Geeks logo

TV Review: 'The Lost Wife of Robert Durst'

High Level Camp in True Life Murder Tale

By Sean PatrickPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
Like

The Lifetime movie has become synonymous with low-budget, high-camp, gossipy trash. Though the network has worked to try and buy back some respectability with more ambitious, true life stories and slightly bigger budgets, that gossipy, trashy style of storytelling remains the network’s bread and butter. I sound like I am complaining and I probably should be, but the fact is, the gossipy, high-camp trash that is The Lost Wife of Robert Durst is insanely watchable; the definition of a pleasure to feel guilty about.

Katherine McPhee stars in The Lost Wife of Robert Durst as Kathie, the first wife of the scion of New York Real Estate moguls Robert Durst (Daniel Gillies – The Vampire Diaries and The Originals) of the New York City Dursts. Kathie met Robert, or Bobby, in 1971 when she took an apartment in a building Robert’s family owned and where he collected the monthly rent in person. The two literally bumped into each other in the hall and were soon inseparable.

What appealed to Kathie about Robert is anyone’s guess. Robert is twitchy, sweaty, and awkward in a way that isn’t charming. He has a square jaw, a full head of hair, and lots of money, but I won’t impugn the dead by saying the appeal was shallow. The film does nothing to make Robert Durst seem like a normal human being, so we really have no good answer to why someone as seemingly intelligent as Kathie is portrayed would be interested in such a weaselly dude.

The film cuts back and forth in time beginning with the fateful day in February of 1982 when an obviously distressed Durst reported his wife missing. We then cut back to Kathie moving into a nice apartment and getting settled before meeting Durst and seemingly hopping aboard the first available man; sorry to the memory of Kathie, but if the IRL Robert Durst is this off-putting, which, judging by The Jinx, he probably is, we have no Earthly idea what would cause Kathie to marry Robert.

Durst, in a more modern sense, is a walking, talking red flag. His sense of humor is odd, he turns every topic, including the death of Kathie’s father, into an anecdote about his life. He shows no interest in Kathie’s hobbies or the life she had before he came along. Women today wouldn’t need advice columns to urge them to get away from a Robert Durst type today, they’d have already been tweeting about what a creepy weirdo he was.

Don’t misunderstand, I am not asking the makers of The Lost Wife of Robert Durst to give Durst more humanity. For the record, I definitely believe he murdered Kathie. The issue I have with the movie is that Daniel Gillies is such an over-the-top creep as Durst that he crosses the uncanny valley from performance into parody. Gillies’ Durst is just short of being Norman Bates as Mother in Psycho in just about every other scene in the movie.

Gillies’ performance is distracting and severely off-putting, and I get it, the guy is a brutal murderer, he killed three people, he’s beyond merely off-putting. I don’t need Durst humanized by a deeply heartfelt performance; I just want to understand a little why anyone would want to be around Robert Durst. All of that said, Gillies' performance is wonderfully campy and good for a few unintended chuckles.

I know I shouldn't say this, as a critic, I should not be doing this, but I am soooo recommending this movie. I stand behind every criticism I leveled at the movie, and I am willing to admit that the movie isn’t very good, but it is wildly, addictively watchable. From Katherine McPhee’s embrace of the trashy, low-budget style of the film to Michael Gillies' buffoonish take on Durst, everything in The Lost Wife of Robert Durst plays like an inside joke among friends that somehow was adapted for the big screen.

The Lost Wife of Robert Durst is silly and irresponsible in the way that so many Lifetime movies based on true stories are. That said, the movie is as silly and voraciously entertaining in the way that the irresponsibly speculative "true stories" Lifetime movies are. We all know we aren’t supposed to watch movies like this and we are especially not supposed to enjoy a movie like this but I could not help myself. As silly, poorly made, irresponsible and just plain made up as this movie is, I could not stop shoveling popcorn in my mouth and savoring every stupid, silly, campy second of The Lost Wife of Robert Durst.

The Lost Wife of Robert Durst debuts this weekend on Lifetime.

review
Like

About the Creator

Sean Patrick

Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.