Lifetime Original Movies - General Discussion

[Aquarius]

I thought Cleveland Abduction was a good movie, but it's hard to talk about.  I want to talk about it but I'm just really so disturbed that I don't know what to say.  Where to start.  It's just so unbelievable that someone could do that to other people . . . and for so long.  There are just no words for it.

 

I saw Michelle Knight on Dr. Phil with Taryn Manning.  I don't know Taryn Manning from anything else but based on that appearance, that was a stroke of casting genius.  And she did a really good job in the movie.  The guy who played Castro, sorry I don't remember his name, he was on Dr. Phil too and wow, what a transformation!  I would never have said they were even the same person. 

[childeroland]

How the hell did Stockholm Pennsylvania end? I gave up an hour and a half in because I got so bored and the plot line was chugging along at a snail's pace.

The daughter runs away from home. She decides she wants something of her own, so she isn't defined by other people, so she makes ready to kidnap a little girl just like she was snatched years ago.

[Maharincess]

Bitter Apple, I agree. I read both of the books, the movie doesn't even begin to describe what they went through.

[BitterApple]

The daughter runs away from home. She decides she wants something of her own, so she isn't defined by other people, so she makes ready to kidnap a little girl just like she was snatched years ago.

Oh my Lord, that's crazy. So both mom and daughter were wackos. Thanks for the info!

[applecrisp]

Thanks for starting this thread.  I just can't watch the Cleveland one and I like true crime.  It is just too much.  With Stockholm, I had wondered if I had missed if this was based on a true story.

 

Cynthia Nixon went crazy in a hurry.

[BitterApple]

Cynthia does crazy really well. She played a schizophrenic during a guest appearance on Law&Order and she was amazing.

I think Stockholm could have been a great movie, it just wasn't well paced and there wasn't enough background info given in the beginning to get a good feel for the characters. The daughter was such a bitch that I just wanted her to go back to her damn basement if that's what made her happy.

[Madding crowd]

The Cleveland movie was very scary and well done. The Stockholm movie was not as good. A lot of things were not explained and didn't make sense. Why did the guy kidnap her? Was it for sexual reasons? I read reviews that said he part of a cult. He did tell her the world had ended but I saw no evidence he was involved in anything besides lying to her. How did he support her? How was she found?

 

I also didn't believe a woman over 21 years old would be forced to live with parents she did not remember. Surely, she could be placed in a women's shelter or half way house and given some guidance and education. And once the mother imprisoned her, no one seemed to check up one her. Wouldn't there be nosy neighbors, reporters, relatives all asking about her?  Then the last scene seemed to indicate she was thinking of abducting a girl, but why would she want to do that? And how would she live?

It was also frustrating that the girl was so closed off you had no idea where she was coming from. 

[Maharincess]

Madding Crowd, I agree with your entire post. I spent the whole movie wondering who that guy was, how and why he kidnapped her, how she got away etc etc.

It just made no sense to me at all.

The recent movie Wrong Girl was the typical bad girl messes with family, family fights back, bad girl dies at the end. Just like most of Lifetime movies.

I read through most of it.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Maharincess

[Glade]

Stockholm, Pennsylvania was drab, boring, and irrational.   She should not have been placed with her parents and expected to bond with them.  She was obviously traumatized and in need of extensive therapy, a safe place, and a way to build up the independence she was robbed of.  She did not need to be forced to suffer with the psychosis, needs, and expectations of her biological parents that she only spent five years of her life with.  She did not need to live in her childhood bedroom that was, insanely, kept exactly the same from the time she left.  Someone should have been screening and monitoring that situation. 

 

What I took away from Cynthia Nixon's unwatchable performance was that her character was always like this--very controlling, abusive and selfish, and thus she groomed her daughter to be exactly what the kidnapper would want. 

[topanga]

Okay, this wasn't really a Lifetime Original Movie, but I didn't see another place to talk about it.

 

Yesterday, I saw "Steel Magnolias" on the TV Guide and automatically clicked on it without realizing it was actually Lifetime's 2012 "Black" version of the movie with Phylicia Rashad, Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, et al.

 

I liked the movie overall--with a few exceptions. I've seen the original so many times that I know every scene and every line practically by heart. The Lifetime version stuck to the original script for the most part, and the only thing "updated and contemporary" about it (which is how Lifetime marketed it) seemed to be the presence of cell phones and black people. I still laughed--but I was laughing at the same jokes I always laugh at when I watch the original. And the actress playing Annelle was just okay. I did like the actress who played Julia Robert's character Shelby--and I didn't realize till a few minutes ago that she's Phylicia Rashad's real-life daughter.

 

But it would've been impossible to recapture the magical chemistry of the 1989 cast. And the Lifetime version left out a few of my favorite scenes: 1) in the original, it was a big deal when Dolly Parton's husband wanted to go to Shelby's funeral--he'd been distant and withdrawn throughout the movie, so that gesture meant a lot to Truvy. 2) Sally Field's heart-wrenching scene at the cemetery was moved to the beauty shop, and I'm sorry, Queen Latifah, but no one could've nailed that level emotion the way Sally Field did.  3) And the scene with Jack Jr. running down the sidewalk to meet Sally Field was also left out. But I still sobbed like a baby

[BitterApple]

Darn, I missed the Hannah Anderson movie. What are everyone's thoughts? I felt from day one that she was somehow involved with the murders and ran off with the guy willingly but the cops gave her a pass because she was blonde and cute. She was just way too flippant afterwards for a girl who lost her family to brutal violence.

[methodwriter85]

I caught the end and wow it seemed suspicious. I don't think if that's writing or the acting but she never seemed like a girl who was just humoring her kidnapper while being absolutely terrified,

[Crs97]

Sally Field's heart-wrenching scene at the cemetery was moved to the beauty shop, and I'm sorry, Queen Latifah, but no one could've nailed that level emotion the way Sally Field did.

Moving the scene to the beauty shop brings it more in line with the play. The play never left the beauty shop and never showed the husbands. And, yeah, Sally Field nailed that scene!

[applecrisp]

Darn, I missed the Hannah Anderson movie. What are everyone's thoughts? I felt from day one that she was somehow involved with the murders and ran off with the guy willingly but the cops gave her a pass because she was blonde and cute. She was just way too flippant afterwards for a girl who lost her family to brutal violence.

Is the name of the movie Hannah Andersen or is there another title?  Just curious sounds like a movie I would like.

[BitterApple]

I believe it's called Kidnapped: The Hannah Anderson story.

[Madding crowd]

I thought the Hannah Anderson movie was well done but I really couldn't understand why a mother would let her teen go off on a trip with an adult man. I understand he was a friend of the family, but he acted pretty creepy (of course he may have been different in real life). Also wonder why Hannah didn't tell her mother that she was uncomfortable around him. Also wonder why his sister was so adamant that Hannah was involved-did something happen when Hanna and "Uncle Jim" were staying with her in California. 

 

Very sad and heartbreaking to think her mother and brother were so brutally murdered and the movie made it seem like she was very casual about their funerals and not upset at all. Was this part real? I don't know much about the case and the little I found unlike didn't mention anything besides her selfles.

[BitterApple]

Yeah I think it was real. She was making inane social media posts about getting her nails done for the funeral and taking stupid selfies. Obviously everyone reacts differently to trauma but this girl didn't have a care in the world.

[Chrissytd]

Double Daddy looks absolutely ridiculous.

[fliptopbox]

Double Daddy looks absolutely ridiculous.

That won't stop me from watching it. The cheesier the better. I live for this sort of trash.

[calliope1975]

Double Daddy looks absolutely ridiculous.

 

I'm about half way through, and it is terrible. And I will watch every additional second of it. Why would either of these girls want this idiot? Single teen momhood never looked so good when this guy's your other option.

[Dejana]

Double Daddy was such glorious trash. Hopefully, next week's I Killed My BFF will live up to the same standard!

[Chrissytd]

Hopefully, next week's I Killed My BFF will live up to the same standard!

I do not want to watch it but damn it has Chris Zylka in it.

[Maharincess]

That won't stop me from watching it. The cheesier the better. I live for this sort of trash.

I seriously snorted Dr. Pepper when I read this comment. You're my new best friend because I could have written this about myself.

The more cheesetastic the better. I love Saturday nights on Lifetime.

My daughter watches them too and we text each other while we watch.

We live for this crap too.

Edit:

For as rich as this kid's parents are supposed to be in the Double Daddy thing, you'd think they would have fixed those teeth of his.

So did the one chick's sister take the baby girl? Who ended up with the other baby?

I missed the last few minutes when I saw a skunk walking along my fence headed towards the area where I had just put my dog outside.

I had to go stop disaster from striking. Again.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Maharincess

[fliptopbox]

I seriously snorted Dr. Pepper when I read this comment. You're my new best friend because I could have written this about myself.

The more cheesetastic the better. I love Saturday nights on Lifetime.

My daughter watches them too and we text each other while we watch.

We live for this crap too.

There's just something about these "teens making bad decisions" movies that I can't stay away from. They're so overdramatic and cheesy. It's glorious!!!

 

Double Daddy gave me all I wanted and then more. Definitely the best/worst one I've seen in awhile. Although that Wrong Girl (I think that was the title...the girl who was raped by basically a whole football team) movie they showed earlier yesterday was really depressing. That's the thing about Lifetime movies....they are either over the top cheesy or damn near horrifying. There isn't anything in between.

Edited June 8, 2015 by fliptopbox

[Maharincess]

I wonder how nobody ever sees the huge, creepy red flags waving in their faces. There are a lot of people who are really stupid in these movies.

My daughter and I joke that we'd make really boring movies because we'd take one look at these creeps and run the other direction.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Maharincess

[Dejana]

Edit:

For as rich as this kid's parents are supposed to be in the Double Daddy thing, you'd think they would have fixed those teeth of his.

So did the one chick's sister take the baby girl? Who ended up with the other baby?

I missed the last few minutes when I saw a skunk walking along my fence headed towards the area where I had just put my dog outside.

I had to go stop disaster from striking. Again.

After the baby was born, they were in the hospital when the sister was looking at the blonde girl (sorry, can't remember their names) holding the baby and decided to call off the adoption. Double Daddy was there with Psycho Brunette's baby and the four of them took a family photo. Psycho Brunette, meanwhile, uses a break from plea negotiations to take selfies with her lawyer's phone and likes a baby photo Double Daddy has posted on social media.

[Maharincess]

Thanks Dejana. I don't remember any names either. I just called them "that one chick" and "that crazy chick".

I agree that I hope I Killed My BFF lives up to the cheese of Double Daddy.

The name alone gives me cheesy hope.

[methodwriter85]

I wonder how nobody ever sees the huge, creepy red flags waving in their faces. There are a lot of people who are really stupid in these movies.

My daughter and I joke that we'd make really boring movies because we'd take one look at these creeps and run the other direction.

 

The Surrogacy Trap, starring TV Cher Horrowitz as a crazy baby surrogate who terrifies Mia Kirshner and her husband was actually pretty good. Everybody pretty much sees right through how crazy she is, but they take the policy of just playing along until the baby is born. Which...I mean, you can't really fault them for that. For a Lifetime movie, people actually weren't mind-numbingly dumb.

Edited June 11, 2015 by methodwriter85

[applecrisp]

I'm about half way through, and it is terrible. And I will watch every additional second of it. Why would either of these girls want this idiot? Single teen momhood never looked so good when this guy's your other option.

Well he did have money.  He was very bland.  I kept thinking who does he remind me of?  Colin Jost who does Week end Update on Saturday Night Live.

[Tunia]

Is the name of the movie Hannah Andersen or is there another title?  Just curious sounds like a movie I would like.

 

Just saw on the schedule that Kidnapped, the Hannah Anderson Story will be repeated tonight at 7:00 p.m., just before I Killed my BFF. 

Edited June 14, 2015 by Tunia

[Chrissytd]

With all these Unauthorized movies Lifetime is doing, I want Charmed to be one.

[CMH1981]

 

With all these Unauthorized movies Lifetime is doing, I want Charmed to be one.

 

Give them time, they have to establish the the LM version of Shannen Doherty via the 90210 movie first before they can move that actors reign of terror to Charmed.  I figure, based off of their scheduled unauthorized tell-all movies in the Spelling universe, we have to have original 90210 (confirmed), then Melrose Place (confirmed), Charmed, then new-90210 maybe.

 

They just have to have the same actresses playing Shannen and Alyssa on the 90210 and MP tell-alls on the Charmed one eventually.

 

Are they afraid to touch Kirk Cameron and that's why we haven't got our Growing Pains unauthorized tell all movie yet?

Edited July 3, 2015 by CMH1981

[emjohnson03]

Has no one commented yet on "Perfect High"? I mean that was cheeastastic down to the girl who actually died from a drug overdose!

 

There was no reason the girl should have gotten addicted to pain killers except for the "big" dance that she had to perform. There wasn't anything to indicate she was that type of girl but she went down the wrong path from painkillers to hard drugs! Whoa!

 

And the druggie boyfriend wasn't even hot, shame!

 

The one awesome plus was her favorite movie was "Say Anything". Score one for the 80's! (And my fave too!)

 

But weak execution of the birthday present. No boombox so it doesn't count!

 

I just couldn't believe she would go into drugs but they did play it well.

Edited July 3, 2015 by emjohnson03

[bilgistic]

I just watched it. Doctors don't actually prescribe hydrocodone to teenagers, do they? And if they do, those kids should have parents who give the pills out sparingly, not just entrust the whole bottle to them.

The girl's parents were dim bulbs. They should've arrived at "drugs" way faster than they did (actually they didn't--the 13-year-old brother had to tell them).

[butterbody]

Here in AZ we have a huge heroine epidemic in our high schools, and its mostly kids from affluent parents inexpensive neighborhoods, so I appreciated that through all its cheese, that was actually very true. You don't want to believe that the face of heroine looks like Bella Thorne, but it does, and possibly that's why her parents were so in denial.

I dunno, am new to the lifetime movie game but after a couple weeks, I am completely hooked. Bring on the cheesetastic!

[sara416]

It definitely had its cheese, but I thought that having the girl who didn't seem like she would become an addict as the main character was actually truthful and pretty true. I work with teenagers and have worked in the substance abuse field as well. Unfortunately, it isn't a big leap to go from painkillers to heroin. And they hit the nail on the head as to why people do it: same feeling, still an opiate, much cheaper than pills. It seems that there is a new story every day about a seemingly good kid who got caught up in heroin.

[Spartan Girl]

Jesus, is anyone watching Bad Behavior? "Hi, can you watch our kids for a few days? Oh and by the way our oldest son is a crazy boy that killed our dog and cut our other son's ear off."

Dumbest, shittiest parents ever.

I swear Lifetime hates pets more than it hates men.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Spartan Girl

[applecrisp]

Did anyone watch Trigger Point?  I was wondering what the point is?  Rich people aren't so bad.  The leader lived among them but hated them.  Just a hodge podge and no real lesson or point.  

 

I think we do have to fear the 1% but don't advocate their death, just to save a random building.

[bilgistic]

I swear Lifetime hates pets more than it hates men.

But does it hate pets more than women?

[Yeldarbe]

I've never done heroine but I am a recovering addict (and my former bff is in the throes of a heroine/methadone addiction) and I have to applaud this movie. Cheesy goodness and all! People might not think it's very realistic because she doesn't seem the type, and yes I agree that then parents should have figured it out sooner, but that's the thing about drugs like heroine, oxy and meth. Before you know it, you're hooked and looking ROUGH like this girl did. She thought she had it under control and I remember thinking the same thing when I was in real bad shape. I had my job, sure. But I ended up with terrible skin blemishes, rapid weight loss, fidgeting and nervousness, bags under my eyes and ratty hair. I thought I was a functioning user but I was an addict who couldn't stop, plain and simple. It's very easy to spiral out of control especially when people think that drugs "prescribed by a doctor" can't hurt you. Educate your kids! that little brother was the smartest one of the bunch!

[applecrisp]

I am glad they got something right.  It was cheesy but compared to some of the movies it was fairly straight forward.

 

Yelarbe, does it happen that fast?  Also, I thought they got the oxy from the older lady at the garage sale.

[Yeldarbe]

It can. She started taking the pills then meets Riley who is a user. She took advantage imO. And if teenagers really do party that hard it's news to me! but yeah it can sneak up on you. Before you know it you need to use to function at a normal level.

[Madding crowd]

Just watched Bad Behavior. Goofiest movie ever. Where were Zoe's parents? No one reports her or her boyfriend missing? The other brother and little girl don't say anything or care about this? Finally, why can't Zoe escape when the family leaves? Crazy!

[Laurie4H]

Did anyone watch Lethal Seduction. Entertaining but didn't explain much. Also the woman was supposed to be 40? She looked closer to 50 (and the actress is).

[DangerousMinds]

I watched. That actress has been around for years, and I am always amazed at how little she seems to have aged, myself. Dina Meyer, I think. She played a professor's wife on 90210 20+ years ago.

[butterbody]

I watched. That actress has been around for years, and I am always amazed at how little she seems to have aged, myself. Dina Meyer, I think. She played a professor's wife on 90210 20+ years ago.

LUCINDA??? I must search for this movie the moment I finish watching "The Bride He Bought Online" !!!!!

[aradia22]

Oh my gosh, I finally had time to watch Double Daddy. It's been sitting in my DVR and I've thought about deleting it so many times and I'm so glad that I didn't. It was amazing. It was exactly as trashy and stupid as I wanted it to be. Sometimes Lifetime makes really boring and bloodless biopics and sometimes they give me wonderful gifts like The Lizzie Borden Chronicles and Double Daddy. All the texting. All the crazy eyes. Actually, for what it was, I didn't think the script was that bad and the actors seemed well cast. My only issue was that everything wrapped up too neatly. For as ridiculous as it all was, it was also very tidy with its loose ends. The father, the ex-boyfriend, the sister, Heather. 

[methodwriter85]

Did anyone catch Lost Son, where Virginia Madsen plays a mother of a missing boy who suddenly "turns up" 11 years later, in the form of an grifter who is very likely not really their son and very likely to be psychotic?

 

I feel like I've seen that plot at least twice. One included Melissa Gilbert, where she pretends that she's a missing girl found twenty years later, although she wasn't psychotic, just a lonely woman who wanted a family after decades of being held hostage by her kidnapper. It was called Childhood Sweetheart?

 

Lost Son tried rather clunkily to get around the DNA test part, but eh, I feel like that's the biggest problem with movies like that now.

[applecrisp]

I saw it and was unsure about the DNA.  Was he their son?  I was not sure.  Also, wouldn't you immediately get this kid in therapy.  Why didn't the kids say he was shifty.  I know the son did but the mouthy daughter never did and thought that was OOC for her.

[Glade]

That Lost Boy was a paint by numbers 'lifetime movie' that I could barely stand to watch.  I don't think he was 'psychotic,' I think that, whether he was their son or not, he was horribly abused as a child (held by a child pornographer, escaping only to homelessness and underage prostitution) that would quite naturally give someone serious ptsd (blocking out the most traumatic events, like that of his early life), anxiety, and problems relating with other people.  If they honestly believed that their son would return after that long from such a life and be a kind, well-adjusted person who would never bare any resentment towards the family who was living their happy lives while he was in the gutter, then they are idiots. 

 

I found it insulting that he was made out to be the villain and that yet again lifetime had to take such a shallow throw at this subject (as with Stockholm, Pennsylvania.)   Meanwhile, the teenage son (and I believe it was him, but also that he deserves help and housing regardless) was just thrown away like trash and forgotten at the end, he could be raped and killed by some trucker, or die of exposure some winter night.

Edited August 1, 2015 by Glade