Unforgettable  ★★½

TRASHY movies can be good and bad.

When it comes to thrillers that pit female characters against each other, there is a fair bit of bad, straight-to-video trash.

On the other hand, Fatal Attraction and Single White Female are examples of good trash.

Unforgettable (2017) walks a fine line in trash but is generally an entertaining watch, albeit not in the same class as the aforementioned films.

While it’s competently directed and acted, the main problem is the script which offers nothing new in this sub-genre.

The narrative treads a well worn path and takes all the usual, totally expected detours on the way to a predictable climax and obligatory final twist.

So why bother watching it?

The main reason is Katherine Heigl who acquits herself well playing against type as the villain of the piece.

Heigl generally takes lighter roles that are more comic and/or romantic in nature. Her biggest film hit is the 2007 Apatow comedy Knocked Up, but she is best known through television’s Greys Anatomy.

So it’s fun to see her playing a woman who appears prim and proper on the surface but is hiding a deep-seated psychosis that erupts when her former husband reveals his new partner.

The target of her fury is played by Rosario Dawson, an actress who has been busy for 20 years or so, mainly in quality genre drama and action such as Sin City and Tarantino’s Death Proof.

The film starts some time following the breakdown of Tessa (Heigl) and David Connover’s marriage. They have a daughter, Lily, who has remained with her mother.

David (Geoff Stults) and his partner Julia Banks (Dawson) have moved closer to Tessa so he can better manage visitation rights with Lily.

The closer David, Julia and the daughter become, the more Tessa’s behaviour worsens to the point where she starts impersonating Julia on-line to discredit her character and poison the relationships. When Julia fights back, the conflict inevitably leads to a physical showdown.

Particularly good are the scenes involving Tessa and her domineering mother, played with quiet menace by Cheryl Ladd, which play out the adage that the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Additional to the cast, females are also in the key crew roles, first-time director Denise Di Novi and writer Christina Hodson.