Her Only Child (2008)

Gwynyth Walsh is Inez Stanler, aka Kooky Mama, a woman desperate to keep her adult daughter tightly under wraps. This becomes hard because Lily (Nicholle Tom) insists on having a career and dating! Damn her! So Inez keeps coming up with new and inventive ways to lure her daughter back home. She runs the gamut of harm on herself as well as the beloved pet dog, Binky (don't worry folks, no real doggy violence here!). Lily remains frustrated, especially when she meets her newest beau Larry (Cameron Daddo) but can't seem to let go of her overbearing mother! Things around home continue to intensify until mom makes one final move that might just end one of them!

 

There are a lot of great moments here (especially the scenes with Binky!) as well as an honest rapport between mother and daughter. I mean, who hasn’t had an agonizing moment with deal old ma? And how many of us bite our tongues and let her have her way just because her wrath is much worse? It doesn’t mean that there’s no real love, it just means that we as daughters choose our battles. That’s what Lily is doing here – in wildly exaggerated ways, mind you. Regardless of the (very) weird moments she experiences, she holds on dearly to the good ones too, like the one of her mother comforting her over the loss of a boyfriend. Yeah OK, she lost that boyfriend because her mom sent some thugs to beat the crap out of him, but you get what I’m saying…

 

Her Only Child never really pulls out all the stops, in fact it's quite restrained even for Lifetime, yet it remains a likable romp of a thriller. I give thanks to Gwynyth who manages to be completely neurotic, fairly unlikable and absolutely engrossing. Very little background is given to Inez, but you’re sure this cuckoo bird has officially flown the coop! I was surprised to see a little debate going on over at IMDb about the state of Inez's mental state. And in truth, the filmmakers do leave it up to the viewer to determine exactly what is wrong is with her. Look at that Lifetime, stirring up debates once again! How I love thee!