Backstabbed (2016 Lifetime)
Cast: Josie Davis, Brittany Underwood, Micah Alberti
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
When a struggling homemaker poses a potential buyer to help her boss close real estate transactions, she discovers her boss will do anything to close a deal — even murder. Stars Josie Davis, Brittany Underwood, Micah Alberti, Kevin Spirtas, Brad Lee Wind, and Amanda Musso. (2016)
Thoughts
René Ashton is a realtor and is murdered within the first few seconds of the movie with a bat to the face.
Cut to a real estate school, Paulette talks to the aspiring agents and inspires a woman named Shelby (A brunette Brittany Underwood) to become her unpaid intern. Paulette is quick to give Shelby her coffee order, haha. Shelby shares the news with her husband, who is not so impressed with the unpaid internship. He is a temp, and the couple is facing financial trouble. They are not facing sexy time trouble because they make love right away and then cuddle.
On Shelby’s first day, she is accosted by a tattooed man named Walter, demanding money. Paulette shows up and calms him down; he gives her one final chance. Paulette runs a shady operation and has Shelby pretend to be an interested buyer to pressure a buyer. Shelby epically fails and overstates her bid, scaring off the buyer. Paulette is pissed!!!!!!! So is Grant; he thinks it is an unethical practice. (He isn’t wrong.)
Then Paulette talks about some gay clients adding value to the neighborhood by gentrifying it. Shelby nails being a fake interested buyer this time, and the house sells for 20K over asking. Paulette asks Shelby to keep the business tricks to herself and not tell her husband this time. Max’s Paulette’s business partner takes a particular interest in Shelby and asks Paulette to set them up.
After some light social media stalking, Paulette breaks into Shelby’s house and shames Grant for being a receptionist when he catches her. Paulette takes Shelby to a plot of land and shares her plan of getting Max as an investor. She brings Shelby on as a partner and tells her than she needs to do everything they can to make Max invest. Then Paulette gives Shelby the answers to the real estate test.
Shelby tells Grant, even though she promised she wouldn’t, Grant does not want his wife working for Paulette even if Shelby would make a million-dollar commission. Walter calls and threatens Shelby. Paulette laughs it off.
At Max’s mansion, he is a “flirt” (according to Paulette) and an “asshole” (according to me.) He forces pressures them to drink whiskey and get into the hot tub naked. Shelby gets uncomfortable and runs off.
Meanwhile, Grant is having drinks with friends at a bar, and a brunette woman flirts with him and slips a roofie in his glass. The woman was hired by Paulette to take an incriminating photo with the passed out hunk. The next morning he is hungover. The text-photos come in, and Shelby sees the pictures and leaves angrily. (Paulette is sending them from directly outside the house while looking through the window, haha? Why!) Grant finds the brunette woman at the same bar and finds out that Paulette is behind the photos. He tries to convince Shelby, but she isn’t hearing it.
Paulette uses the break in the relationship to her advantage. She convinces Shelby to go back to Max and make an inspired speech… but also hold hands. Shelby promises to “celebrate” with Max only when the paper is signed. Paulette doesn’t like Shelby’s ambition and rudely tells her to back off.
Shelby finds the photos on Paulette’s phone and knows that the woman is deranged. She quits and tries to close the deal with Max herself. While Max admires her Moxy, he informs her of a complaint on her real estate license with the board. (Paulette is trying to sabotage her career.) This starts a war.
Shelby gets Paulette evicted from her office/home. Walter shows up to take care of his debts and pulls a gun on Paulette. She gives him a check for $17,000 as a downpayment for “taking care of her problem.” Walter drives over to Shelby’s house and attempts to assassinate her, but ends up shooting Grant instead. Walter tells Paulette what happened, and she pays him with another check. As he is signing the back… Paulette shoots him. (This is why we Venmo people.)
Paulette visits Shelby and Grant in the hospital and apologizes for the way she treated her. Shelby makes it clear that she is never ever going to work for Paulette again.
With her husband on the mend, Shelby meets with Max to close the deal. He takes her to his bedroom and almost assaults her, but she manages to get away. As Shelby runs out of the house, she is pistol-whipped in the face by Paulette. Then Paulette shoots Max, ties Shelby up, throws her in the trunk, and takes her to the woods.
Paulette holds Shelby at gunpoint and forces her to take pills to make it look like a suicide. Shelby pretends to take them and pass out. Then she grabs a rock, kocks Paulette out, and steals her car keys. The pills do start to take effect, but she manages to make it to the care and call 911. Paulette wakes up to find the police rescuing Shelby and makes a run for it. The police arrest her and take her to jail.
Shelby is in the hospital and lucky for her Grant is still there too! They kiss and the movie ends.
Side Note
Minority Report: Interested buyer, Gay couple
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2016 Lifetime
