A Deadly Adoption

Let’s make this clear: A Deadly Adoption is not a spoof of a Lifetime movie, at least not in the way you’re thinking. It’s not obviously satirical, either, especially if you aren’t familiar with the Lifetime movie formula, like those of us blessed enough to grow up on a steady diet of Lifetime movies in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Instead, Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig‘s new TV movie (kept secret for months, with Ferrell even outright denying its existence) is more of an homage, honoring the classic Lifetime movie tropes — it’s as if they’re filling out a MadLib.

Last week brought an appropriately silly-seeming first look at Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s surprise Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption, though the full trailer paints a decidedly different picture. The spoof is subtler, but just what kind of movie will A Deadly Adoption turn out to be?

Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s forthcoming Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption has had a winding road to completion, first leaking to the press, then (jokingly?) canceled over the report, then back on. Now, there’s no stopping A Deadly Adoption (or a speeding truck) as Lifetime releases the first dramatic footage.

You know the Lifetime Original Movie formula: heinous crime, family melodrama, over-acting and maudlin theatrics. Somewhere, there must be a Mad Lib form floating around the Lifetime offices in case they run out of steam. In what sounds like a ridiculous April Fools’ Day joke, Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig have combined their considerable comedic talents to take on that very formula — yes, really.