My Mother’s Killer Boyfriend (2019 Lifetime)
Cast: Amber Goldfarb, Damon Runyan, Sam Ashe Arnold
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
When sweet and impressionable single mother Nicole (Amber Goldfarb) is set up with Jonathan (Damon Runyan), a charismatic and handsome professor, she’s immediately swept off her feet and able to give love a chance again. But as the romance blossoms, Nicole begins to question whether Jonathan is in fact the tragic widower he portrays himself to be or whether she’s fallen in love with a master manipulator.
Thoughts
A woman named April is driving away from Damon Runyan or Jonathan. He is chasing her car aggressively, and she swerves into oncoming traffic in a head-on collision.
One year later, we meet Nicole. She is a photographer/blogger, divorcee, and single mother. She wants to meet someone who will express his emotions. Her friend invites her to a BBQ with other local professors. Nicole is set up with Jonathan; when they are alone, he tells her that his wife died in a car crash. According to Jonathan, his wife was an alcoholic. He is focused on moving on and hoping to try Nicole’s fancy cooking.
Jonathan wastes no time and invites Nicole on a date. They go on a picnic on his boat named “Heart Throb.” They cruise around on the water while the music swells. I am totally smitten with this man, I don’t care if he is a killer. They share a champagne toast and kiss. When she gets home, she finds vases and vases of daisies, her favorite flower.
Things are moving fast, and Jonathan comes over to meet Connor, Nicole’s son. He is unimpressed with Jonathan and very passive-aggressive. On their date, Jonathan gives Nicole some jewelry for their 336 hour anniversary. To win over Connor, he gets him concert tickets to a local band playing at the college. (Cool?) This guy has a hot sexy time with Nicole and even takes out the trash. (So what if he takes an old family photo and cracks it in his hands.)
Jonathan has some work being done on his place, and Nicole invites him to move into her house. Connor agrees to the arrangement, and Jonathan even offers to pay some rent while he stays for a few weeks. While he is unpacking, he finds an award that he won. Flash to the night he won the award. He and April got into a fight because he thought she was flirting with his coworker.
Jonathan does some push up with his shirt off and then brushes his teeth with his shirt off. If he should just have his shirt off the rest of the movie, that would be great.
At a dinner party, Nicole catches Jonathan in a lie. She brings it up later, and it doesn’t go over well. He becomes short with her. Then later, he scolds Connor when he drinks milk out of the carton. Nicole and Connor are beginning to see microaggressions that Jonathan is directing to them. Connor asks Nicole why she is putting up with Jonathan talking to her like that. Nicole makes excuses for his behavior. Nicole is worried she may have rushed into things, but her friend reassures her.
Jonathan, as a professor, is crossing a line with one of his students. He gives her a ride home and puts his hand on her leg. They apparently start dating, and he buys her jewelry too.
The microaggressions continue with Nicole. Like, he doesn’t want her to age and expects women to maintain a standard of beauty. Nicole is changing the laundry and accidentally knocks over some of Jonathan’s things. She finds a paper that Jonathan that is plagiarized. Nicole finds Carl’s mother to see what happened. The mother tells Nicole that Jonathan could lie his way out of anything. Because of the plagiarism, her son killed himself. Nicole also swings by Jonathan’s home and sees that nothing is out of order.
With Nicole out of town, Jonathan had the college student over for a little rondeau. When Nicole arrives home, she confronts Jonathan about what she has found out. He tells her that he is feeling attacked and blames her for snooping through his things. Jonathan says to Nicole that he blames himself for Carl’s suicide. Jonathan asks Nicole if there is anything he needs to come clean about because he wants their relationship to work out. Connor is listening to the whole thing and is disappointed in his mother.
The college student asks Jonathan to meet her to talk about their relationship. While they are talking, Connor walks by and sees them through the window. Connor tells Jonathan that his mom will hear about it. Jonathan has other plans and runs Connor over with his car. Nicole gets a call from the hospital and rushes to his bedside. She learns that Connor is in a coma.
Connor’s dad shows up, and Jonathan is jealous of him. Nicole is surprised that Jonathan could be so tactless during a difficult time. Jonathan can sense something is off with their relationship and gets Nicole a gift. She doesn’t want to open it, and he yells at her until she does. Nicole admits to her friend that he is being awful, short-tempered, and is kind of narcissistic. Nicole immediately grabs a brochure on narcissism
Jonathan takes the college student out on the boat to spend time together. She tells him that she is pregnant, and he will not have her ruin his reputation. He knocks her off the ship by smashing her face with a wine bottle and then just sails away from the body.
Back at the hospital, Nicole joins a narcissist support group. Jonathan follows her there and knows what she is up to. The police arrive and question Jonathan about the disappearance of the college student. Jonathan says he has no insight for the police and that she was only his student.
Nicole goes to investigate and finds the same jewelry that Jonathan gave her. She stupidly brings the earing to Jonathan and accuses him of sleeping with his student. Nicole kicks him out of her house. Connor wakes up from his coma and implicates Jonathan in the accident. Nicole’s ex-husband calls her and tells her, but the calls are cut short when Jonathan shows back up at her house.
Jonathan tells Nicole that she is jealous, and he is not a narcissist. He then gets violent, but she saves herself by hitting in the head with his award. The police show up and take Jonathan away. As he is being wheeled away, he tells Nicole that she will never do better than him.
Nicole, Connor, and her husband are laughing and laughing in the hospital. I guess Nicole can do better than Jonathan… with the family she already had.
Side Note
Minority Report: Lily
Alternate Title: The Narcissist
We all know Damon Runyan is scary… but hot.
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knife)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2019 Lifetime
Damon Runyan is my favorite sexy bad guy. I agree that he should’ve had his shirt off the entire movie lol
Amber Goldfarb: beautiful and talented. Thank you for unearthing this Canadian treasure, Lifetime. Great at playing the damsel in distress, both here and in “The Queen of Sin”.