Inspired by a true story, The Client List stars Jennifer Love Hewitt as a Texas mother of three young children who faces adversity when the economy tanks. Samantha Horton (Hewitt) is a former beauty queen who married the local football hero who was going to make it in the big leagues. Unfortunately Rex (Teddy Sears) hurt his knee and his football career was cut short. Samantha, a licensed massage therapist recently lost her job and Rex was doing odd jobs for a little income. But when the mortgage rates changed and their house was about to go into foreclosure, Samantha decided enough was enough.
Samantha had dreamed of a life of riches and rewards. Her beauty carried her through life, yet no one realized how intelligent and resilient this woman was. Not being able to give her children what they wanted and needed, like braces for her daughter’s teeth and the fee for her son’s flag football team, Sam decided she had to be the bread winner for them all.
The Prostitution Ring
Not being able to find work in the small Texas town in which they lived, Sam found a job at a health spa in a town an hour’s drive away. At last one of them would have a steady income. But what she discovered is that her new job was a little more than what she expected.
The health spa was a front for prostitution. When Sam realized what she would be expected to do, she turned it down. But after seeing her husband hit rock bottom and her three young children in need of things she could not give them, this woman decided to provide for her family by whatever means necessary, and took the job.
Keeping a double life strained her emotionally, but as the film progresses she becomes the hero of her family. Instead of five dollar tips she might get from waitressing, she was getting thousand dollar tips, diamond necklaces, earrings and watches.
Living a Double Life
For the first time in a long time, the family had the money to survive and the money for the mortgage. But how long could this continue? Her strength was waning. A full-time job, an hour’s drive each way, the strains of young children, and keeping her double life began taking its toll.
Jennifer Love Hewitt brings a lot of emotion to her role. As the story progresses, she turns from a woman who is afraid for her family’s future into a confident woman who is finally taking charge of her future. The internal conflict is played out beautifully by Hewitt as Samantha becomes the most popular woman at the “health spa.”
After the spa is raided by the police and her secret is out, Samantha still uses her intelligence and uncanny recall to “out” her clients which were some of the most influential men in the county as well as husbands of her friends. Everyone’s secrets are revealed in this interesting story of survival.
Cybil Shepherd co-stars as Sam’s mother, a southern woman who prods her daughter to sit up straight and flaunt her charms.
The Client List is a Lifetime Original Movie. Hewitt is wonderful in the film as the struggling woman. The Client List premiers Monday, July 19, 2010 at 9 pm ET on Lifetime.
To read more about Jennifer Love Hewitt and her new movie, click here.
