'Soccer Mom Madam' Review: An interesting plot let down by wooden acting and a thin storyline
[Spoilers Ahead]
A single mother of two Anna (Jana Kramer) turns New York madam to make ends meet, sounds like an interesting story right off the bat or should that be all in this case? However, what could have been a fascinating story of guts and gumption ends up being a rather lackluster tale in 'Soccer Mom Madam'.
The Lifetime movie starts off with Anna who is a young widow struggling to take care of herself and her two children. While Anna has been offered work by her cousin Letty (Leah Gibson) who runs a massage parlor that specializes in a lot more than just massages. Anna initially balks at the idea of working in such a place, even though she's just managing the front office and housekeeping. She soon lets go of the guilt though, when she realizes that in a man's world, sex is one of the few ways one can level the playing field. Not exactly news, but for Anna, it seems to be a revelation. After she and her cousin go their separate ways because her cousin refuses to take Anna's ideas for expansion seriously. Anna then branches out from her cousin's massage parlor and starts her own extremely successful business as a Madam in New York. At this point, we have to wonder why Anna's extremely proficient business and people skills didn't lead her down the more conventional path of employment. After all good business and people skills could come in handy pretty much anywhere, not just as a Madam, which let's face it is a far more stressful way to make money especially when two young children are involved.
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Jana Kramer does her best to portray the transition Anna goes through from a wholesome mother of two, to a power-hungry madam moving with the movers and shakers of New York. However, Kramer just doesn't have the depth required to pull it off. She is best and most believable when playing loving mother to her kids and her eventual transition to a volunteer at a pig rescue center. Yes, you heard that right, Mom, Madam and pig rescuer.
Matty Finochio who plays Arthur, Anna's long-time lawyer, accountant, friend and ultimately the one who betrays her and shares her identity with the FBI does a good job at portraying a man who is caught between friendship and the Feds. Leah Gibson who plays Letty, the 'masseur' with a heart of gold, is also believable in her role, but we could have done with a little less of her spouting the same tired lines through the film. Yes, Letty we heard you the first time 'No amount of money is worth your freedom'. It's a lesson Anna however has to learn the hard way after being thrown in jail. When she is released, however, life is never the same. Her daughter doesn't speak to her, she has no money left to even look after her pet pig, so she heads where else, but a pig rescue farm, which ends up being the place that rescues her.
Yes, we never saw the pig rescue angle coming either, but we guess to each his or her own. To catch more of Anna's story, you can catch 'Soccer Mom Madam' which premiered on Lifetime on June 6 at 8/7 c.
