Deadly Illusions (2021)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Mary Morrison	Kristin Davis	½
Tom Morrison	Dermot Mulroney
Elaine	Shanola Hampton
Grace	Greer Grammer	½

Review

This genre-bound film is so caught up in the 1990s erotic thriller subgenre that even its supposed surprises become unsurprising. It's about a famed crime writer who in a bid to end her writer's block hires a nanny who seems too good to be true. And you know what they say about those? (That is, things that are too good to be true, not nannies.) I suspect filmmaker Anna Elizabeth James, who both wrote, directed and co-produced, intended for her film to be playful and not take itself too seriously, but she fails at that, largely because there are no shifts in tone in here. She demonstrates a lack of craftsmanship when scenes of singing lullabies for the kids are soaked in the same ominous, quasi-erotic mood as a kitchen-counter seduction. Kristin Davis tries to play her part straight – which works only when the director once in a while lets her exist in a believable world. With Delmot Mulroney as the husband, and Greer Grammer (Kelsey's daughter) as the nanny. She clearly cannot identify with her character's psyche, so she compensates by overdoing it.