'Tempted by Danger' Review: With a lover gone rogue, the Lifetime movie delivers its formulaic product
Spoilers for 'Tempted by Danger'
Nicole Brooks (Gabrielle Graham) is a highly successful lawyer. The first few scenes of the Lifetime movie, 'Tempted by Danger', establishes her prowess and ambition. She barely has any time to meet multiple men and then take her pick. She also finds that men are rarely capable of understanding her beyond her ambition.
Always immersed in work, Nicole is a happy workaholic who doesn't do dating. Who even wants to get on any of those dating apps with all the creepy men, she asks her sister Angela (Keshia Knight Pulliam). So her sister does the honors of setting her with a creep. Don't worry, we haven't let the cat out of the bag very early on, for the movie has no reservations in making him the bad guy from the get-go.
When he meets her for the first time, Michael Langdon (Michael Xavier) completely impresses Nicole. He's smart, charming, intelligent and as ambitious as her. They move rather quickly from here. Nicole, who finds herself having a connection with someone, believes she has truly met someone worth keeping around that they have something special.
Yet there is something about the vibe Michael gives off that perplexes Nicole. He comes off as aggressive and very strong, traits which are contrary to her initial impressions of him. He becomes extremely upset when she has to bail on their dinner plans on the night. His supportive nature also vanishes as he becomes increasingly insecure about Nicole's work husband, Kyle Miller (Dan Mousseau).
And so even in her contemplations with her sister, Angela, she gives him the benefit of doubt.
Michael barely takes any effort to not seem like a creep. Soon he begins showing up everywhere that Nicole goes. Soon, Kyle falls victim to a hit-and-run at the hands of Michael. He also shows up at the hospital to woo Nicole with a bouquet of flowers. His character is unsettling every time that he comes on screen.
A simple background check, something that, these days, women run when they meet someone new, is literally carried out in the last 15 minutes of the movie. How does it even skip a lawyer? If anything, this is perhaps the most annoying part of the movie.
At a 1 hour 27 minutes runtime, 'Tempted by Danger' feels a bit too long for its cause. The ending is also anticlimactic, concluding in the last five minutes of its immensely long run and almost rendering the effort put into watching the movie futile.
'Tempted by Danger' is a lesson. The next time that you plan on setting someone up, you'll be careful.
