Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story Movie Review (2023)
A light, true-crime drama about a romance and murder in an Amish community, Amish Stud is a simple film with a silly tone that somehow manages to maintain some minor intrigue.
The Lifetime channel is famous for producing true-crime dramatic reinterpretations. They are often low-budget and campy, but they are incredibly easy to watch. There is very little depth, so if you’re cleaning the house or folding the laundry, these are the movies to choose. Well, I had a very long day yesterday, and when something called “Amish Stud” scrolled across my screen, making me laugh out loud, there was no way to resist watching it.
Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story is about Barbara Weaver, an Amish woman married to the womanizing Eli Weaver. When she is found dead by their two young children, a mystery begins to unfold. The movie shows the history of their relationship, Eli’s standing within his immediate family, and the possibilities of who might have committed the crime.
This is an incredibly easygoing drama that spells everything out for you at every step. It is a little silly, but compared with The Suitcase Killer, which made me laugh out loud constantly because of the ludicrousness, this movie actually kept me curious. I wanted to know who killed Barbara and how it was done.
To be fair, the fact that this film is about an Amish community does lend some inherent curiosity to those of us from the “English world.” I have some basic knowledge of how the Amish live, but to spend an entire film being exposed to a little bit more, I was here for that as well.
I’m finding myself amused by the prospect of rating this film, because it’s not good. But there is enough mystery in both the world in which it exists as well as Eli’s dalliances outside of his Amish community that I wasn’t bored.
I can’t say that that I enjoyed this movie. This is not great cinema, and it’s called Amish Stud. It knows exactly what it is, which is probably the point. So if you want a fast-paced, mildly amusing film about a real murder, this could be the ticket. And then, if you’re like me, you’ll head down a search rabbit hole of what really happened. We have to know what the real “Amish stud” looks like, don’t we?
Runtime: 85 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: TV-14
Languages Spoken In The Film: English and Pennsylvania Dutch with English subtitles
Should You Watch It? Probably not, but yes if you want something silly
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 2.25/5 Stars
Available: Free on Netflix, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
