LMN
Lifetime Movie Network’s second ‘Unhappily Ever After’ movie this month also happens to star Alex Trumble, who was just in Murder, Lies & Marriage, cementing his status as the guy you can count on to be charming on the surface but totally unhinged deep down. It was actually refreshing to see him recently on Hallmark Channel’s Hats Off to Love not putting anyone’s life in danger. Maybe the Lifetime networks will surprise us some day by giving him a heroic role. For now, he’s the bad guy you love to hate.
In A Boyfriend to Die For — another one of LMN’s click bait titles — Trumble stars as Jonathan Rothfield, the bastard son of the patriarch of the Rothfield family (from either Baltimore or Los Angeles … it’s hard to tell from the stock footage of cities used throughout the movie), the result of a one-night stand, and totally shunned by his father. But he leverages the last name to operate his own business, a charitable organization that works with celebrities for various causes. Jonathan happens to run into workaholic Olivia Hunt at a local bar when they coincidentally order the same exact cocktail. Olivia’s family has their own dynasty in whatever city this story is located in, and she’s recently been promoted to a higher position following the tragic death of her brother Danny. Jonathan and Olivia have some instant chemistry, and Jonathan only becomes more attractive because of his causes, which dovetails perfectly with what Olivia is currently working on. Jonathan has a major project in the works with some funding coming his way, but Olivia thinks the project is perfect for her company and pitches the idea to her father. After seeing how happy Olivia has become with Jonathan, dad Gerald is willing to hear Jonathan’s proposal, and it’s so successful he agrees to fund the project to the tune of $1.2 million.
Unfortunately, others within the company don’t trust Jonathan, particularly Liam, who was very close to Danny and may or may not have some unrequited feelings for Olivia. It’s not clear if he has a romantic interest or if he’s just trying to step into her brother’s shoes, but he is determined to find some dirt on Jonathan to prove he’s been right all along, enlisting the help of another office employee, Jimmy. They also try to rope in Kelly, who actually likes Jonathan, but still wants to caution Olivia when she hears some of the information the guys have found. Another monkeywrench in the works is Olivia’s ex, Patrick, who worked for the company but was accused of stealing company secrets and selling them, so that relationship went south real quick. But like the bad penny, Patrick keeps turning up at the most inopportune moments … like Gerald’s birthday party. One night after dinner at a swanky, exclusive, impossible to get a table in restaurant that seems to have no customers except Jonathan and Olivia, the pair run into an associate of Jonathan’s who also wants to get in on the latest deal. It’s not long before Jonathan’s true nature is revealed — along with his real name — and Olivia finally sees the light and has to quickly cancel the money transfer, which only makes the situation even more dangerous than it already was. Can Olivia, and her family, make it out of this alive?
LMN
A Boyfriend to Die For is a tidy little thriller, one of the better ones presented by LMN, and it benefits greatly by the charm and charisma of Trumble. Going in to the movie, you already know he’s going to be the ‘boyfriend’ of the title and that at some point his true character will be revealed, but Trumble can be so damn charming and empathetic that you almost forget he is the bad guy until that other shoe drops. Lifetime certainly knows they’ve struck gold with Trumble but they have to not over-use him to the point that he becomes a cliché, and having him in back-to-back movies is pushing it. He always does a great job but let’s not get to the point of audience burn out with him.
Trumble’s performance is matched perfectly by Brittany Underwood as Olivia. Underwood shows us the Olivia is a competent, focused businesswoman, but someone who also carries some deep hurt over the loss of her brother, perhaps over-compensating at work to mask that pain. Opening up her heart to Jonathan feels perfectly natural, and while she initially thinks Liam is just jealous of Jonathan, she never puts her fingers in her ears and goes ‘lalalalala, I can’t hear you’ when presented with some of the questionable evidence against him, rather taking the bull by the horns to find out for herself if what she’s been told is true (perhaps a bit too foolhardy to the point of putting her safety at risk). But she has great chemistry with Trumble and everything about their relationship feels real. Without that, none of this would work.
The two are ably supported by a cast that includes Julian Fletcher as Gerald, Joshua David Smith as Liam, Elise Mirto as Cecilia (Olivia’s mother), Kaikane as Kelly, Zane Haney as Patrick and Anthony Palacios as Jimmy. Hunter Ginn also gets to stand out a bit as Jonathan’s partner-in-crime Max, having to assume different personae to carry out the plan to bilk the Hunt’s out of their money. Everyone does an exceptional job with their characters, helping make the movie better than it ought to be.
Robert Dean Klein’s script is actually logical and doesn’t leave any plot threads dangling. He certainly gives the actors some good material to work with, and makes the relationship between Jonathan and Olivia believable. He also doesn’t waste our time by waiting to reveal Jonathan’s scheme until the end of the movie. By the midway point, we know he’s up to know good so the rest of the film’s tension is built up steadily as we wait for Olivia to accept what she’s been trying to avoid. It just all works really well, and there’s even a really nice surprise moment when Jonathan is confronting Gerald at his home to get the money transfer reinstated (although Gerald pretending he can’t remember his computer password is a bit eyerolling because it only took Jonathan three tries to guess it earlier in the story, DANNYHUNT1993 … it’s so easy even I can remember it after seeing it for a split second, so he actually could have unlocked the laptop himself). There’s also a nice bit of business when we get to see Jonathan and Max’s operation and how they’ve been able to convince Olivia that everything is on the level. Really good work by Klein. Director Marla Sokoloff also does a nice job of keeping the story moving, making everything play out naturally, even with the Patrick showing up already drunk at the birthday party scene, which lead to another surprising reveal. This really is one of the network’s more interesting and engaging movies, so kudos to everyone who really made it work so well.
A Boyfriend to Die For has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-14.
Excellent LMN thriller! Kept me on the edge of my seat. Great supporting cast!