wes-connors
At a picnic, exceptionally beautiful Tiffani Amber Thiessen (as Jennifer "Jen" Moore) meets exceptionally handsome Eric Close (as Chris Gallagher). He wants to go out with Ms. Thiessen, but she's not dating. Encouraged by fatherly friend Gerald McRaney (as Dave Morgan), Thiessen changes her mind quickly. Their first sexual encounter doesn't work out very well. Thiessen lets Mr. Close know she was raped two years ago. Close seems very understanding. He proposes and she accepts. They are an exceptionally beautiful and handsome couple. But, if you didn't catch the foreshadowing, there is trouble a-brewing...The community is shocked by a "Peeping Tom" and Close becomes a prime suspect. Thiessen defends her husband. Things get more serious when a serial rapist starts sneaking around. Thiessen begins to wonder if Close might be "The Stranger Beside Me". This is supposed to be based on a true story. It doesn't impress as very realistic, but writer Bruce Miller and director Sandor Stern were probably not focused on realism. This TV movie is more about chests than rape, and the co-stars certainly have nice ones. Since he's a guy, the camera are more generous in showing Close's chest. Thiessen is way too pretty for her part.***** The Stranger Beside Me (9/17/95) Sandor Stern ~ Tiffani Thiessen, Eric Close, Gerald McRaney, Steven Eckholdt
guilfisher-1
Eric Close was the only good actor in this. Playing the rapist husband of Tiffani Thiessen, a not so good actress. She bothered me with her vacant looks, her boring expressions, always pouting and whimpering like a loser. It's obvious in this clinker, that he'll get caught and you don't want him to. That's how likable Close is in this. A good looking guy with personality, you wonder why he needs to be a rapist. Also good to see another good actor, Gerald McRaney in this as the girl's father. Not much he can do in a ridiculous script. Her phony crying at the end didn't impress me.There are no surprises and again you route for Close to win. But that's show business. And once more the women in these LMN movies come off worse than the men do. And Thiessen should get out of the acting business.
Nilblogette nilblog.typepad.com/nilblogette
The characters do ridiculous things that no one in real life would ever do, but if it saves me from a boring second act, realism shmealism. This one is about a woman who has been raped, who marries a guy who is peeping tom! (He is also briefly a gorilla.) When he is arrested for peeping, he and Tiffani start keeping a journal together of where he should be every day, to keep him on track so that he won't peep again, but instead he turns into a rapist, as they all do on Lifetime. While I was a little disappointed to lose the unique peeping plot, I was thrilled when he basically kisses her on the cheek and tells her he's dashing out for a jog and a rape. Be back in a jiff, hon! She knows he's the rapist, he knows she knows, and he keeps rubbing her face in it by, for instance, laying his gun and rope on the table in front of her. It got a little dark when Alyson Hannigan confesses that he molested her when she was a kid and warns Tiffani to protect her new-born daughter from him (!), but it was played for suspense instead of misery. Gerald McRaney is quite likable as a paraplegic, and country music singer Lorrie Morgan plays one of the navy-men's wives. If you want a true-story message Lifetime movie, this one won't butter your bread, but if you like 'em fluffy like I do, give this one a shot.
Verbal-17
When I saw the preview for this movie, I figured to myself, "here's another dumb TV movie that's written with the thought and complexity of a soap opera," but when I saw it I was surprised. Tiffany-Amber Thiessen stars (and proves that she can indeed act if given the chance) as a woman who falls in love with and marries a man (Now and Again's Eric Close) but begins to lose trust in him when a series of rapes begin to take place in her community. At first, she is blinded by his assurances that he is innocent and her love for him, but as time passes she continues to be suspicious of him.While this sounds like the set-up for another boring melodramatic TV-movie, it is really much better than that, because the characters are well-acted by Thiessen and Close, and the movie's script allows them to be much more complicated and intelligent than you'd expect; these aren't just caricatures or cardboard characters that exist only to move the plot along but real, three-dimensional people, and we find ourselves really caring about them. And the movie is smart enough that it is able to provide an exciting, involving climax to the story without resorting to dumb action scenes, mindless cliches or cheap melodrama. Instead we share in the main character's inner conflicts and fears, and are given a realistic portrayal of how she might be able to resolve them and do the right thing.If you get a chance to give this one a look, please do so. It's production values are not exactly top-notch (it is a TV movie, after all), but if you can look past that, there is an excellent story to enjoy.
AD
