The Pregnancy Scheme (2023 Lifetime)
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Cast: Greta Carew-Johns, Ruth Bidner, Nick Preston
Director: Ann Marie Fleming
Writer: Ansley Gordon
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Inspired by true events. Pregnant and newly single, Julia faces a looming catastrophe when she loses her job. An unlikely lifeline arrives in the form of her new friend Alana, who says she knows people who would pay top dollar for positive pregnancy tests. Though initially skeptical, circumstances and Alana’s assurances that it’s all harmless eventually convince Julia to go along with the plan. Soon, however, she finds that Alana’s scheme isn’t as innocent as she thought. Starring Greta Carew, and Ruth Bidner (2023).
Recap/Wine Thoughts.
The movie starts with a pregnant woman running in a dark alley. Someone follows her with a bat, and it seems like they will kill her. Need I say more?
Cut to the same lady, Jules.
She is seemingly not pregnant, going through a recent breakup, and is job hunting as a Graphic Designer. Her best friend Celia plans a girls’ night to get over Drew and get Julia’s groove back!
Speaking of Drew, he still has kept to her apartment, and Jules finds him rummaging through boxes looking for his things. He awkwardly apologizes and leaves the keys on the counter, officially ending the relationship.
At the girl’s night, Julia meets a woman named Alana. (Pronounced multiple ways in the first scene.) She is also going through a breakup and LOVES charcuterie boards. (Which are soooo 2019.) Alana is annoying and imposing as a friend. She makes Celia and Julia meet her at a cafe to create dating profiles.
Julia does love apps because her “Cycle Tracker app” tells her that her period is late. Jules takes a pregnancy test, and it comes back positive. She makes a doctor’s appointment immediately. Jules calls Drew, and he is supportive/happy about the news. She then shares everything is Alana and Celia at the cafe date instead of making dating profiles.
Without health insurance, the doctor’s appointment is going to cost Jules a lot of money out of pocket. It sucks that she will be paying so much because the doctor sucks and makes a lot of outdated assumptions about Jules’ personal life. He also tells Jules that she is past her first trimester and has been pregnant for longer than she thought.
At yoga class, Alana tells Jules about selling positive pregnancy tests on the black market. Alana thinks of it as an easy side hustle to make money. Jules thinks it is unethical but needs the money after her freelance job tanks.
Alana ships over pregnancy tests and explains that the clients are just trying to make deeper connections with their husbands or boyfriends. Alana assures Jules that they are empowering women, and all Jules has to do is take the tests, and Alana promises to handle the rest.
Three months later, Jules is still worried about money. The dick doctor keeps ordering more tests, and Jules will need to make more tests. Alana brings over the first payment and pays Jules only $2000 for three months of work???? Alana swears she is only taking a 30% cut and tells Jules to take more positive tests.
Bridget, another single mother, makes friends with Jules in a birthing class. Bridget is having a baby on her own because she didn’t want to wait for a man. Jules tells her new friend that she so co-parenting with her ex.
Alana hooks a new client that is sleeping with her boss and wants a fake pregnancy test to trick him into leaving his wife. Jules feels weird about it until she hears that this gig will pay $10,000. (That is more like it!) Things are so bad for Jules that she can’t pay her electricity bills. She needs this money.
Drew runs into Jules on the street and awkwardly talks to her pregnant belly. Drew doesn’t seem that bad; he is just a goober.
Jules tries to stop helping with the tests, and Alana threatens her loudly. Bridget overhears the conversation and asks Jules WTF is going on. Bridget has heard about this happening and suggests she go to the police.
Alana bullies Jules into giving her the test and threatens to go to the cops with a recording of them making the PREGNANCY SCHEME!!!
Jules takes pregnancy tests while crying, which is funny. (in a twisted way.) Jules starts telling everyone, including her BFF Celia. Celia feels responsible because she introduced them and promises to handle it.
While tenderizing meat and drinking wine, there is a knock at Alana’s door. Celia demands that Alana stay away from them and stop the pregnancy scheme. After work, Celia comes home and is meat-tenderized herself. (She is actually killed in the shower, the most scary thing!!!!!)
Oh, wait, Ce survives and is in a coma. The nurse tells them that her injuries are inconsistent with a fall and more from blunt trauma. Drew visits the hospital with Jules and tells her that everything will be okay. Jules explains why it isn’t and tells him about what she has been doing with Alana. Drew decides to talk to a lawyer and sell his action figures for some extra cash. He also offers to stay over, not in a creepy way, and checks in on Jules. (He is a good guy! I’m telling you!)
Someone tries to break in, and Drew comes over to secure the house.
Alana stops by and asks why Jules is ignoring her calls and just wants to pay her the money from the scheme. Jules tells her to leave her alone and stop following her. Alana has no clue what Jules is talking about.
An envelope ends outside Jules’s door with a note that reads, “Your friend is not who she says she is.” Bridget is a journalist who is lying about who she is to break the story of the pregnancy scheme and even wears a fake belly.
While she recaps everything to Drew, he keeps getting calls from a woman named Christine. He admits that he is in a new relationship. Jules supports him and tells him that she loves him as a friend and wants the best for him, even if that isn’t with her.
At the pregnancy class, Jules confronts Bridget about lying about who she is. Bridget comes clean about being a journalist named Maureen and has been looking into Alana. Alana does schemes with babies AND Cryptocurrency!!!!!
Julia is attacked in her house by a man who comically tells her to stop screaming and has no control over the situation. He is the boss that was given the fake pregnancy test. (Seems kind of gay to me tho!) Jules tells him she will turn herself in at the police station and meet him there. Does it work? He leaves but is then taken out by the person with the baseball bat.
Jules comes out and sees the man on the ground, then she sees Alana with the bat and runs for it. We are back at the beginning of the movie.
Alana ties Jules up and delivers her villain monologue. Alana dated a deadbeat who gambled her life savings away. When she met Jules, also recently single and poor, she saw it as a sign to build something lucrative and special. Then Alana tells Jules that she involved Drew in a hit-and-run. That pisses Jules off, and she fights Alana until the police come.
Six months later, Drew and Alana are raising their little daughter. Ce is alive and comes over for a girl’s night. Maureen’s story wins an award, and I guess Alana is in jail. The end!
Side Note/Stray Thoughts
Minority Report: Celia, Donna, Bridget, Nurse,
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Overall rating
Number of Kills:
🔪 (1 knife)
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it up! (Give it a shot)
Put a Cork in It (Skip It)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media @LifetimeUncorked & @patrickmiguel
*Photo Credit: © 2023 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
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Lifetime is really having a hit or miss year. The movie is either solid, or bad. Not really much in between this year.