The 19th Wife (2010)

It's a good thing that no one pays extra for Lifetime to be included in their cable-channel bundle (do they?) because this film was a complete waste of time -- it was 87 minutes that I'll never get back, and I'm not happy about it.This adaptation of a novel ignored one key aspect of its source material: the sexual orientation of Jordan, the Matt Czuchry character. Although the adaptation did not completely disrespect the novel by, say, having Jordan as a love interest for his old friend, Queenie, I think it would have added something significant to the story to have this woven into the narrative.Even ignoring the mismatch between novel and film on that dimension, other key elements of the story are just barely credible. How many times does Hiram tell his wife Queenie to mind her own business and stay away from Jordan, only for her to show up quite openly in the very next scene with Jordan, definitely not minding her own business? And who else thought it was completely unrealistic that a 16-year-old girl (Five) with no access to the outside world would, over the span of just a month, run away to Vegas, then come back to a nearby town (well, 50 miles away) and work in a coffee shop, periodically sneaking back to Mesadale to visit her mother?I guess it was a coup for Lifetime to get Czuchry before "The Good Wife" became popular, but no amount of his charm and acting skill can save this.

Just a follow up to some of the other reviews. Location: there is a sect here in Canada and as others have said, the location/surroundings are incidental to the plot. The sect in Canada has been the subject of repeated investigations and even prosecutions, not to mention a coup. Hairstyles: the stylist got it spot on, that is exactly how the wives are required to wear their hair. The clothing was also correct. I am guessing the reviewers complaining about the hairstyles are not familiar with this religion. Where I live there are other religions that also have similar dress requirements though they are not polygamous, Amish, Mennonite.

The acting isn't terrible and that's about the only thing you can say.If you read the book, you'll hate this movie as they've gutted it (and not just the "heterosexualization" of Jordan). If you liked BIG LOVE, pass this one by- it's nothing like it. If by some odd chance you read Ann Eliza Young's book (or Irving Wallace's about her) you'll hate this movie as it not only gets everything wrong but takes less than 10 minutes and that in blips. Most of the scenes in the movie last on average about 30 seconds each and there are many plot holes, some from the book and some that the movie cooked up.Just to correct a couple of historical errors: Ann Eliza Webb was NOT an adult when her father brought home his first plural wife but a baby so young she grew up in a polygamous family and had no memory of a life before it. She and Brigham Young had no children together- she had two sons with a first husband (omitted from the movie) and he had a few dozen with other women. Dramatic as it may seem, she did not flee from an angry mob- she checked into a hotel, gave constant interviews, and when she left town it was on a train and she sued him for a ton of alimony (unsuccessfully as their marriage was not legally recognized). That's an impressive number of errors considering the Ann Eliza story lasted all of about 5 minutes in this movie and could/should have been dropped altogether. (Her melodramatic ghost written tell-none is far from likely to inspire anybody in the modern era; even Ebershoff completely rewrote it and making her family far less interesting as he did so). This movie is basically a waste. I hope that most of the money went to Patricia Wettig's salary as she was by far the best thing in it. I read and did not like the book (too much purple prose and too much historical inaccuracy and too much clearly vanity driven inclusions with the murder mystery, which should have been the focus, taking up maybe 5% of the book's text). Compared to the movie, the book is a masterpiece. Not good, not so-bad-it's-good, just all around mediocre with a heaping side dish of "yeah right", followed by a yawn.

The acting was surprisingly good except for the character Five. She was so obnoxious and her character was unbelievable that she portrayed a girl raised in a sheltered society. The story itself was interesting and entertaining but here are some problems I had with it:-It showed Queenie serving their Prophet tea in one of the scenes. Trivial I know but if you know anything about Mormon culture including Mormon breakaway cults like this one it is against their religion to drink tea.-Along those same lines I found it unrealistic that the character Five would work in a coffee shop one month after she ran away from the sheltered cult because again it is against their religion to drink coffee.-I found it strange that the members of the cult were dressed so plain and "old time" you might say and their prophet was all decked out and drove a fancy car and had body guards. I found this unrealistic that he would portray himself to appear so "worldly".-It was definitely not filmed in Utah. Anyone who has been to Utah knows that Utah is not that green. And most of the polygamous cults in Utah live in the more desert areas so they can be away from society.-Also I found it odd that they never explained why Beckylyn had blood on her shirt in the opening scenes when she wasn't the one who did it.-I also found the love interest between Queenie and Jordan strange because they made it seem like their might be a connection their but then nothing ever panned out. I just wonder why they included that at all if there were going to leave it completely unresolved. Especially considering since in the book Jordan is portrayed as a homosexual. I also found it unrealistic that Queenie and Jordan would be so affectionate towards one another (in one scene she is kind of snuggling with him by a river) and that she would be so free to spend time with him in a extremely conservative and controlling cult. -I also found it strange that the code from the Dad's journal that contained all these references to cult terms could be deciphered by a non cult member mistress.-The ending was unrealistic to me as well. I do not think that it would be safe for Beckylyn to return to the cult considering everything that happened throughout the movie. Especially since it appears she is returning to her sister wives where in the movie the Prophet says he will marry all of the sister wives who were widowed by the murder. The prophet appears very dangerous and made murderous threats throughout the movie so why would it be safe for Beckylyn to go back to that community and possibly be his wife? Especially when you consider her role and knowledge throughout the movie.