The Surrogate
The Surrogate
| 22 October 1995 (USA)
The Surrogate Trailers

Amy Winslow wants to go to art college but can't get her financial aid approved. A help wanted ad leads to a couple that will let her move into their quiet guest home rent free, a dream come true except that Joan wants Amy to be a surrogate mother for her next child. Little does Amy know the dark sinister reasons behind her desire, the scandalous death of Joan's first infant child and the fear she might hurt her next baby. The baby is adopted before Amy wakes up in the hospital, leading to a dangerous confrontation to claim the child finally for her own.

Reviews
nightroses

The film is very well done, with a tension and mystery. The film is about a student called Amy struggling to make ends meet. She answers an ad posted in the college and finds a place to stay with a married couple, Joan and Stuart. As time goes on, Amy agrees to help the childless couple have a baby by becoming a surrogate mother. While pregnant, a lot of things about Joan doesn't make sense. The character Joan has a dark secret and wants nobody to reveal it. Even though she's a crazed and hostile woman, there is also a very tragic and very sad reason behind it.

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Hollywoodshack

We're pulled in and turned on by the subject: Alyssa Milano playing a surrogate. Well, Connie Selleca and David Dukes play the couple who can't have children, but there is a surprise: Joan once had a child that died and her husband is afraid she might hurt their next baby, too. Stretching believability is when Amy (Milano) agrees to be the surrogate mother in about five minutes and has a pillow on her stomach a minute later, expecting arrival of the baby. Amy falls down the stairs in an argument with Joan about spying on her and watching her room with hidden cameras. She gains consciousness in the hospital and finds out the baby is already gone, so her boyfriend helps her claim it back in some rousing battle scenes. Personally, I'd prefer the nasty movie with the same name starring Shannon Tweed. This TV movie has very little to say about the title subject.

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mkmkmkmkmkmkmk

Having seen quite a few made-for-TV films, ordinarily showcasing the 'talent' of aging has-been TV actresses, I was surprised that Connie Sellecca was actually able to deliver. From the beginning, she is portrayed as a creepy woman with a mysterious past. The audience knows that she once had a baby boy, who is now absent in her life. One is supposed to wonder whatever happened to him, and what her Sellecca's character Joan Quinn has to do with the situation.I have been an admirer of Alyssa Milano's work for nine years now. So when this TV movie came on late night, I jumped my chances to tape it. Milano, who has done some mediocre work in the early nineties, finally gets her chance to let the world see what she is capable of. In the first halve, she plays this average art student (reminding one of Poison Ivy 2's Lily Leonetti's shy twin sister) with a friendly attitude. Nothing interesting there. Milano then gets some juicy acting when she agrees to be the surrogate mother of Joan's baby, and grows suspicious of Joan's integrity. The film contains some lovely confrontational scenes between Milano and Sellecca. They have such wonderful on screen chemistry: convincible as good friends looking out for each other's best interests, and as two women who can't stand the sight of each other. I have to extra note Sellecca for her portrayal of a psychotic woman, and her ability to spin you around her finger. The one minute, you sympathize with her, and the next you want Milano's character to kick her ass.A moral dilemma attributes to the film not being your everyday '90s TV film. In the end, it is revealed that Joan accidentally killed her baby boy while smothering him when he would not stop crying. Milano's character Amy believes that Joan is an unfit mother and should never be able to have a child again. For me, this is a little to black-and-white. Admitted, Joan could sometime show some psychotic behavior, but it was every time in the best interest of her child. It was quite noticeable that she would do anything for her child and love him/her no matter what. Sellecca's character should have stepped to the police when she accidentally killed her child, but was not an evil person who could not take care of a child. Apparently, ABC wanted you to think that you cannot make a mistake. Ever. Concluding, the film had some average writing, with a typical TV movie mother-baby-justice subject. Sellecca and Milano had great chemistry, though, and show that they may be worth more than being TV actresses. The writers unfortunately evaluated Sellecca's character's actions, locking a moral grey zone that is interesting for the viewer to think about.One might want to note Milano's maternal instincts in the film. She was great with the baby, and has expressed strong interest in becoming a mother herself throughout her entire adult life. Milano finally became a mother only recently, at the age of 38. The actress showed us already in 1995 how good a mother she would become. Bless you!

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x_Kelsie_x

This is a wonderful movie about a college student, Amy Winslow, aspiring to be a painter. She goes apartment hunting and finds a wonderful rental cottage very cheap! She soon becomes friends with her renters- The Quinns (Joan and Stuart). They ask her to be a surrogate so that they can have a child- they couldn't because of fertility problems. They tell Amy in return they will pay ALL medical bills, housing and school tuition. She agree's and carry's the Quinn's baby. After she goes to the basement to find her oil based paints she finds baby Christopher's infant outfit. This is unsettling so Amy decides to do an investigation so she can get more information before handing over "her" baby. Once her baby is born- Joan quickly takes the baby and shuts Amy completely out of her life. She hires guards to watch the home so Amy is not able to come near. Amy goes on a wild hunt to find the real identity of the Quinns and what really happened to Christopher, Amy soon finds herself with kidnapped baby "Christine" who she renames Emily. After more hiding and digging Amy finds herself at the home of Joan Quinn's mothers house- where Joan and Stuart are waiting for her, they discuss that the Quinns aren't ready to parent and that baby Emily should go to her rightful mother- Amy. The movie ends with Amy and her boyfriend talking about how they will raise Emily once she is older.**I find it funny that Amy's line had said: "No tattoo's she can have her ears pierced but no tattoos no nose ring, belly ring, none of that weird stuff." However in real life Alyssa Milano has 8 tattoos and her nose and belly button pierced.

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