Lifetime Review: 'Psycho In-Law'

Getting married is often times a serious pain. There's deciding on decorations, finding enough money for food, and struggling not to pull your hair when dealing with your relatives. But to anyone suffering wedding blues, I offer up the perfect cure: watching Lifetime's Psycho In-Law. After this flick, you'll be counting your matrimonial blessings.

It's been two years since Brock (Mike Faiola) lost his beloved wife, Lorna, in a tragic car accident. The loss has hurt not only Brock and his young daughter, Harper (Brooke Fontana), but also Lorna's mother and Brock's mother-in-law, Joyce (Catherine Dyer), who was actually driving the car on the night of Lorna's death. After Lorna's demise, Joyce has grown close to both Brock and Harper, filling the void in their lives left by her daughter.

But now, Brock has healed from his loss and is ready to marry his girlfriend, Tina Williams (Katie Leclerc). But from the moment Joyce learns of Brock's plans, she feels her role in Brock and Harper's lives is threatened and begins scheming to get Tina out of the picture. But when Brock's love for Tina proves strong enough to resist Joyce's manipulations, Joyce proves she'll do anything to protect her new life...

From the moment she enters the movie, it's clear that Joyce has a problem with Tina and is more than upset at the prospect of her marrying Brock. In most Lifetime movies, the psycho makes or breaks the movie, and Catherine Dyer goes above and beyond in her performance as ultra-control freak Joyce. Initially, viewers might sympathize with Joyce due to the loss of her daughter, but once a flashback of the accident reveals that Joyce was just as controlling of Lorna as she was with everyone else in her life, all that sympathy goes out the window and viewers can relish in just how far and how low Joyce will go to remain in control of everything (and everyone) in her life.

That's not to say the protagonists are slouches at being appealing characters. Katie Leclerc is cute and likable as Tina, who understands that she is entering into a family that is still reeling from grief and does all she can to earn her place in Brock and Harper's lives. Mika Faiola also gives a great performance as Brock, subverting the "Idiot Husband/Boyfriend" trope by not giving in to Joyce's deceptions. But at the same time, Brock can be forgiven for not putting his foot down to Joyce's less-than-subtle acts against his fiancé due to his history with her; she helped him through an incredibly difficult time in his life, and feels like he's indebted to his former mother-in-law and that her loss warrants a benefit of the doubt.

For all the melodrama junkies who tune into Lifetime to fuel their addiction, look no further. Joyce's schemes are conniving and vicious, and the way she goes through the whole process with unapologetic snark and bitchiness makes her a force to be reckoned with by other villains in the Lifetime library. From the beginning to the end, Psycho In-Law will keep you watching and never grow dull.

It's hard to truly describe how Psycho In-Law works because, truth be told, it's one of those movies that just comes to together on its own with little rhyme or reason. The Lifetime formula is a mysterious thing sometimes, and some movies that, on paper, sound like they could fail, end up being surprise winners. Psycho In-Law is one such movie, and one that Lifetimers will enjoy for years to come.

Score: 9 out of 10 glasses of white wine.