Murder In-Law (2019) Kristen Dalton, Mark Collier, Angie DeGrazia, AlexAnn Hopkins, John Sanderford, Tony Denison, Barbara Williams, Marlon Aquino, Courtney Compton Movie Review

Murder In-Law (2019)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Kristen Dalton in Murder In-Law (2019)

Crazy like a Mother-In-Law

Claire (Barbara Williams - Justice on Wheels) has always doted on her son, Jim (Mark Collier), and equally dotes on her granddaughter, Sydney (AlexAnn Hopkins - A Date to Die For). The trouble is that she is not that keen on her daughter-in-law, Allison (Kristen Dalton - A Mother's Rage), and is not at all happy when Allison announces that she has received a hug promotion which means the family will be moving out of state. Refusing to accept this Claire sets about making sure her son and granddaughter don't go anywhere, even it means not just lying but also committing murder to get what she wants.

There is something I didn't mention in that synopsis of "Murder In-Law", when Claire's husband sides with Allison over the plans to move she murders him and then moves in with her son, which means she can make life a misery for Allison in her own home. Now for some that set up might be entertaining as we watch Claire change things around the house, turn Sydney and Jim against Allison and so on as Allison becomes increasingly frustrated and angry about being undermined in her own home. Trouble is that the twisted mother-in-law capable of murder to keep hold of her son has been done before and in some ways done better.

The thing for me which "Murder In-Law" has going for it is the acting as one hand you have Barbara Williams delivering over the top schemer as Claire which makes her surprisingly entertaining. At the same time Kristen Dalton plays Allison with a slightly icy and hard side to her persona which makes for some entertaining scenes between the two characters. But beyond these two characters and the acting the rest of it is forgettable with the likes of Mark Collier as Jim delivering nice but flat characters.

What this all boils down to is that "Murder In-Law" is nothing special with a rather routine set up mixed with a few cliches. But it is the acting and the central characters which make it a little bit entertaining.


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