Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
DJ is stalked by a caller in awful drama; peril, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
If I Can't Have You
What's the Story?
In IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, Michelle (Bailey Kai) is a nighttime radio host who plays love songs between brief chats with callers who want to talk about their love lives. When one caller, with a deep disguised voice, starts getting personal and threatening by leaving love notes and flowers at her front door and on her windshield, she and her producer Lily (Gina Hiraizumi) are frightened enough to go to the police, who pretty much do nothing. Lily and Michelle decide, with no evidence, that their grinning station manager Stan (Eric Roberts) is the stalker, and when that notion is dropped, they turn their overactive imaginations to Michelle's neighbor, also based on no evidence. Will they uncover the culprit?
Is It Any Good?
If I Can't Have You is a pale and inept remake of Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, the 1971 Play Misty for Me about a male night radio DJ being stalked by a female caller. The earlier movie carefully built tension and hit all the marks of a moody thriller. This has neither mood nor thrill. Especially confusing is the fact that the movie begins with a threatening scene that literally has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie. The plot clearly has not been worked out. A murder is committed with no plausible explanation for why. A man stalks a woman with no plausible explanation for why. The characters generally behave like unsupervised 11-year-olds. Let's break into our neighbor's house! Great idea! But what will breaking-and-entering get us, apart from likely jail time? Hmm. Nothing? Yes! Nothing!
Bailey Kai gives a one-note performance. Eric Roberts plays a goofball station manager with what his employees call a "dirty old man vibe." He's at his most casual when he confesses he's now enlightened enough to recognize that asking his pretty underlings out for drinks years ago was a no-no, but he offers as his excuse that those were different times. Jackee Harry as a police detective delivers every line, including, "I think she's hiding something," as if it were a hilarious punch line. That gets old fast.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the clues the movie gives about status. Michelle lives in a huge house, suggesting she is either independently wealthy or making a whole lot more money than the average nighttime radio host makes. How does this and other unrealistic touches contribute to the unreality of the movie?
A murder is committed. Does the movie explain why that person was killed? Does it matter?
The movie takes pains to introduce lots of men who might be threatening or suspicious. How does the movie use music and suggestion to get the audience to see threat where none exists?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : April 23, 2023
- Cast : Bailey Kai , Gina Hiraizumi , Eric Roberts
- Director : David DeCoteau
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Lifetime
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 85 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : April 1, 2026
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