"The Rival" turns the tables on the film formula about a devious surrogate, who plans a dastardly deed against the parents who are paying for the adoption. In this film, the surrogate is angelic, and the monster is the would-be adopted parent, a woman whose life has been filled with violence in which she is on the giving end more than the receiving.

After an exhaustive search, Alice and her loving husband George finally locate the perfect surrogate, Sarah, who moves in with them during the gestation period. Unbeknownst to both the husband and the surrogate, Alice had set fire to her home at age twelve, murdering her father intentionally. Later, she will kill both her aunt Estelle and her kind shrink, Dr. Linda Zeller.

With Sarah in residence, Alice instantly becomes insanely jealous, convincing herself that George will fall in love with the surrogate and take their baby away from her. Although it is a stock device, Alice has a recurring dream that is dramatized on multiple occasions in the film. While the psychiatrist Dr. Zeller tries hard to understand the dream, she is slow in figuring out all of the symbols pointing to a violent streak in Alice.

Two of the most interesting characters in the film were George and Sarah. Both were patient and devoted to Alice, but incapable of reaching her. The actress playing Alice was convincing in portraying her character's sudden outbursts, especially a show-stopping scene in a swanky Italian restaurant where she confronts Sarah and her cousin Jennifer. The reactions on the patrons' faces were priceless.

The filmmakers began the picture with a scene that led the audience to empathize with Alice, who is shot by an assailant at an ATM machine. At the time, Alice was pregnant with a child from her first husband. She lost both the baby and the husband in the attack. The first husband fatefully told Alice that he would not be a good father and wanted her to raise the child on her own. His realization about his own inadequacies could have equally applied to poor Alice, who desperately wanted to be a mother, but was ill-prepared for the challenge.

Gripping from the start to the finish. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The story was also very twist filled. An easy 10er.

I didn't think much of this film at all. To begin with, it was filmed in Ottawa -- although I must say they did a good job of hiding the fact. BTW, just to get it off my chest, the black cop detective has slicked back hair in a little pony tail, a la Miami Vice circa 1984...uh, producers, 20 years have past since then -- time to wake up.

Tracy Nelson was good at being a clingy annoying nut bar woman who spends the entire film freaking out. She thinks a young hotty surrogate mom her and her hubby have hired to have their brat wants to steal him away. In fact she's so upset at the thought of losing him that she stabs him to death instead. Yep, that's what people who are deeply in love do -- they kill each other -- nice writing there fellas.

Everything falls into place just the way you would expect any boring dumb film to. Honestly, if you watch this piece of &^%$, you'll feel sorry you wasted your time when it ends. I know I did.