A modern day Cinderella tale. In this one, a Ph.D. candidate loses her mother, a pediatrician, in what is thought of as a tragic accident. Soon, her father, also a physician, meets a woman (Linda Evans) with an interesting daughter. They marry and the fun begins.Evans and her daughter Melinda are thieves. The twist comes when Evans actually falls in love with the doctor and tells her daughter that she is calling off their plans. When the husband is killed by Evans' daughter, mother wants to send her away but this brat has other plans-killing her mother and blaming the Ph.D candidate!The plot twists here are excellent. The movie moves at a fast pace and is a joy to watch on the screen. The psychological trapping at the end is a delight for the viewer as well.

Movies involving crime and legal drama have to have some license to depart from the way things are done in the actual world. In real trials, the attorneys usually remain behind a lectern, and upon presentation of exhibits and after every second or third question, there are usually objections from opposing counsel and repeated conferences are held privately with the judge, and witnesses are laboriously questioned for hours on-end.Yet "Matlock" pulls a piece of evidence from his pocket, waves it in front of the witness (who is about six inches from him), takes it to the jury box and shows it to all 12 (all before the judge or opposing counsel have any idea of what in the hell he has); if there is any objection, he simply tells the judge to give him another moment, the judge agrees, the witness is shown to be the guilty party, his client is exonerated, and then the D.A. congratulates him on the victory. And all of this occurs usually in under 10 minutes real time at the end of the episode.So we know most dramas have to take liberties with reality, and this film is no exception. Aside from the patent obviousness of the nefarious nature of the wicked "stepsister," which a child of 10 could see, there is no way in real life the daughter of the murdered man would have been summarily arrested and held as depicted here.She might have been detained for a period of time, but in the film, there was no investigation by the authorities into the "septsister" and her mother's past, their history, etc. Neither the police nor the accused daughter's lawyer seemed to have the intelligence or inclination to do any investigating whatever.All of the investigative activity is later pursued by the daughter alone -- concerning her late father's death, and the past of the title character and her mother. Again, in the "real world," many authorities would have conducted thorough investigations early-on, and upon the the stepsister's mom's subsequent demise, further effort would have ensued, undoubtedly seeing justice done, without the mayhem and false accusation which the heroine had to endure during the last half or so of the story.But then, it would have looked more like a Court TV documentary instead of a Lifetime movie, and one of this network's handful of staples "the evil outsider(s) entering a happy family unit to commit mayhem and steal the inheritance of the rightful heir(s)." (Others include "the evil neighbor," "the spouse with the dark, secret past," "the spouse faking death, only to turn-up years later," etc.)One only wishes that occasionally they might treat a story such as this in a bit more cerebral manner, perhaps taking a cue from series like "Law and Order," "CSI," in investigating and resolving the issues, instead of the steady staple of yelling, physical confrontation, and the inevitable holes in the plot which have supposedly intelligent characters zooming around madly and senselessly -- while the attorneys and police schlep about, listlessly, and with no intelligence, or effort to investigate or resolve matters.

I thought I was watching Days of our Lives or one of the other afternoon soap operas. When the camera panned the evil stepsister from the toes up, I knew my patience would be tried, but after I surfed and found no Columbo episodes on, I tried to lock in to this 'mystery' where any chance of playing detective was spoiled when little Miss Evil woke Joanie from a deep slumber to urge her to up the dosage. Now it became strictly a thriller, with the requisite scene of plucky young woman entering the killer's house, without police backup as the plot turned out. I could almost hear Mary Roberts Rinehart typing the script.Little inconsistencies: On that occasion the killer, who is in the clear according to the police, calls the law to protect herself. Yet when she spots a burglar in her house later, she confronts the invader herself. Oh, some mental midget will tell us she could not call the law because she knew the crook was into her supply of digoxin and she would be found out, but that is a crock. Her whole modus was thinking she had everyone wrapped around her finger.Then there are all the scenes when the heroine looks from the window of the guest house and sees what is going on in her father's house, AFTER turning on a light in her room. Try to gaze out the window into the dark when there is a bright light burning behind you. You will see nothing.Another experiment I must try is looking at another car thru the side mirror of mine. In the scene where Ms. Evil drove Dad to work, she appears to get back in a car with right hand drive. My co-watcher says this because we see the scene in the side mirror of the heroine's car, but even in a mirror right is right and left is left.The actress who played the stepsister was awful. The black widow spider is supposed to have some charm to attract the victims; this one set off waves telling one and all to run the other way. Except for her cat fights with the heroine, it was impossible to believe in her. Tuesday Weld set the standard for these type parts in Pretty Poison; this particular actress is Thursday, and she has far to go.As the climax neared in the operating room, I had this horrible thought that I had seen the film before for I predicted that the needle held water, not poison. Seeing the villain trying to seduce the prison doctor as the screen faded, I was hoping this was not a set up for a sequel.

I just recently watched this movie on USA, and I have to say it is great, Bridgette Wilson did an excellent performence. Everyone should check thier TV guide's for this movie.