Rating of
2.5/4
'Every Secret Thing' is Every Mother's Nightmare
Leslie - wrote on 08/29/16
I wasn’t sure what to expect from "Every Secret Thing" other than an enjoyable cast. This movie has an odd predilection for biracial baby abductions. Two girls, Ronnie Fuller (Dakota Fanning) and Alice Manning (Danielle Macdonald), are the prime suspects of the latest kidnapping. Two detectives, Nancy Porter (Elizabeth Banks) and Kevin Jones (Nate Parker), are in charge of nabbing the abductors. Caught in between is Helen Manning (Diane Lane), who is the mother of Alice and protector of Ronnie, whom she has favored ever since Ronnie was a little girl.
The word twisted doesn’t even begin to describe the motivations of neither Alice nor Ronnie, let alone Alice’s detached mother. Helen and Alice’s mother/daughter relationship is unquestionably Jerry Springer material.
Nate Parker’s detective Jones character is reminiscent of Robert De Niro’s Internal Affairs officer Moe Tilden from the movie "Cop Land." He’s got the same stuffy attire, corny mustache, and needling persona. A tense exchange between Jones and the missing girl’s mother’s boyfriend Devlin Hatch (Common) makes for good drama.
