Writers: Andrew Davis and Jennifer E. Montgomery
Director: Jennifer E. Montgomery
Catapulted into a leading role following success in Bridgerton and Sex Education, the always compelling Simone Ashley looks very comfortable in Andrew Davis and Jennifer E. Montgomery’s new thriller This Tempting Madness, a deeply silly if enjoyable story adapted from true events. There is enough psychological twistiness to give this tale of memory loss a bit of freshness but in focusing on the excellent lead, other characters, motivations and a proper examination of their lifestyle rather fade into the background leaving the audience with a too obvious outcome.
Married to a floundering businessman with paranoia, Mia finds herself in hospital with a broken jaw, leg and several other serious injuries following a fall from an airport balcony. Unsure who pushed her, Mia’s husband is arrested but she remains unconvinced of his guilt, although as her fragmented short-term memory remains, Mia is able to piece the story together.
If this weren’t a ‘true’ story, Montgomery’s film would struggle to get away with its convoluted plotting and the often-ludicrous interaction between Mia’s partial amnesia and her husband’s extreme paranoia shown in dramatic flashbacks as he fears that his colleagues have bugged his phone and are sending coded messages to one another via coughs. Alas this doesn’t become the basis of a Quiz-style gameshow conspiracy, but other than a few loving looks and happy family shots with their toddler in which everyone looks like a model, there’s nothing here to truly convince the audience that Mia and Jake (a flat Austin Stowell) were ever a real couple, and the chemistry between the actors in the few scenes they share is virtually zero.
The same is true of their impossibly glamorous and clearly expensive life, relocating to LA to exist is one of those enormous marble and glass palaces that sell for unbelievable sums on Selling Sunset. The trouble is this should be a small, intimate story of a marriage and a family driven by mental health crises that forces them apart. The grand house feels too soulless that it drowns these intimate dynamics and raises all kinds of further questions about Mia’s family money and relationship dynamic that This Tempting Madness just never answers.
But it is schlocky and enjoyable enough despite its underused sub-characters and narratives, with a central performance from Ashley that remains engaging and enjoyable even as the plot and the tension become increasingly daffy. And at around 90-minutes it is no sillier than the scores of Harlan Coben miniseries that draw millions of viewers. Enjoy!
This Tempting Madness is released on 10 August on Plaion Pictures.
