Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995) starring Meredith Baxter, Swoosie Kurtz, John Terry, John Livingston, Breckin Meyer, Clare Carey directed by William A. Graham Movie Review

Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Meredith Baxter in Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995)

My Best Friend's Daughter

Amanda (Meredith Baxter - My Breast) and Joan (Swoosie Kurtz - One Christmas) have been best friends for many years, since their children were young and before Joan's husband died from a heart attack. But their friendship is put to the test when Joan catches her daughter Dana (Clare Carey - Home Alone 4) having an affair with Amanda's husband Rob (John Terry).

I can picture it now, the bosses of a studio sitting around a table with their writers trying to come up with new ideas. The middle age woman whose life is rocked by an affair has been done as has the variation of the affair being with a best friend but then someone says how about the best friends daughter being the other woman. It is the only reason I can come up with for the movie "Betrayed: A Story of Three Women" a typical life rocked by husband's infidelity storyline with that twist of it involving a best friends daughter.

Swoosie Kurtz in Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995)

Now in fairness that variation on the familiar storyline has a lot of possibilities, we can see the obvious issue of how the marriage is affected but we also have the friendship and then there are the grown up children, Amanda's boys who are angry at their father not only because he is having an affair but with a friend of theirs. And there are a lot more angles which this movie could cover but instead of finding the depth in the situation it just delivers some typical TV movie drama which in reality is what you expect. As such there is shouting, arguing and even a cat fight but it is nothing you won't have seen in any other made for TV movie about a husband and father having an affair.

The saving grace to all this is the likeability of the main cast with Meredith Baxter and Swoosie Kurtz bringing their usual level of warmth and charm to their extremely usual characters. It is thanks to that charm and a sense of friendship which they bring to the movie that you keep on watching despite their characters being as stereotypical as everything else in this movie.

What this all boils down to is that "Betrayed: A Story of Three Women" is a movie of two things; an interesting variation on the familiar adultery theme and then sadly just a regular made for TV movie. It means whilst not bad the potential to be a lot better is evident.


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