The Wives He Forgot (2006 TV Movie)
Pretty good, but still just a Lifetime movie
28 February 2009
At the start of the movie, a large bald man is beating up Jay Miller, whose name we don't know yet. Mina witnesses this and is nearly attacked herself, but Jay, despite his injuries, goes after him.

In her father's former law office somewhere north of Chicago, Charlotte has taken over her father's practice, and she's doing okay with various types of cases. Her mother died when she was young, and she lost her father while in law school. Jay barely makes it into the office and Charlotte can see he needs help. She takes him to the hospital, where she finds out he has no identification and doesn't seem to know who he is.

Mina comes forward to say this man saved her life. He is honored by the town and called an "angel", given the name Gabriel. He moves in with Charlotte, who lives in her parents' big house, and goes to work as a volunteer at the hospital. Charlotte hasn't had good luck with men, but Gabriel seems very nice and, although Charlotte sort of has a boyfriend, it becomes obvious what's really going on.

Then the ex-wives show up. Not one but two. Gillian is beautiful but spoiled, and Alicia is just plain nasty. We finally learn the man's real name, and we learn he worked at a travel agency. With all his traveling, it seems he was able to convince both women he was only traveling when, in fact, he was with one wife when not with the other. This is bigamy. The women want justice. Charlotte reluctantly agrees to serve as Jay's lawyer.

The prosecutor looks almost exactly like Lauren Bacall but of course is much younger.

This isn't really a romantic comedy, but the first half is so light-hearted and the music is perky. The second half seems more dark but can't really be taken that seriously.

The ending is great.

Molly Ringwald is all grown up. In this role she almost makes one forget about the cute teens she used to play. Almost. In some scenes it's still obvious she used to be cute. In others she looks so old ... well, let's say mature. And she's not exactly slim. She looks like real women look. And she does a pretty good job. As a male, I don't particularly care for her scenes with Charlotte's friend Gwen, who is attractive but has the attitude "Men are pigs and Oprah is our queen". And of course Charlotte gladly joins her in feeling this way, the only time I can't really like this character.

Mark Humphrey does a good job as the mysterious Gabriel.

Other than that, this is just a Lifetime movie, with a silly mystery. It's sort of enjoyable.
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