My Husband's Secret Life (1998 TV Movie) User Reviews

Very Average

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 21 September 2005]

This is yet another female friendly TVM though one that stars a relatively well known movie actress in the shape of Anne Archer who plays Theresa Sullivan whose husband is a cop killed in the line of duty . Seeing as it's a chick flick there's several angles the storyline can take

Widow whose husband was killed finds some skeletons in cupboard about relationship

or

Widow whose husband is killed finds herself struggling to make ends meet

or

Widow whose husband was killed finds out who killed him

Any of these premise would have worked as a theme/plot to a film but for some strange reason the producers chose all three as part of the storyline which means this TVM is rather unfocused . Not only that but if there wasn't already enough going on we have a subplot involving a teenage daughter's dislike of her mother's new boyfriend

Also keep your ears open for some laughable Noo Yoirk accents

Crossing the Bridge

[lavatch · 7/10 · 28 January 2023]

Theresa "Sissy" Sullivan is a widow who always wanted to "cross the bridge" as a way to get out of her humdrum Flatbush existence. As she never realized her dreams, she now seeks to ensure that her daughter Eileen will have the chance to cross the Brooklyn Bridge and study at Columbia.

Sissy's husband Eddie did not die in the line of duty, but dropped dead of a heart attack while in bed with his lover in a secret love nest. Sissy bonds with Toni Diaz, the woman with whom Eddie was having the affair.

The two women collude in getting evidence on a dirty cop involved in a meat-packing scheme. With the evidence in hand, Sissy makes her power play on the police, blackmailing the head honchos into giving her husband a posthumous promotion and a bump in his pension.

While the extortion scheme seemed implausible, the film's action was briskly paced, and Anne Archer was excellent as the widow. It was a real hoot to listen to the actors' overworked New York accents. Perhaps Sissy can now refine her speech like Eliza Doolittle and find her way across the bridge.

Anne Archer turns investigator to uncover the truth...

[VENEZIADOGE · 22 January 2000]

This TV movie has some ok actors like Anne Archer, James Russo, and Maria Conchita Alonso, but the movie itself is typical of USAesque TV movies. Anne Archer plays a dead cop's wife who finds out some interesting details about her late husband's life. This sets her off on a detective on to uncover the truth.

The relationship between her and her daughter is somewhat comical, just the typical teenage mother-daughter dilemmas mixed in with lower-middle class life struggles. However perhaps the best aspect to the movie are the Long Island accents, particularly Anne Archer's.

The movie is formulaic and cheesy, but it's what you'd expect to get on a Friday night, or Sunday afternoon while you're checking out USA. Overall you should stay away unless you're a connoisseur of TV movies, especially the USA variety.