Typical LMN fare with the usual twists and the protagonist being mentally unstable and prone to hysteria.

I liked:

1. Seeing Jackee Harry and Michael Pare working - and playing a divorced couple!

2. Dey Young playing a very evil mommy.

3. Rib Hillis and Allison McAtee playing the married couple - it didn't seem like they were acting.

4. Katie Kelly and Jeremy Sry and the protagonist's daughter and her boyfriend.

I didn't like:

1. The apparent ease Rib Hillis' character was able to kill people.

2. Rib Hillis' gratuitous shirtless scenes - you're nice looking, but enough already!

3. The ending - if you watch it you'll know what I mean!!

Have a drink and just waste some time.

"Now we're family, all of us". Um, you forgot to add the words dysfunctional and/or imbalanced in that sentence.

Anyway, a mother-in-law who's not who she says she is, moves in with a mentally unstable woman and her protective daughter. From there conflict, murder, trickery, and chaos ensues. That's the gist of 2021's Deceived by My Mother-In-Law. The mother-in-law in question (Maggie played by Dey Young), doesn't really have a reason for being up to no good. We as the audience never quite know her motives or her hidden agendas. Maggie is also ugly on the inside and unlikable to the point where her rancid personality could be just for show.

So yeah, "Mother-In-Law" is directed by Lifetime lifetime-r David DeCoteau. Aside from being in the biz for a good 40 years, this is his 20th or so Lifetime flick in the past four (I'm not kidding). DeCoteau loves having Rib Hillis co-star, he loves having the antagonist get away scot-free, he loves using the phrase "Wrong" in his titles, and he loves his re-gifted shooting locations. I'm not saying the guy's a hack but wait, maybe I am.

Deceived by My Mother-In-Law as suck-you-in swipe, further shows that Lifetime films have been on the decline for the past decade. I mean Lifetime use to enthrall you while letting you revel in its nasty, guilty pleasures. Now with DeCoteau at the helm as Lifetime's veritable Sasikumar, you get a product that's workmanlike, mechanical, and well, nutrition-less (and that's despite a bearable plot twist early on).

The acting in "Mother-In-Law" is below the Mendoza Line, the editing has enough chop to form a tsunami, and the script about divorce lawyers, shrinks, PIs, and halfway houses has enough banalities to power a small country. Yup, I was "deceived" into thinking anything here could work. Rating: 1.5 stars.

A married couple has issues when a sharp tongued Mother-in-law moves in with them. Wife is suddenly being stalked. Of course we know it has to be a set up because it is a Lifetime film.

Watchable but not overly entertaining. Katie Kelly looks like a young Denise Richards.