The Thrill has Gone
Whilst Ron (Tilky Jones - The Wrong House) and Becca (Nikki Leigh - The Midwife's Deception) love each other their marriage is suffering as despite wanting to have a baby they haven't had sex in months. On top of that, with Ron having been unable to work due to an injury, Becca has been pulling double shifts at the hospital. But after visiting their friends, Max (Jason Tobias - Terrordactyl) and Mindy (Kelly Dowdle), who tells them since they opened their marriage up things have been better, it makes them think and turns them on. After a while they end up back at Max and Mindy's where they switch partners for the evening and it leads to things improving for both Ron and Becca. But when the four of them head to Caligula, a secret sex club, things don't go as well as both Ron and Becca start keeping secrets from each other whilst someone seems to be manipulating them.
Well it has to be said that I can't remember watching any other TV movie about couples who swing and so I have to give "Open Marriage" marks for in some ways being different. And I also have to give it marks for at least spending some time showing the negative side of open marriages as Ron finds he can't handle the thought of Becca being with his friend, becoming jealous as she seems to enjoy being with Max more. But "Open Marriage" did not work for me for the simple reason the characters did my head in. Between no one being able to string more than 5 words together without pausing to some horrendously bad acting it was at times hilariously bad.
But of course "Open Marriage", being a Lifetime movie, has to be more than just showing that open marriages can lead to marital problems. As such we also have infidelity, lies, secrets, low sperm counts and as the movie starts with one sexily dressed woman apparently dead on the floor we also have murder. The thing is that maybe if the acting hadn't been so forced and the dialogue so poor I would have been more enthralled and enthusiastic but for me this movie really struggles.
Now I am sure in the right movie Tilky Jones, Nikki Leigh, Kelly Dowdle and Jason Tobias can impress but for me "Open Marriage" was not that movie. Part of the trouble is that they seem to have been cast as much for their looks as their acting ability and as such as we have Tilky Jones spending more time with his shirt off than it is on whilst both Nikki Leigh and Kelly Dowdle spend plenty of time in either swim wear or lingerie. Yet despite this "Open Marriage" ranks remarkably low on the sexiness scale.
What this all boils down to is that "Open Marriage" didn't do it for me and struggled under the weight of poor dialogue and acting which fills it. In fact there are times when "Open Marriage" almost becomes enjoyable as a bad movie rather than for what it is trying to be, which is a sexy thriller.