A lonely mother, invites a handsome car accident victim into her home. Desperate for a little attention, she doesn't realize she's entertaining a sociopathic, yet charming escape convict. In one terrorizing night her life completely changes as she fight for her own life and the life of her children in No Good Deed. Written by

Plot Synopsis:
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In the opening shot, a news report is broadcast on the criminal Colin Evans (Idris Elba). He is up for parole after serving five years on a manslaughter charge after killing a man and also taking the lives of five women. Colin gives his testimony to the parole board, claiming he was ashamed of his actions and that he is ready to return to society. However, the chairman of the board doesn't buy it for a second, claiming Colin is a malignant narcissist and a violent offender, and everyone there knows that the families of the five women would not be happy to see him walking free. The words of the chairman echo in Colin's head, and his parole is denied.

Colin is being taken back to prison in a van when he appears to have a bloody nose. He asks for help, only to grab the guards gun and put him in a headlock. The driver stops and aims his gun at Colin. Colin calmly tells the driver to put the gun down, and he does. Then he shoots both the guard and the driver, free to make his escape.

We meet Terri Granger (Taraji P. Henson), holding her baby Sam and trying to talk on the phone, while landscapers are working outside her house and her daughter Ryan (Mirage Moonschein) rides around the house. Terri's best friend Meg (Leslie Bibb) comes jogging in. She notices how overworked Terri is, so she suggests having a girls night. Later, Terri's husband Jeffrey (Henry Simmons) comes home, only to get packed for a trip for his father's birthday. He seems unhelpful and impatient with Terri, though he assures her he loves her.

Colin is now in Atlanta, Georgia driving a van, stalking a woman named Alexis (Kate Del Castillo). He sees her meeting a man outside a cafe, and Alexis hugs him. He breaks into Alexis's home before she gets back, and he confronts her over her not waiting for him once he got out. He takes out a note that says "Didn't want to wake you up because you look so beautiful when you sleep." Scared, Alexis runs for the door, but Colin blocks her. She runs to her room where Colin makes her admit that she was sleeping with another man. Again, the words ring through his head, and he puts his hand on Alexis's throat. He breaks her neck and then brutally beats her with a lamp.

At night, a heavy storm starts brewing. Terri gets her kids ready for dinner. Colin drives his van into a tree after swerving off the road. He walks until he gets to Terri's home. He rings the bell, and she answers. Colin asks to use the phone to call for a tow truck. After supposedly using the phone, Colin tells Terri that the tow truck will come later. Terri invites him inside and mends a cut on his forehead. Colin is charming and polite toward Terri, as well as Ryan when she comes around. Terri serves Colin tea and asks him if he is seeing anyone. He says he had an ex-fiancee that he caught cheating on him.

Meg comes over with wine and is attracted to Colin. They share the wine and Meg makes comments about how Terri used to be a wild girl and asks Colin if that's a surprise. He says not at all. While Terri goes to check on her kids, Colin asks Meg where he can smoke. She directs him to the garage and joins him in the smoke. Meg asks him if there's something going on with him and Terri. He smiles and doesn't say a word, leading Meg to think her friend is having an affair. Colin suggests that Terri is keeping things from Meg, which angers her and prompts her to confront Terri, until Colin takes a shovel and kills Meg with it. He drags her body to the side.

Terri sees Colin alone and asks where Meg is. He says she left, though Terri notices Meg's umbrella still lying by the coat rack. Terri goes to call Meg and sees the phone lines are cut, and all the knives are missing from their holder in the kitchen. She goes upstairs to see Colin playing with Ryan, and then spots the gun in the back of his pants. Terri orders him to put Ryan down. They leave the room, and Terri reaches for the fire extinguisher and sprays Colin, then hits him over the head so he falls down the stairs. Terri runs to her kids, but Colin quickly manages to get back on his feet and tell her to put Sam down and to go with him. She closes the door to the kids' room, and Colin draws his gun on her, warning her not to do anything like that again. He takes her to the bathroom and makes her stand in the shower with him as he washes himself of the foam. He then makes Terri undress and change her clothes. Thinking he is going to rape her, she tells Colin to get this over with, but he tells her not to flatter herself. Terri grabs a lamp and whacks Colin over the head with it and even manages to stab him in the side. She runs for her kids, but once again, Colin is too fast for her.

Colin forces Terri to take her kids to her car so they can make their getaway. While passing through the garage, Terri sees Meg's bloody body lying on the side. On the road, Terri sees a cop and quickly signals him with the headlights when Colin isn't looking. The cop follows them and makes her pull over. Colin grabs Sam and pretends that he was crying and had to comfort him. The cop gets suspicious when Ryan asks for her dad. Terri steps out of the car and tries not to be obvious to the cop as Colin can hear her. The cop notices Terri continuously looking over at the car, and he figures out something is wrong. He tells Terri not to move as Colin steps out of the car, and Colin shoots the cop dead. He rolls the man's body down the hill.

Colin makes Terri drive to Alexis's home. He brings her up to the room where her body is still lying. He ties Terri up but is pulled away when her car alarm goes off. Alexis's cell phone starts ringing. Terri manages to cut herself loose and answer the phone. A man's voice answers saying he's been calling multiple times, but Terri recognizes the voice belonging to Jeffrey. However, he replies, "Alexis?" Thus, Terri puts it together - Colin got Jeffrey's name and address off the note that he found near Alexis's bed earlier that day, and it was no accident that he came across her home. He's been seeking revenge. Terri then tells Jeffrey that Alexis is dead and to call the police. She runs to get the kids, but Colin is walking back to the house. Terri hides the kids in the closet and runs upstairs, grabbing a knife for protection. Colin nearly finds the kids, but Terri distracts him. He catches her in the bedroom and starts to fight Terri. He tries to strangle her, but she jabs him in his side wound with her keys, and even beats him with something heavy. He appears unconscious until he grabs Terri and takes her down. Then she grabs Colin's gun and shoots him once, then again, and then multiple times until he falls out the window to his death.

The police arrive, along with Jeffrey. He finds Terri and tries apologizing to her, but she responds by punching him hard in the face.

A while later, Terri has moved to a new home with the kids. She still carries a picture of her and Meg. She now has a new friend that helps her take care of the kids, and they take them to the park during a sunny afternoon.

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Rock Gibralter from Chicago
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Look here is the skinny on this flick. It is so predictable I found myself saying out loud (but quietly) what was going to happen next. I mean really people can't these Hollywood money men find some better quality movies to get behind to finance. Let's not forget this movie as all the rest are a business. The business of INVESTING cash to produce a movie with the hopes you will spend your entertainment dollars seeing it so it makes them millions in profit. Don't let them make money on this one or we will never get them to stop producing trash and fooling us into thinking it's worth the price of a ticket and $15.00 popcorn. Plot plot plot help me find something entertaining about this movie that we don't know is going to happen before it happens. The acting is average and if an academy award ever makes it to this movie it will be because somebody paid somebody! Don't waste your money on this film you will be disappointed. Go see Denzel instead!!!! :-)

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Omar_innis from United States
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This movie had no substance, it was one of the worst I have to say I've seen so for in 2014. The storyline had a whole lot of holes, I can't make sense out of nonsense. Poorly done, love Taraji though so I rated solely on her. I have to give credit though for trying to put together a thriller, but all of these are always the same ending, only watched because the wife wanted to, without her this movie would have never gotten my time at all. If this is your kind of thriller, don't let my comment stop you from enjoying it. Those were just my thoughts on it. Idris alba, and Taraji Henson , love them great actors wasted energy however for them.

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bbickley13-921-58664
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Idris Elba was the man, as a psychotic woman hating murderer who escapes jail and through a series of events, cross paths with Terri, played by Taraji P. Henson, who's was in a troubled marriage and vulnerable to the killer's charms.

It Reminded me of the 1986 movie, Extremities with Farrah Fawcett as the female victim being taken hostage by a criminal looking to steal her "goodies"

I thought No good deed was a lot more cleaver than most movies of this kind. In certain places, it has to fall into line of genre's plot (woman alone in the house without her man, then a scary bad boy comes to the door and charms his way into the lonely women's house), but the movie surprised me by putting a little ore substance into the female victim, by making her life more interesting than usual, and it helps having an Oscar nominee like Ms. Hensen play the role. A fact that was not used to advertise the movie as much as it should have. Definitely a better played out Victim than I've seen before.

A decent plot and a great thriller. I recommend giving it a shot.

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MovieLord23 from San Antonio
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When I saw a trailer for this movie, I immediately was reminded of Obsessed which was a crappy rip off of Fatal Attraction a few years back that also starred Idris Elba. Lo and behold, the movie comes to us from the producer of Obsessed so it suddenly made sense why much like Obsessed this was just another cookie cutter "thriller".

Good: I think Taraji Henson and Idris Elba are great actors and they do what they can with the material which isn't much at all. I will say that I want to see Elba in more villain roles although in better movies. He has a very imposing stance and he could do wonders with the right part. I do like that Henson at least fought back in a realistic matter.

Bad: The movie is just very mediocre. It's not terrible, but I just can't muster any real emotion for it whether it be anger or glee. The plot is typical TV movie fluff with its attempt at suspense being laughable along with the cheesy use of lightning and thunder to describe something ominous. The story happens because Henson is smitten with Elba, but yet she used to work with abused women cases and should have known Elba was bad news because he spends the movie smiling and then just staring and creep around the house. Leslie Bibb plays the typical horny best friend and nothing beyond that. The movie lacks any suspense and it isn't entertaining on a trashy level either. Then there's the supposed twist is very predictable.

Overall, I like the actors involved, but the movie itself was so average that it would be wise to just watch these actors' other movies.

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Catt Jones (cattjones@chixchatonfilm.com) from TX, United States
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The story portrayed in this film is pretty much spelled out in the trailer. Crazy escaped convict terrorizes a woman and her kids. That's pretty much it, but there is a nasty little twist in the story that I did not see coming (although I did have a feeling). You know…. When you ask yourself "surely it isn't this" and come to find out …. Oh yes, it is. I have to give Colin (Indris Elba) a lot of credit for playing it super cool to make his way into the house. Although you knew he was the "bad" guy who is eventually going to snap, you kind of find yourself liking him for a little while (with his fine self). Terri (Taraji P. Henson) was a relatively smart women who made some serious errors at the beginning of the film, but had I not known in advance what was going to happen, I probably would not have thought that she did anything wrong. She was just trying to be nice and do the right thing. Meg (Leslie Bibb) is Terri's best friend and she drove home the point that no one knows you better than your best friend. At first I thought that she was going to be a little ditzy, but she proved me wrong. Jeffrey (Henry Simmons) is Terri's husband who does not seemed to be vested in the relationship. This is very apparent right from the beginning. I went to the 2nd showing on the day the film was released and I have to say that the theater was pretty well populated. The one thing that I have to say about seeing a film with a diverse crowd is that folks talk (out loud) to the people on the screen (myself included). Toward the end of the film I heard myself saying "how does she think that's going to work" and then immediately after that I said "why does he think that worked"…... you'll see what I mean when you go to see it. Other than that, there are three reasons why I liked this film…., the great lead characters, the consistent flow of the film and finally the whole story was told in around 90 minutes. This is director Sam Miller's first attempt at a widely distributed feature film and I think that he did a pretty good job. I would recommend it to a friend.

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Monty Burns from Canada
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WHY do they make movies like this?? I'll admit that sometimes I just like to watch a movie with a simple plot but this one was BAD. Take every cliché you can think of, roll them into 1 and you've got "No Good Deed." If this was billed as a comedy/thriller movie parody it would have been funny but otherwise, emotionless. Here are just a few of the predictable scenes from this movie (inserting SPOILER here would be a paradox).

1. Ominous thunder throughout suspenseful scenes.

2. Ditzy/sex crazed best friend used for fodder.

3. 5 foot something female fending off a 6 foot something male with random objects laying around the house.

4. Convict locked up tight with shackles taking over a transport van.

5. Female temporarily knocks out the bad guy during a struggle, then turns and runs upstairs.

And those are just off the top of my head, the bottom line is to go clean your house, water your lawn, or have a nap rather than waste your time with this one.

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zardoz-13 from United States
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Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson have squandered their considerable thespian talents on "No Good Deed," a half-baked, woman-in-jeopardy, home invasion thriller that springs few surprises during its ephemeral 84-minutes. Ironically, Elba and Henson shared credit as executive producers, but they didn't serve themselves adequately enough with this mediocre but atmospheric crime drama. Despite some genuinely suspenseful moments in this PG-13 rated tale, veteran television director Sam Miller and "96 Minutes" scenarist Aimee Lagos ask us to believe that a former lawyer who dealt with cases concerning violence against women would behave as naïvely as Henson's hare-brained heroine does. A suburban housewife and mother with two children, one of whom is an infant, Terri Granger quit her job as a prosecutor who represented battered women only to become a battered woman. The conduct of Henson's damsel-in-distress will make your jaw drop in sheer disbelief. It is difficult to believe that a woman, who once prosecuted vicious felons like the criminal Elba plays with such chilling intensity, could behave in such a foolhardy fashion. Less back-story with regard to Henson's Terri Granger would have been better than more. Had she simply been little more than a housewife, her actions would have been more credible. Meantime, Elba is suitably menacing as a charismatic but ruthless predator. Early on, a parole board member describes Elba's serial killer character as a "malignant narcissist." Naturally, Miller and Lagos amass all the surefire suspense elements as well as the clichés to heighten the experience. Of course, movies like "No Good Deed" dispense with realism as readily as they exploit the artifice designed to make you squeeze your fists with white-knuckled tenacity. The robust cast and the nerve-racking predicaments that their characters wind up in are the kind of fodder that inflames audiences.

"No Good Deed" opens with Colin Evans (Idris Elba of "Prometheus") appearing before a Tennessee parole board. Authorities believe Colin murdered five women, but they have no evidence to convict him for any of those heinous crimes. Instead, they have managed to bust him for manslaughter. During a brawl in a bar, he killed an adversary. Since then Colin has served five years in the big house, and he touts his record as an exemplary inmate who taught other inmates how to read. Nevertheless, a skeptical parole board refuses to accommodate him. While he is being hauled back to prison, Colin disarms one guard and then murders both of them. You'd think that prison officials would have assigned more competent cops to guard him, but then we wouldn't have "No Good Deed." Later, Colin tracks down a former girlfriend, Alexis (Kate del Castillo of "Bordertown"), and strangles her in a fit of jealous rage in her own house after she lies to him about flirting with another man at an Atlanta restaurant. Colin appropriates her vehicle, but he crashes it during a noisy thunderstorm. Despite from his inferior driving skills, Colin qualifies as a dangerous but resourceful villain with no qualms about murder most foul. The same cannot be said for our heroine.

Terri Granger (Taraji P. Henson of CBS-TV's "Person of Interest") finds herself at home alone with her two children, young daughter Ryan (newcomer Mirage Moonschein) and a baby boy Sam, after her husband Jeffrey (Henry Simmons of "Taxi") takes a trip to visit his ailing father. Since Jeffrey is leaving her, Terri has invited her closest friend, Meg (Leslie Bibb of "Iron Man"), to spend the evening with her. They plan to treat it like a girl's night out. Colin stumbles onto Terri's front porch with a cut on his temple, and our heroine literally lets him have the run of her house! Colin does everything that he can to lull Terri into a false sense of security. Terri even cleans up the cut on Colin's temple. Of course, the familiarity with which she receives this stranger is hopelessly absurd. Meg flirts with Colin as he lies to them about himself. Unfortunately, Colin grows impatient with Meg when Terri is out of the room and gives her the same treatment that he gave his girlfriend. At this point, Colin brandishes a pistol and forces Terri to pack her kids into their car and give him a ride. Later, during their ride, Terri flashes her high beams at a policeman. Incredibly enough, Colin doesn't notice this act, and the cop pulls them over. The cop asks Terri to step out of her car. Terri has every opportunity to explain her predicament, but she fears that Colin will kill her infant son. This makes you wonder why Terri put herself in such a predicament. Impatiently, Colin takes matters into his own hands before Terri can do anything else to sabotage his plans.

Veteran television director Sam Miller has a knack for staging action, and he makes this implausible hostage thriller look exciting. Ultimately, everything boils down to a one-on-one fight between Terri and Colin. They struggle for possession of Colin's automatic pistol in a darkened room at another house. Essentially, this is a David and Goliath bout. Nevertheless, desperation turns Terri into a superior adversary, and their fight is a down and dirty match. Inevitably, just when she thinks she has Colin down for the count, he pulls a "Halloween" and catches a second wind. Nothing about "No Good Deed" except its big twist reveal in the final scene is groundbreaking. Sure, that surprise at the end will make you turn your head, but it constitutes more of a cheat than a coincidence because there is no way that you can see it coming. Again, Terri's lack of common sense puts her at risk more than anything skillful that Colin did. "No Good Deed" lives up to its title. Interestingly enough, the studio that produced this lackluster thriller—Screen Gems—had so little faith in it that they delayed its release for two years.

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Matt Greene from Panama City, Florida, United States
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A thriller movie's number one job is to be thrilling. Someone must've told the makers of NGD that passionate yelling between well-dressed yuppies on top of melodramatic score swells can pass as thrilling. Instead of excitement and scares, NGD gives us artlessly directed stiffness that only manages to be shockingly unpleasant. It's the kind of forgettable, mindless dreck that completely lacks identity or personality. Sure it's mercifully short, but it's even more mercilessly ugly. (WARNING: bad pun coming) All in all, No Good Deed has no good part. Elba plays an escaped murderer who wreaks havoc on Henson's family by tricking his way into their home. Lucky for Elba's character, there's not a single sharp knife in the drawer of characters he encounters. He uses his powers of clichéd dialogue and lazily-written coincidences to get whatever he wants, which is…unclear, to say the least. We know he's a "bad guy", but why? And what is his end goal? Motivations take a back seat in NGD, with the focus instead on predictable thriller beats, harlequin-novel style plotting, and a twist that is far from earned. Elba and Henson are both formidable screen presences, and it would normally be a gift to see them work together. Unfortunately to call their NGD characters one-dimensional is giving them one too many dimensions, unless pure sociopath and complete moron are dimensions. They're characters are purely there to force a hackneyed and dangerous message: all men are evil. Go see Guardians or Turtles again, but do all you can to stay away from this mid-budget Lifetime Channel movie.

http://movietownmovieclub.wix.com/coleandmatt

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Markus Emilio Robinson
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If they can make 'em for white people, then I guess they can make 'em for black people too. The "em" I am referring to is of course B-movie thrillers, which also falls into the category of: horror/date night fluff. In that same vein, "No Good Deed" is also predictable fluff; like, killer in the house and the girl runs upstairs, kind of predictable fluff. But I can't deny that I was fairly entertained by "No Good Deed"; even as all logic (ALL LOGIC) flew out the window about 20 minutes in, when (on a dark and stormy night) a black woman lets a strange black man into her home and offers him a change of clothes. Come on now; that would never happen.

From the trailers alone "No Good Deed" stunk of a Tyler Perry production; an insensitive black husband, his supremely intelligent yet shockingly under-appreciated black wife, and a man with anger management issues who is noticeably darker than the rest of the cast. Even as the film began, everything about it had the markings of something pretty "basic". An escaped convict (Idris Elba) with a history of violence towards women, harasses a woman (Taraji P. Henson) who is conveniently home alone. Yes, there is a twist at the end that is a bit too clever for this premise, but aside from that, the structure of "No Good Deed" is quite similar to films we've all seen before; only this time targeted at an African American audience, with Henson playing the part of the dumb blond…that is, until she says: "ENOUGH!" That said, the only thing which separates a "basic" movie from a watchable movie with a basic premise, is the filmmaker's execution and the actors involved.

While it is somewhat curious as to why Elba would star in a movie like this at this point in his career (and also hold a producer credit) for how one dimensional his character is, he does sell it with a performance that is brutally and relentlessly intimidating. As for the supporting cast, it is what it is. Henson screams when she is supposed to and acts sassy when Idris gives her just a bit too much lip. The script also contains more than enough "urban" attitude, which, along with Elba's menacing presence going toe to toe with Henson's "I'm Every Woman" performance, gives audiences those yell at the screen moments they paid to see.

The direction from Sam Miller is really what makes this movie what it is, as he simply does what he is asked to do, delivering a surprisingly high amount of tension throughout…and nothing more. Now, I don't want to heap too much praise on Miller's work, since what he has made is simply the cinematic equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But there is something to be said for a well-executed peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Final Thought: At the end of the day "No Good Deed" may only work to reinforce the of stereotype of the "angry black man", but due to a good hour of well-constructed, tension driven sequences, followed by a few chase sequences, I fail to see how anybody wouldn't find this experience entertaining on some B-movie level. At the very least, "No Good Deed" is far far FAR more entertaining than the latest Kevin Hart movie or the annual "Tyler Perry Presents: Black People Acting a Fool" production.

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Dr_Sagan from the Edge of the Cosmos
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This a very common "Oh No! Don't do that" thriller. The kind of movie that its characters are asking for trouble and the audience goes "Oh No! Don't let him in" etc.

We've seen it before, and unfortunately "No Good Deed {goes unpunished}" (you see the effort for a moral here?) is pretty common indeed.

Idris Elba plays the charismatic (?) villain who escapes from prison after he denied parole and ends up in Taraji P Nelson's home during a heavy storm supposedly asking for help after his car crashed or something. There is a small twist at the end, but as a piece of entertainment this movie fails to intrigue with its uninspiring script and wastes the talent of its main actors.

Overall: You can pass that with no regret. It's a sub-par dull thriller.

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AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Australia:M / Canada:14A (British Columbia) / Germany:16 / Ireland:15A / Netherlands:16 / New Zealand:R16 / Singapore:PG13 / South Korea:18 / UK:15 / USA:PG-13 (certificate #47639)