I think this movie will be...
Awesome. Although I feel bad about snarking a movie focused on domestic violence because it is a very serious issue and women in abusive relationships should be taken very seriously. Still, the more serious the issue, the more easily these TV movies can go way off track into the melodramatic and super cheesy.
Would I Recommend It?
Yup. It's not exactly an uplifting movie, but portrays domestic violence and the attitude toward domestic violence realistically enough that, if you're into that kind of thing, it's worth a watch.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!
The Story
Tracey and Buck meet at a hotel. He's on a construction crew that moves around a lot. They start a relationship, knocking boots in said motel. Tracey is really into the whole thing and brings Buck lunch on the job site. Buck gets chirped hardcore by the other guys. Uh oh, something's not right in this relationship.
Tracey gets pregnant. Oops. When she tells Buck he hits her. She leaves him. He comes to her and explains that he thought she might have cheated and the baby isn't his. She tells him she doesn't want to move around with his work anymore. He agrees. They get married. Regrettable choice.
Their marriage sucks and Buck ends up beating the crap out of Tracey. She leaves him. The violence escalates. He kidnaps their kid and Tracey calls the police. The police dismiss it, Tracey starts to file for divorce. Buck freaks out and gets sentenced. He has to stay away from them for 6 months.
Buck starts doing way crazy things. He waits outside Tracey's house. He yells from there that he's going to kill her. The police have lost the restraining order and they don't believe her. Buck starts coming around yelling a whole bunch. He's always very threatening.
Tracey gets a restraining order. Buck continues to be crazy. The cops continue to not take her seriously when she makes complaints, because, you know, they're MARRIED. He comes to the house. She calls the cops. When the cops arrive, Buck chases after Tracey and stabs her, kicks her repeatedly and generally goes insane.
She wakes up at the hospital. The lawyers suggest she sue the police department because the way they handled her case was such a shit show.
Tracey's recovery is pretty brutal. Buck is sentenced to 20 years, but Tracey's pretty sure he's going to get out early and kill her. The lawyer wants her to focus on the charges against the police department and not worry about Buck.
In court, the police have obviously messed up big time. Tracey also testified. She's in rough shape.
The verdict: The police department does not discriminate against women. But the police officers are held liable for Tracey's injuries and she gets 2 point something million dollars. She's happy about that.
Text rolls over the end of the movie to say that Tracey got her money and a new law stated that domestic violence calls must be taken seriously. Also that Buck threatened to finish the job when he got out of jail. Bummer. I kind of want to google to find out whether he actually tried when he got out in 1991...
The stuff that's actually not that bad
- The scene where Buck finally stabs Tracey is really 'effing disturbing. The chaos of it felt pretty real to me.
More cheese, please
- The music in this movie is quite fantastic. It alternates between "oh no, something exciting and bad is happening" and "it's time to be sexy in the 80's"
- When Buck freaks out, the acting is....well, overacting. And he yells A LOT.
Well that's dated
- Tracey wears a whole lot of eyeliner and has awesome bangs.
- Buck has a sweet mustache.
- I feel weird that Buck and Tracey's kid is only slightly older than me and that the incident happened in the year I was born.
Rating
3.5 lawsuits against the police department out of 5
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