evening when the two couples are having an outdoor get-together Max and Mindy announce that they've "opened" their marriage to sexual experiences with other couples. Ron and Becca are reluctant at first, but the mere thought of a four-way with their good buddies turns them on enough they get it on for the first time in months. Ron, Becca, Max and Mindy have their first "open" encounter at Max's home and set ground rules — they won't do anything unless all four are involved and they'll use "protection" against both pregnancy and STD's. Their second open encounter occurs at a private sex club called Caligula (which made me wonder if they specifically catered to people who want to have sex with their siblings, the way the real Caligula did), which you get invitations to through text messages on your smartphone that tell you what the password is for that night. (No, it's not "Swordfish.") Had screenwriter Byers stopped there he might have had a very interesting movie about people who think they can handle the sexual underground, find they really can't, and suffer picturesquely along the way before reverting to monogamy at the end. One particularly interesting twist is that Ron isn't entirely infertile but he's told by one of the doctors at Becca's hospital that he has only one-one hundredth of the chance of impregnating his wife as a normal man. That leads to the tantalizing possibility that the entire "open marriage" business was stage-managed by Becca as a way of having a child; since her husband couldn't give her one, she decided to go after Max and see if he could do the job (which could have led to an intriguing sequel 20 years later, as the kid, now grown, learns that his biological father is fabulously wealthy and goes after his money). Instead "Open Marriage" takes a turn into typical Lifetime melodramatics that significantly weaken it. "Open Marriage" could have been a titillating joyride and a moral tale instead of writing the "villain" character in and turning the resolution flat and ordinary.

• Don't understand giving it more than one star

  treesh-305632017-06-28

  Don't understand how anyone can give this movie more than one star. First, it was pretty obvious from early on that Mindy was the villain in the movie and she was the stalker. The way she kissed Becca on the cheek at a lunch and the fact that she was buying her matching dresses was a dead give away. Also, it was pretty easy to tell that Mindy was the one in the club with the mask on and the straight hair. Next, I originally thought Max was really cool, but as the movie went on, it turned out that he was actually quite wimpy. The acting in this movie was atrocious! The ending was no surprise, but what I was surprised by is the way both men took a passive role in taking Mindy down. Max actually made Becca do the deed, while he and Ron did nothing. Even when it looked like Mindy might shoot Becca, there was no reaction or help from the men. Max had not heartbreak or shock that his wife was the one? At the end, Becca and Ron were all sweet and happy when they found out who was the father of her baby. They made out on the couch like all's well that ends well? After what they had just been through and all the cheating, they are back to normal that very night? This movie could have been done a lot better. It was disappointing.

• Two Couples Resorting To Spouse Swapping

  Desertman842017-02-21

  Well!!!Well!!!Well!!!This Lifetime TV movie called "Open Marriage" that stars Tilky Jones,Nikki Leigh,Jason Tobias and Kelly Dowdle tells us a story that would definitely provide sex pervert viewers some entertainment and the Christian Grey movies such as Fifty Shades Of Grey and Fifty Shade Darker lots of embarrassment. This sexy thriller tells the story about the marriage of Ron and Becca,a couple who is currently suffering as they never have had sex in months in spite of wanting a baby.Aside from that,they are also having a lot of career setbacks and disappointments with Ron being out of work due a back injury and Becca being severely busy with her double shift schedule as a nurse.To solve their marriage crisis,they have decided to go through an awkward solution: open marriage. They have decided to go through an open relationship with their bestfriend couple,Max and Mindy,who are going through it because of their marriage crisis as well as both are almost headed to a divorce.To explain further,spouse swapping happens when Max sleeps with Becca and Mindy goes to bed with Ron.Unexpectedly,Ron and Becca's marriage improves after the former gets the biggest job of his career.Then,they get to swap partners once again but things become worse as jealousy takes over with Ron and Becca keeping secrets.Things get a lot worse when Becca becomes pregnant.The identification of the father becomes a mystery especially when Becca and Max started having an affair. Being a Lifetime TV movie,the screenplay does not take away the stalker element at the conclusion in the tradition of "Stalked By My ______" movies.It turns out to be one belonging to either couples.And just like most of them being brought down in a Lifetime movie,the stalker is brought down by being hit in the head after threatening to kill the rest of the two couples.In spite of the predictability and these usual elements,I would like to give credit to film director Sam Irvin for an interesting story about open relationship.This is certainly something that many couples of this millennium would like to explore.Added to that,it also provides us more entertainment particularly for sex pervert viewers.What is more surprising is that it was able to translate the kinkiness on the small screen unlike the Dakota Johnson BDSM movies involving Christian Grey.No wonder it is rated higher as compared with the Fifty Shades movies.

• Typical LMN letdown

  machhh2017-02-13

  Am I the only one that seems to have realized that Max and Becca were having an affair all along? Although the movie itself never shows them together alone, it becomes obvious in the movie that all of her double shift at the hospital may not have really been double shifts. This all becomes evident at the last dinner between the couples. It was obvious at their last lunch date when all four were getting the text messages. when the message comes through about Ron, she is so upset, and then the message comes through about her (Becca)and Max, Becca stands up and admits they did in fact go back, but that wasn't the worst part and before Becca can admit everything, Max abruptly ends everything and tells them to get off of his property. It's made even more clear at the end of the movie when Becca gets a paternity test. Why would a woman need a paternity test unless she had been having unprotected sex and unfaithful? She knew what she was doing, she just wanted a baby and I can understand that, but using her husbands best friend?????? The whole open marriage thing was just a set up so they (Becca and Max) could get together in a more open setting without the sneaking around, which would cost him (Max) everything. If you watch and listen real close when she (Becca) sneaks and goes back to the club a second time, Max is already waiting for her at the Club. He says just because Ron and Mindy want to call things off, doesn't mean things have to end between us (Max and Becca). Thats when Becca rubs her belly and indicates to Max that she is pregnant and that she is calling things off between them. She tells the man whom the thinks is the father before even telling her husband, but only tells her husband she didn't want to tell him until she found out there were no complications. For a LMN movie, I guess it could have been better and should have been in more detail, but this is what I've come to expect from Lifetime.

• A decent script that should keep you thinking "what is going on?"

  Ed-Shullivan2018-03-08

  I liked the film "Open Marriage". The title could have been changed to help draw in a bigger audience. Maybe the title could have been "And Baby Makes Three". The four main actors held their own in this story about free wheeling spouse swapping and yes, there were even a few hidden agendas which come to light near to the end of the film that impressed me since this was a low budget made for TV film. There is some scheming going on but you will find yourself asking the question "whose zooming who?" Each of the four main characters and even a fifth character who the four meet at a swingers after hours club may or may not have something to do with some of the suspicious undertakings going on. One of the couples is very well off financially and they seem to rub their wealth directly into the faces of their less fortunate old and dear friends who are barely able to keep their heads above water. Can these friendships be maintained and how will the spouse swapping affect the foursomes friendship and marriages? I will say that the film kept me interested and that it is worth a watch. I give the film a 6 out of 10 rating.