Reckless Behavior: Caught on Tape

Odette Yustman may sound like the name of a fussy old biddy, but it's actually the name of this attractive young woman who apparently was on the show October Road as well as starring as one of the screaming kids in Cloverfield, which I saw. Since I can't accept her as "Odette," I'm going to have to refer to her as Cloverfield. Is that OK?

Regardless of your answer, this movie is about a young woman, Cloverfield, who really has it going on: she's got a fancy new job as a grade-school teacher, she has a hunky fireman boyfriend, and a great haircut. To blow off some steam from this entirely too stressful existence, Cloverfield and a couple of her girlfriends head off to the tropics for some harmless fun. Their harmless fun gets a little out of control when they meet Antonio Sabato Jr., who is always around making sure the girls are liquored up, dancing, and telling sexy truth-or-dare type stories--while constantly videotaping everything.

Yes, as the title may have hinted, this "reckless behavior" is "caught on tape." I know, you may be thinking that doing shots with your shorties and sitting around the fire making fake-orgasm noises doesn't sound all that reckless, it just sounds like your basic Friday night. Well, Lifetime is here to tell you that it is reckless. RECKLESS. You wanton sluts.

So anyway, Antonio mixes shots of Cloverfield dancing and fake-orgasming and splices it with porn shots, and the next thing you know it's the hottest porno on the net. Cloverfield's family, friends, and colleagues all end up seeing it, she loses her job, her boyfriend starts frowning almost 24/7, and no lawyer will represent her (although she does find one who gives Cloverfield, and all Lifetime viewers, a stern lecture on how we should really be blaming the whole situation on the evils of modern society, rap music, and fashion ads).

The interesting thing here is that the creators of this movie paint themselves into a narrative corner and can't figure out any way for Cloverfield to win. So this is what they come up with: Cloverfield tracks down Antonio at his dumpy L.A. pad (where apparently he executes George Lucas-levels of digital manipulation to get Cloverfield's head on various nude bods). Then she destroys a couple of his computer monitors and drives away looking all self-satisfied like she has just reclaimed her virtue. Destroying computer monitors has that effect, I guess.

RATING: 7. Personally, I love seeing reckless behavior of all stripes caught on tapes of any format, so I was totally into this.

Dig it: Lifetime's official Reckless Behavior website.

No official vid, though, so here's some promo thing from Cloverfield, which, if you think about it, also could have been titled Reckless Behavior: Caught on Tape.