"How to Murder Your Husband" was a film that would have been shocking if it were a work of fiction. But the film is based on fact which makes it doubly disturbing.
Nancy Crampton-Brophy was discontented with her marriage due to the couple's precarious financial situation. Her husband Daniel was a skilled chef and instructor of culinary arts. He worked a second night job to help pay the bills. He was always cheerful and upbeat and felt that the couple could solve their money problems.
For her part, Nancy was a writer of fiction who had fallen hard times. For her latest book, she was unable to find either a publisher or a literary agent. So, she resorted to murdering her kind husband to collect on multiple life insurance policies.
Viewers will have to make up their own minds about why Daniel remained in a marriage with a woman who was clearly ungrateful for his efforts and provided little in the way of positive energy to the relationship. Was Daniel a saint? Or, was he simply not in touch with his wife's pathology?
In her twisted mind, Nancy believed she could commit the perfect crime. But it did not help her cause to publish a story entitled "How to Murder Your Husband." In possibly the best scene in the film, the detectives candidly inform Nancy of the flaws in her plan. Her errors were almost identical to the critique a successful writer gave Nancy about her book.
Nancy even had the audacity to write a book called "Plotting Your Story Arc, Workbook for Writers, Plotters, and Pantsers." (A pantser is a writer who works off the cuff, as opposed to careful planning; in other words, a perfect description of Nancy herself!) This Danielle Steel wannabe was clearly a hack. Tragically for her devoted husband, she was living out the fantasy of a character from one of her potboilers, as opposed to following the lead of her husband, who had the kind of values that are at the heart of the American Dream.
Nancy Crampton-Brophy was discontented with her marriage due to the couple's precarious financial situation. Her husband Daniel was a skilled chef and instructor of culinary arts. He worked a second night job to help pay the bills. He was always cheerful and upbeat and felt that the couple could solve their money problems.
For her part, Nancy was a writer of fiction who had fallen hard times. For her latest book, she was unable to find either a publisher or a literary agent. So, she resorted to murdering her kind husband to collect on multiple life insurance policies.
Viewers will have to make up their own minds about why Daniel remained in a marriage with a woman who was clearly ungrateful for his efforts and provided little in the way of positive energy to the relationship. Was Daniel a saint? Or, was he simply not in touch with his wife's pathology?
In her twisted mind, Nancy believed she could commit the perfect crime. But it did not help her cause to publish a story entitled "How to Murder Your Husband." In possibly the best scene in the film, the detectives candidly inform Nancy of the flaws in her plan. Her errors were almost identical to the critique a successful writer gave Nancy about her book.
Nancy even had the audacity to write a book called "Plotting Your Story Arc, Workbook for Writers, Plotters, and Pantsers." (A pantser is a writer who works off the cuff, as opposed to careful planning; in other words, a perfect description of Nancy herself!) This Danielle Steel wannabe was clearly a hack. Tragically for her devoted husband, she was living out the fantasy of a character from one of her potboilers, as opposed to following the lead of her husband, who had the kind of values that are at the heart of the American Dream.