Villainess Review: Amanda Roberts (Your Boyfriend is Mine)

One day after I celebrated my 37th birthday, Lifetime delivered with a doubleheader of new films, with the second of the two films, Your Boyfriend is Mine, being the one I was more excited for. We are introduced to the film's villainess right at the start: Amanda Roberts, as she is shown berating James Yates, who had been in an arrangement with Amanda and wanted out. He does leave after Amanda lashed out and stated that she had given him everything, but his freedom doesn't last too long, as he is suddenly stabbed to death by a masked assailant.

We are later introduced to veterinarian Ben Howard and his girlfriend, Calli Gordon, and we see Amanda meet Ben...and become quickly enamored by him. Amanda's affinity leads to her forcing her brother, Walker, to track down Ben and get information from him, and after he does, Amanda "just happens" to run into Ben again, but this time, she also meets Calli. Though Amanda appeared to be a tad dismayed over seeing Ben's girlfriend, she offers Ben a lucrative position as her assistant, which Ben does take. However, we quickly see Amanda's controlling and demanding demeanor emerge, as Ben as constantly asked to be at her beck and call. Calli is justifiably outraged over Amanda's demands, but because Ben is softer than two scoops of soft-serve ice cream, he puts up with it and basically tells Calli to do the same.

Ben is ordered to move into Amanda's house after a supposed break-in (who's to say Amanda didn't smash the window herself?), and Amanda continues to charm Ben with promises of financially helping his goal: opening a veterinary clinic. She also appeased Ben by allowing Calli to live in the house for two days a week, but she would later used one of her many security cameras to listen in on a conversation between Ben and Calli. Amanda did not like what she heard from Ben: calling Amanda "moody," plans to move in with Calli, and a plan to propose to her. She got right to work on keeping Ben with her permanently, which began with drugging Ben's drink and laying next to him--making it appear that they slept together. Amanda sent the photos to Calli, leading to that relationship ending, and it's at this point that Ben finally gets his head right and chews out Amanda, but his attempt to leave is thwarted by Amanda shoving Ben down the stairs.

In what has to be an homage to the classic film, Misery, Ben (broken leg and all) is chained to a bed by Amanda, who later sends Calli away with claims that Ben left her house. While Amanda doesn't say things like "cockadoodie," she does meet with Walker (who--surprise, surprise--was revealed as the person who killed James) and sends him to Calli's house under the lie that Ben was blackmailing her. Amanda later orders Ben to give her the password to his phone, while threatening to order Walker to kill Calli and Harrison (Ben's best friend) if he didn't comply. Ben gives in and tells Calli and Harrison not to look for him, though the pair end up going to the police. Later on, Ben's attempt to hold Amanda at knifepoint is countered with the villainess revealing that she drugged him beforehand, and as a result of Ben's "misbehavior," she sent Walker to kill Calli and Harrison.

Harrison gets killed, but Calli survives, with Walker revealing everything to Amanda. After seeing Ben chained up, Walker realized that Amanda had been deceiving him for all that time and ordered his sister to free him, even holding Amanda at gunpoint. A scuffle followed, and Amanda ends up shooting her brother to death, and afterwards, the deranged villainess presented the knife to Ben and claimed that both Calli and Harrison were murdered, while revealing her plan to frame Ben if he didn't give in to her--even going as far as uttering the following words:

"I don't want you to end up in prison, but if I can't have you, no one can."

Amanda's confrontation with a pair of detectives sees her claim that she and Ben were in a relationship, while even portraying Ben as being domineering (oh, brother). Ben attempts to play loud music to get the detectives' attention, but all that did was anger Amanda, who struck Ben's broken leg with a fireplace poker. Once Amanda leaves the house, Calli enters searching for Ben, but she is caught on one of Amanda's cameras, leading Amanda to return to the house and confront Calli. Amanda threatens to call the police, only for Calli to remind Amanda that the entire house would be searched, after which Amanda allowed Calli inside the room where Ben was held captive. Amanda later grabbed a gun in her attempt to kill Calli, who fights off the villainess and knocks her out. Amanda ends up in prison for her various crimes, but she obsessively fawns over one of the guards. Why, you ask? She asked for extra basil in her serving, and he got it for her. Whoa.

Your Boyfriend is Mine aired on Lifetime on March 19, 2022, and featured Eli Jane as the film's main villainess, Amanda Roberts. I'll just put it bluntly: this woman was evil, manipulative, psychotic, ruthless, and immensely delusional. Here was a woman who was using her wealth and power to force men to cater to her whims, and if they didn't, well, let's say their defiance would be the last thing they ever did. Amanda had to have control of all of her surroundings, or all hell would break loose. She was basically Leslie Williams (Columbo's first female killer) with a hint of Annie Wilkes from Misery, and regarding Jane's performance, it was immensely stellar. Jane acted out Amanda's charm very well, but she truly shined when it came to Amanda's ruthlessness and her increasing insanity--especially in that final prison scene. Is it too much to ask that we get a sequel somehow? I just have a sinking feeling that Amanda Roberts isn't done quite yet.

For Eli Jane, this was her first Lifetime film, and what a Lifetime debut it was. Regarding other roles, Jane has appeared on several different TV shows, such as Nip/Tuck, NCIS, Entourage, All Rise, and 9-1-1.

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Check out Amanda Roberts' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!