"A jealous wife, romantic rivals, blackmail." Yikes. All that's missing is Geraldo Rivera, a camera crew, and some scammers on the low. Oh and don't forget about that polygraph device to keep in handy. Like I said, yikers.
Anyway my latest review is 2026's A Toxic Love Story, a documentary that despite being a real true-life affair, still unfolds like pure fiction. I mean was Angela Diaz (one of the film's subjects) actually pregnant with twins? And did Angela really fake being diagnosed with cancer? And uh, why are the other denizens involved with "Toxic" so darn thin-skinned? It's not like anyone got murdered and um, no one's bank account was woefully drained. Yeesh!
A Toxic Love Story, well it's a melodramatic enigma, a "cry for help" docu where the town criers spew profanity and painfully gnaw on their 15 minutes of fame. Guy meets girl. Guy dumps girl for another girl. Guy with new girl conspires to put ex-girl in jail through the use of fake emails and/or rape fantasy hoaxes. Did you get all that? Well that's the point to "Toxic", the ultimate bamboozle of a vehicle, the ultimate catfish-er, the ultimate ploy for a viewer to get there total Ricki Lake on. "I wish everyone would just tell the truth." You're preaching to the choir sister. Preach darn it.
Expired, daytime talk show hosts and forgotten media notices aside, A Toxic Love Story is directed by Alexandra Lacey, a twenty-year veteran of TV and Netflix celluloid. Her flick develops quite nicely even if the subject matter is trivial and the jibber jabber during the interviews is trainwreck city. Basically if you want to see a docudrama where the 48 Hours cliche of knowing who the malefactor is because you never hear (or see) present-day accounts from said malefactor, well "Toxic" is that docudrama. Somewhat tainted "love".
Written by Jesse Burleson
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