Villainess Review: Dina Gardner (Deception)

Perhaps one of the best Lifetime-esque movies to never hit Lifetime (or even Lifetime Movie Network) had to be 2004's Deception, which centered on Erin Greer, a struggling actress who works at a detective agency as a decoy. Her job is to expose married men (usually well-to-do ones) as cheaters, with suspicious wives enlisting her services, and it was quite early in the film that Erin meets Max Gardner, with the pair instantly clicking. Max shows an empty ring finger in response to Erin's question about him being married, but he actually starts to come clean when they head to the hotel room.

Once there, they are suddenly encountered by Max's wife, Dina, who voiced her suspicions that Max was messing around, and once Erin's boss, Jack, enters, the truth comes out: Dina had hired Erin to "seduce" Max. In spite of all of this, however, Max isn't deterred from seeing Erin, and he eventually tells the whole story, stating that his marriage to Dina had been over for quite some time, mainly due to Dina's beliefs that Max was cheating, with Max informing Erin that he had never been unfaithful. Max also stated that he and Dina co-owned an ad agency, while revealing the business and the money involved as the reason for Dina hiring Erin: they would have to split the finances 50/50 in a divorce, but if Max is caught cheating, Dina would get everything.

Max and Erin's relationship began to progress, much to the dismay of Dina, who seethed at the pair while visiting Max's loft. Later on, Erin and Jack are stunned with the shocking news that Denise Sandler, a friend and co-worker of Erin's, was found stabbed to death, and regarding Erin, she is later told that Dina plans to use a tape of Max in a divorce settlement. As Erin gets the incriminating tape, she is again encountered by Dina, who visited the agency and claimed to be fearful of Max, referring to her soon-to-be ex-husband as a "charming and cunning sociopath," with the added bonus that Max even threatened to kill her if she ever filed for divorce. Erin doesn't buy this, but Jack does, as he enlists fellow employee Parker to protect Dina...only for Parker to end up shot to death.

We also see Erin's roommate, Julie, attacked by a knife-wielding maniac, and with all of these factors, Erin begins to believe that Max is involved, especially after learning that Dina had actually hired Denise before hiring Erin. However, that suspicion later turns to Jack after he and the late Denise are exposed as blackmailers, but the climax sees Jack phone Erin (after turning himself in for blackmail) and warn her about Max. Erin runs off, with Max trailing her and finding himself held at gunpoint by Erin, who voiced her belief that Max was behind everything, Max voiced his denial, all the while, the door creaks, and someone enters with malice in mind, Max pleads with Erin to give him the gun, and despite Erin's fears, she does, leading to Max shooting and killing the true villainess behind everything: the deranged and evil Dina Gardner.

So everything was posthumously revealed; Denise was attempting to blackmail Dina in regards to her use of the agency to trap Max, but in response, Dina turned heel by stabbing Denise to death (the autopsy revealed that she was stabbed five times). Seeing Erin and Max together at the loft increased Dina's rage, so she decided to kill Parker and attack Julie (Erin was her true target) to set up Max, with her verbal manipulations being part of her plan. Though I loved everything about this movie, including the entire cast, the true highlight of Deception was Cary Lawrence as the evil Dina Gardner. Dina was an immensely maniacal villainess, and Lawrence played all of her facets very well; Dina's rage, her manipulations, and even her brief reveal during the climax.

I had learned about this film and this villainess a few years prior, but even if I hadn't, I would have easily figured out that Dina was evil. There weren't really any true red herrings, and as the film's showed, Dina didn't really try to mask her villainous demeanor, which I also loved; Lawrence acted that out very well. The two scenes that stood out to me: the attack on Julie and Dina's reveal. The attack on Julie was Dina's heel persona at her most ruthless and diabolical, as despite the fact that her true target was Erin, the fact that she went after Julie showed that she was willing to take out anyone even close to the main subject of her rage--plus we received a great Hand of Death shot as well. Dina's reveal was terrific mainly because of her villainous attire; changing from a business suit to a hooded disguise with black gloves. Overall, Dina Gardner was a very epic and amazing villainess, and Cary Lawrence's performance as Dina stole the entire film!

While Deception didn't air on Lifetime, Cary Lawrence has. Her credits include appearances in Lifetime films such as Baby for Sale, A Lover's Revenge (which also featured her Deception co-star, Gary Hudson), and Framed for Murder. Lawrence also guest-starred on Nickelodeon's The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, and also appeared on The Hunger and The Detectives.

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