Sean Young is Jennifer Kamplen, a top ad exec who hires the assistant from hell in "A Job to Kill For," which recently premiered on Lifetime. It features Young sporting her familiar pouffy hairdo and dressed in earth tones (and basically anything that will wash her out) as a new, highly valued employee of a large advertising agency. The Kamplen character comes with stereotype attached: Her marriage to an artist is in trouble because she works so many hours and is devoted to her work, she is tough as nails, and she gets a rush working 18 hours a day. Then she hires Stacy, who convinces Jennifer that she's not only good at her job but shares Jennifer's strong work commitment. The only problem with Stacy is, she gets her results using sex, murder, and blackmail. When given the responsibility of an account while Jennifer makes a last ditch attempt to save her marriage, Stacy shows signs of a psychotic crumble.
Young basically walks through this placidly without demonstrating any emotion, while Georgia Craig, who plays the volatile Stacy, chews the scenery. She's a very accomplished Canadian actress, but everyone else is so downplayed, she almost comes off as over the top. It's probably appropriate for someone who's NUTS, but one wonders throughout how Jennifer doesn't see how frighteningly intense she is and that Stacy a little too devoted to her.
There is an attempt to build the characters of the two detectives who are brought in to investigate several murders, but it comes off as silly and unnecessary.
The movie has a double twist. Despite its derivative moments and the absurdity of the plot, it's entertaining.
