"Deadly Encounter" unfolds like Russell Crowe's maniacal road-rager in "Unhinged" with the difference that we do not meet the villain until the closing scene of the film.

On the surface a by-the-numbers' stalker yarn, the film features an especially strong performance by Laura Leighton as Joanne Sanders, the single mom under siege. After shifting lanes awkwardly while driving home from work, Joanne nearly collided with an SUV. The unforgiving driver picked up Joanne's phone number from a for sale sign on her vehicle. He then proceeded to turn her life into a living nightmare.

Leighton convincingly plays a hostess at Santana's Night Club and lounge. The club featured a terrific jazz combo. On the home front, Joanne is still in recovery from the divorce from her unfaithful husband, Keith. Her mother was also the victim of a philanderer, and the mother and daughter compare notes on their bad luck with men. Part of the drama of "Deadly Encounter" is the ambivalence of Joanne about whether she wants to return to her husband.

The film also includes the surly youngster, Eric, a precocious brat who never forgave his father and is often unaccommodating with his beleaguered mom. Joanne is described by bestie Carol as all "wrought up," which accurately conveys the stress under which she is living.

While not necessarily inventive or original, "Deadly Encounter" is a well-crafted thriller with a central character defined more than anything by the love she has for her child and the tenacity to survive while living in a pressure cooker.

A DEADLY ENCOUNTER promises to be a good story of a male driver (ALAIN GOULEM) harassing a woman (LAURA LEIGHTON) whose accidental cut-off in traffic causes him to go berserk.

The opening sequence on a highway at night is well directed and manages some taut suspense. But as soon as the script delves into showing us the predicament of the foolish woman who cares a great deal about protecting herself and her son from further harm, the story goes off the deep end because none of the plotting is believable or makes any sense. It's no help that Leighton's character makes a lot of foolish mistakes.

Especially unbelievable is the ending both in the manner the outcome is reached in a cat-and-mouse game and then a blazing over-the-top shootout with the predator. His motivation is simply "You cut me off!" which is all we ever learn about him.

The acting is competent enough but the story is watchable for the first fifteen minutes before abruptly changing to implausible the rest of the way.

***SPOILERS*** Over the top made for TV movie about this crazed stalker,Alain Goulem, who sets his sights on pretty single mom, aren't they all now a days in the movies, Joanne Sanders (Laura Leighton) who innocently cut him off one night on the highway on her way home from work as a hostess at the Santana Nightclub in downtown Phillie. Feeling both hurt and disrespect's this nut case starts to make Joanne and her 13 year old son Eric's lives miserable! If miserable is the right word for it. Hounding Joanne day and night by making threatening phone calls to her house the psycho goes a step farther by at first booby trapping her mom's car and then going so far as kidnapping her son Eric. As for Joanne's ex Keith,Frank Schorpion, he's on the outs with Eric as well as herself and tries to keep as far away from Joanne, and Joanne's problems, as possible.

The film gets more ridicules by the minute with Joanne really doing nothing to help herself in finding the creep by just installing a caller ID system on her phone, which for the most part is mandatory, to get his number and reported him to to the police. Joanne doesn't even have a cell phone that she can use to call the cops, which she magically later obtains, to use when she spots the stalker or his SUV when she's outside out of her house. In fact there was a scene when Joanne spotted the stalker's SUV parked right alongside her car and didn't even bother to take down his license plate and give it to the police!

***SPOILERS*** The ending really tops it, the movie, all with Joanne being forced by the stalker,who's holding her son Eric hostage, to say pretty please to him for all the hurt he suffered because of her, not at once considering all the hurt he caused Joanne, by cutting him off on the highway earlier in the film. Still not satisfied with her answer, yes Joanne did say pretty please to him, this total nut job went in for the kill only to end up getting everything that's coming to him, from an finally outrage and gun toting Joanne, that put him on ice or the hot seat for good!