Not a comedy. And its well-done
A+E Networks senior VP of original movies Tanya Lopez and VP of original movies Arturo Interian:
"TANYA LOPEZ I don’t know if we’ll ever know whether it was a bet from a group of friends or he really wanted to do it…. We weren’t clear if it was going to be authentic, if it really was going to be this murder story…. It’s not a comedy. And it’s well-done."
"ARTURO INTERIAN It’s not the Scary Movie parody of a Lifetime movie. He wanted to legitimately do a Lifetime sexual thriller…. The initial plan was to put on the air with zero fanfare. Just sneak it on. You were going to see promos that were kind of oblique, it’s A Deadly Adoption. A thriller promo. You’re not sure who’s in it. It was interesting that the story leaked and that’s what threw us. We thought we had it under wraps."
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/17/will-ferrell-a-deadly-adoption-kristen-wiig-25-years-lifetime
LATER EDIT:
Review of the movie: http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2015/06/20/lifetimes-deadly-adoption-was-not-completely-a-joke-and-we-kind-of-love-it/