CBS (Tues., Nov. 30, 9 p.m. ET)
C+
Valerie Bertinelli stars in this wrenching, fact-based drama as a woman descending into madness. Because she can present a plausible front when confronted by authority figures, no one intervenes until she is both dangerous and armed.
During a lucid interlude, she marries an insurance salesman (played by Stephen Caffrey). Bui shortly after the honeymoon he comes home to find her curled up in a fetal position on the kitchen linoleum, sobbing uncontrollably. She starts vacuuming at 3 in the morning. The refrigerator is full of cosmetics and cleaning products, and there's lipstick graffiti on the bedroom walls. And that's on her good days.
Bertinelli gives a fearless performance as this tract-house Ophelia. Bui (here's little dramatic structure on which to hang a character, just a series of increasingly awful episodes. It's a film only an obsessive-compulsive could love. The supporting cast includes Bertinelli's Cafe American co-star Graham Beckel and Mad About You's Anne Ramsay.
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