Online Abduction (2015 Lifetime)
Cast: David Chokachi, Brooke Butler, Natalia Livingston
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
While Isabel is babysitting her three-year-old half brother Tommy at the park, the unthinkable happens: she takes her eyes off of him for only a moment, and he vanishes. Losing Tommy creates a rift between Isabel and her parents, made worse with the revelation that the photos at the park that she posted led the kidnapper to him. Isabel launches her own investigation by tracking geo-tags, starting a game of virtual cat and mouse as Isabel tries desperately to save Tommy before he’s lost forever.
Thoughts
Jackie drinks coffee, and obsessively looks at Facebook on her laptop. She is a Real Estate Broker and is now re-married to a man named Matt. They have a little boy named Tommy and a teen daughter named Isabel.
Isabel is also obsessed with social media and working on repairing her relationship with Matt, which has become strained since Tommy was born. Matt is played by DavidChokachi, who I used to LOVE when he was on Baywatch. Here is he is over the hill and over the top. (I’m sad he missed his Hallmark Movie window, he is a much better fit for that network.)
Isabel takes care of Tommy and plays with him in the park. He kicks his soccer ball too far, and Isabel loses track of him. She frantically runs around the park, looking for Tommy. Her parents automatically blame Isabel in a very overacted and overly dramatic scene. Detectives are called and are on the case.
The police have nothing on Isabel and her teenage friends. They go full-on social media stalking… or as they datedly call it, “Cyber Stalking.” Her parents are not supportive and actually really rude to her for trying to help. Matt is the worst.
That doesn’t stop Isabell from finding out more information than the police. The police and Matt spend their time trying to guess Isabel’s laptop login credentials. (Haha, okay?) Why? Then they get a ransom note, and it is clear that it is personal.
The kidnapper turns out to be Matt’s ex named Maureen. She suffered a miscarriage and has been reposting pictures of Tommy on her social media, pretending her is her son. The kidnapping of Tommy is a ploy for her to lure Matt back. The police explain that Maureen had a psychotic break when she found out her mother sick. (How they know that, but nothing else, is beyond baffling.)
Matt, Jackie, and Isabel join forces to find Tommy. They locate Maureen at a cabin in the woods. She has a gun and holds Tommy by the shirt. Police send Matt to talk to his ex and try to calm her down. (Which seems like a bad idea.) Maureen cries about life not being fair and Matt is floundering. Isabel rushes up and pretends to be the baby that Maureen miscarried. (Which is so fucked.) Maureen is confused, but goes with it and hugs Isabel. It is long enough to get Tommy to safety and apprehend the kidnapper.
Maureen is taken away. While the family she never had, but always wanted hugs in front of her. She is put in a mental institution to get the help she needs.
Side Note
Also Known as Cyber Chase
Minority Report:
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Overall rating
🔪 (1 Knife)
🍷🍷🍷 🍷 🍷 (5 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2015 Lifetime
Dang, spoiler alert? The paragraph about who the kidnapper was showed up in my search right away. I have to pass on the movie now. 😐
Sorry, Bill G!!
I understand that Matt was worried and stressed over Tommy’s disappearance. But he should’ve tried being a better dad towards Isabel. I like Jackie, at least she comforted Isabel, said some soothing words to her, and even apologized to her. Why didn’t Matt at least tell Isabel that he was sorry and hug her near the end of the film? He also should’ve apologized to Jeremy for jumping to conclusions about him.