User Reviews

I'm giving it all away so if you don't want the entire thing spoiled, don't read this review!

In a nutshell:

Little girl from an abusive, but rich family; grows up to be a fragile yet schizophrenic artist with huge trust fund and a husband just as rotten as her father. He tries to drive her crazier than she already is by having his mistress pose as her childhood hallucination imaginary friend to have her committed; so that he and the mistress can live together in comfort off of artist's trust fund. Schizophrenic artist figures it out, and with the help of said mistress manages to turn the tables on him; and he ends up taking a ride in the Twinkie Truck instead.

The acting is pretty good, even if the character creation is mediocre and predictable at best. Anyone with a handful of brain cells can figure out where the movie is going about a third of the way through. Not a bad movie overall, but like most flicks that air on Lifetime; it is too contrived to be genuinely engaging.

This had the makings of a great film, but the people behind it took far too many liberties with the hauntings. Brad is a doctor, so even without a wealthy wife he would almost certainly have been a member of the 1%. They live in a palatial home, and she isn't exactly unattractive, to put it mildly, so what can go wrong? Lots of things, from when she was a girl. Her father murdered her mother then killed himself, leaving his substantial estate in trust for his daughter with a plethora of strings attached.

When she was young, Emma had an imaginary friend, as kids sometimes do, especially those without siblings. The problem is her imaginary friend is back, all grown up and stunningly attractive. While she is clearly suffering from hallucinations, her husband is covertly doing his best to encourage them hoping to get her committed so he can get his hands on her trust. As so often happens, people who are too greedy end up with nothing, wifey has Brad sussed, and soon he is the one popping pills hoping to exorcise the ghost Emma claims she has killed. And this is where it gets silly, how does one account for blood appearing and then drying up? How does a real live woman behave like a phantom, appearing and disappearing at will? Only by invoking the supernatural, which apparently we are not meant to do. At one point Brad's desperation is quite funny, but one suspects any humour the viewer derives from his plight was unintended.

I thought this was a good movie, but could only give it a five. It was just too predictable. I knew as soon as I saw Brittany that she was real and the husband was behind her being there. I also found the movie to be quite implausible.

It was pretty clear that Lacey's character was really off at the start, and then all of a sudden she was perfectly normal with no reasoning. It was never made clear how she figured out the husband's plot, one assumes that Brittany told her. Why would Brittany turn on the husband in favor of the wife? Either way she was getting paid.

I find it hard to believe that Ethan's character could be turned into a pill-popping psycho in a matter of hours, and all his doctor friends turned on him in a second.

It was great seeing Jacob Young. Love him!

I like that the husband got what was coming to him! I didn't see the twist that the girl was real but after that I knew that they had joined forces and was messing with the husband. It was predictable after that for sure. But it was worth a one time watch! I've definetly seen worse. The actress that plays Emma is super pretty but I feel like it was overacting after she "killed" the imaginary friend. I don't think that the cops would realistically believe someone who regularly has episodes to say her husband is the crazy one now but I suppose it helped him finally tell her the truth. My husband and I pretty much called every scene.

So you can film scenes where the supernatural HAD TO be involved, then at the end we are to understand there was nothing supernatural. That a psychiatrist fell to pieces THAT QUICKLY and THAT EASILY, seeing blood that isn't there, seeing a woman who then disappears. I MIGHT believe a person with psychosis could have these illusions. We are NEVER led to believe that the doctor had psychosis and it is LAUGHABLE that he would fall apart instead of figuring out the RIDICULOUS scheme his ex patient and his wife were pulling on him. Oh and why did the lawyer and all of his books and papers disappear from his office? Did an attorney knowingly go along with the absurd scheme? Even if he was away on vacation, i DOUBT he talk EVERY SINGLE BOOK AND FILE with him. And the husband had a knife at the end and was basically 3 feet from two women, then we see the police show up and the husband is institutionalized for "a very long time". Why? Both women are seen together at the end celebrating their scheme so what happened? Did he simply go mad and fall to his knees and the wife then called the cops? The two women TOOK THAT CHANCE that he wouldn't stab what he thought at that point was a GHOST?!!? And ON and ON and ON. Lifetime...uh, yeah.

While the acting was generally okay and the soundtrack wasn't too bad, the plot itself was terrible. It's just another movie to make imaginary friends seem like a mental illness. Lots of adults have imaginary friends, hell, I have one, and it's movies like this one, Drop Dead Fred (1991), Hide & Seek (2005) and Magic (1978) that give imaginary friends a bad rep. This film follows the basic formula for these types of movies.

Emma has it all, she's an adult woman who lives a fancy high-class life as an artist but is on strict medication and is married to a kind of jerky psychiatrist. As a child she had an abusive father and created an imaginary friend, Brittany, to help her through dark times. Her loving headshrinker husband suggests medication but Emma loves Brittany and doesn't want to destroy her only friend with drugs. But is Brittany not so imaginary after all, or is there something more going on? Well, Emma is a typical Hollywood portrayal of mental illness in a person, frequently shown popping antidepressants/antipsychotics and having hallucinations that turn out to be a real person she is seeing, and her sleazy husband certainly isn't helping anything as he cheats and plots to have his wife sent off to a mental asylum forever.

I wish film companies would consider their viewers more often though; I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gone through something traumatic and dealt with it differently than most. I created Syd my imaginary friend when I was in grade 5 and he's been around for years. When my psychiatrist found out I thought for sure he'd tell me to get rid of Syd or start popping pills, but he said that many fiction novelists end up with imaginary friends or keep them from childhood, and that as long as Syd isn't dangerous and doesn't pose any threat he's a great support mechanism so long as I can tell the difference between imagination and reality, which I can. I don't like how the film portrayed Emma as "instant nutcase" for having an imaginary friend, nor do I like how they portrayed the psychiatrist husband as a cheating, stuck-up know-it-all who automatically wants his own wife sent away, even though he was scheming with his mistress in the film.

This film is the perfect example of why Lifetime should stick to their true crime films and teen dramas. I don't recommend watching this at all, it's pretty pathetic.

Appearances can be deceiving in "Imaginary Friend," a dynamic drama that straddles the horror and mystery genres.

As a child, Emma had an imaginary friend whom she called on for comfort during the outbursts of her abusive father. Emma was "Daisy" and the friend was "Lily." As an adult and a successful artist, Emma is now married to Brad, an oily and scheming doctor who is a near match for her father.

While living with depression, Emma once again appears to have contact with her virtual friend, who has now grown up. But the vision is actually a real woman planted by Brad to torment Emma and drive her into an asylum. At that point, Brad will have total control of Emma's finances through power-of-attorney.

The filmmakers were successful in maintaining a brisk pace and devising an effective reversal of roles in which Emma attempts to turn the tables on her monomaniacal husband. The performances were first-rate, especially the actor playing Brad who underwent a complete transformation. The camera work was exceptional, and there were glitzy locations in this outstanding drama that exposed the rawest levels of vulnerability, much like the emotional content of the Emma's latest painting.

This is a very good film with a fantastic storyline. It was mild horror in a way that it featured the supernatural but mostly a decent thriller. A girl named Emma has an imaginary friend who helps her when her abusive dad is nasty towards her and her mother. Many years later she's now a married woman living in a palace with her doctor husband although she doesn't realise that he's a sly, selfish cheat. He's after her money and seeing his secretary. Then Emma's imaginary friend returns to help her again. A satisfying film ending.

So, major spoilers. Seriously, i'm gonna tell you everything I remember about this movie. I haven't seen it in a while, but it's one of my favorites. Ok, so it's like the other reviewers said, Emma came from an abusive home. Her mother takes the brunt of her father's abuse, as she tries to shield him from his wrath. She came up with an imaginary friend, which I get, I had plenty of those due to emotional abuse as a child. But then she grows up, and she still sees her. Now I also get that it's hard to let go of a coping mechanism; I had a heck of a time getting rid of mine, but once you're grown, I think you gotta rely on real people to help you, you know, real friends. Anyway, her psychiatrist husband brad seems all loving, but you see him being inappropriate with another patient early on. Now here's where I call foul. I take anti-depressants, meds for anxiety. You're not supposed to pop them in your mouth like candy every time you're spooked by a little noise. If you're husband is telling you to, even if he's a doctor, something is terribly wrong, and you should run for the hills. Just saying. Now, here's where it gets confusing. One night, while hosting a party, she actually sees her imaginary friend, all grown up. Now she's really freaked out. Just what was she seeing before, since this seems to be new? Is it because she can now touch her? Oh well. It's revealed early that the person she's seeing is her husband's girlfriend, another ex-patient. Ok, so Emma was also an ex-patient. What's with this guy? He doesn't want to be with Emma anymore, partly because she's mentally disturbed, but he expects to have different results with this woman? Moving on. Now, the girlfriend, whose name I can't remember, starts to like Emma, and starts to feel guilty about messing with her fragile mind. Now we get to the twist that I didn't see coming, and I usually see them. Brad comes home after a hard day of trying to convince his workmates to lock up his wife. Emma has dinner all ready. She then explains to brad that she no longer needs to be committed, as she took charge of her hallucination, How? Oh, she simply lured her into the shower and killed her. Knowing that this girl is real, he understandably freaks out. Now, I do suspect that the two woman are messing with him now, but when her 'ghost' shows up, wearing pretty convincing white ghost makeup, now i'm sure of it. So, they have now become friends, and are driving him crazy. Brad starts chasing Emma, who runs into the bathroom and has a little pow wow with her new BFF. They seem to be enjoying themselves, despite the fact that brad is pounding on the door and screaming bloody murder. The cops are called. No one is arrested, and things cool down for a while. Brad sleeps downstairs, and in a weird little move, calls Emma, upstairs in her room, on the telephone. They actually have a little moment, and i'm thinking, Emma, don't you dare forgive this guy. Then, we're back to haunting again. The girlfriend breaks character for a moment when brad smacks her new bff across the face, shouting, 'don't touch her!' Brad doesn't seem to notice. All the while, Emma is doing a great job pretending she can't see the girl. They go out in the backyard, and brad starts talking to the 'dead' girl. Now here's where Emma starts to scare me. She tells him the only way he can be free of her is if he kills her, like she killed her hallucination. Uh-oh. Is she serious? The girl seems to think so, and she starts backing away and telling him she's really alive. Now, i'm freaking out, as i've come to like this young woman, and would rather she not be killed. They sell it further when the cops come, and start asking about a girl, has Emma ever seen her before. It's unclear if there is a dead body, but I wasn't sure. Brad has now well and truly lost it, (couldn't have happened to a nicer guy), and she asks his doctor if she can say goodbye to him. Once they're alone, her goodbye is in the form of a gloat. 'Nice try.' I actually start clapping. But what about the girl? Is she dead? Nope. She finally appears with Emma in her backyard, although mostly in siloete and facing each other, toasting their freedom from Dr. Creepy. Whew! All is well.

I usually hate made for TV movies but this one wasn't bad. The acting was pretty good because usually I'm grimacing at the bad acting in these movies but I didn't at all. If I hadn't looked up reviews before I watched it, I wouldn't have been exactly sure what was going on until the end.

The main character is diagnosed as mentally ill, as she has visions of her imaginary friend from childhood, and her husband has POA over her family's trust. He's carrying on at least one affair on the side and making withdrawals from the trust freely. Basic premise of Gaslight, which movie I love.

Very entertaining!

This was a great thriller. I loved the twists. I totally thought the twist when Brittany turned out to be real was amazing. It shocked me. It was also cool that Emma, played by Lacey Chabert, knew what her husband was up to and got even with him in the end. The acting was really good - especially Lacey. She had such a great intensity. Ethan Embry was good as her cheating husband. He plays slimy really nicely. Overall, it's great to see Lifetime do a smarter thriller. You really have to watch this one to get it. I want to see it again as I'm sure I missed some of the hints along the way. This movie isn't so cookie cutter like some of the other ones that Lifetime does.

Recorded this off Lifetime basically to look at Lacey Chabert (who has some EXCELLENT bikini shots) but got hooked to see where the story goes.

More along the lines of "will this plot/conspiracy work" than "where is this going" because the filmmakers show you everything fairly early.....it's one of those Lifetime revenge movies done well.....

Fun to see Ethan Embry as a villain, lots of other great/interesting actors hidden in this: Paul Sorvino, Marc McClure, Ted McGinley, Heather Tom, Larry Poindexter (don't do enough reviews to always remember than 10 line rule, no wonder everyones so damn wordy!)