LMN
Lifetime Movie Network’s newest movie theme, ‘Unhappily Ever After’, begins with the thriller Murder, Lies & Marriage … one of the most nonsensical titles the network has come up with yet. Yes, there is a murder. Yes, there are lies. Yes, there is a married couple but there isn’t a marriage taking place. In fact, they end up divorcing. It’s like they put a bunch of random words in a hat and pulled them out to make a title. My cat could come up with a better title.
Anyway, Murder, Lies & Marriage focuses on happily married couple and business partners Nicole (Kelly Sullivan) and Jack (Alex Trumble), who are hosting a gala for a charity Nicole runs. Everything is just dandy until the police burst into the room and arrest Nicole for … MURDER. Specifically the murder of Jack’s cousin Connor (Colton Tapp), whose body was found in a park by two horny teenager seemingly just moments earlier (there is no time frame given for when the body was found and when Nicole’s DNA was discovered (although hold that thought because we’re given another explanation for Nicole’s supposed guilt later). One thing leads to another and Nicole is swiftly convicted and sent to prison. Five years later, she’s released because security camera footage from a gas station shows her there at the same time the body was discovered (and the reason it took so long to get that footage is even more convoluted than the rest of this movie). But after her conviction, Jack dropped Nicole like a hot potato, never once being the devoted partner and standing up for her or doing anything to ‘find the killer’. You know, like O.J. Instead, he’s moved on with his new girlfriend Gwen (Nadia Adelay) and has full custody of his daughter Sarah (Mia Romay), who he’s not allowed to see her mother while in prison, and is in the process of franchising the chain of coffee shops he and Nicole had established.
When Nicole is released, Jack is not present, just Nicole’s mother Mallory (Diane Box Worman), who is so over-the-top that you immediately think she killed Connor. Nicole is finally allowed to see Sarah the next day at the coffee shop, but prior to that Jack had a visit by an ‘investor’ in the franchise, Rick (Jess Matney), whom Gwen believes is a bit shady so she positions herself outside the doorway where the men are speaking to find out what’s going on. Nicole and Sarah seem to have a good reunion and they hope to continue to rebuild their relationship. But Nicole starts getting strange messages from someone suggesting someone close to Jack knows more about Connor’s murder than they are letting on. Soon, Connor’s ex-wife Kristen (Lauren Pike) shows up and admits she left the note and implicates Gwen as the killer because … she had been having an affair with Connor five years earlier and that’s what broke up their marriage! This is a lot to unpack. Gwen does begin acting suspicious, having her own meeting with Rick and giving him an envelope of money for something. Everything begins to go off the rails when the truth about Connor’s murder and Jack’s connection to Rick becomes more apparent, putting more people in danger. Will Nicole, Gwen and Jack survive this ordeal?
Aside from its terrible title, Murder, Lies & Marriage is a mostly competent thriller by writer Michael Perrone. The basic mystery is well constructed and there are enough decent red herrings to keep you guessing (even though I called the killer right from the beginning, but that guess was put into doubt at one point). The problem is the inconsistencies in that plot. We’re told Nicole’s DNA was found at the location of Connor’s body, yet later we learn it was her fingerprints on the murder weapon, which makes a little more sense if she had had zero contact with Connor to leave DNA on or around him. The whole explanation of why it took so long to get the security video is also a bit crazy (the store owner had a heart attack and died just at the moment the police were seeking the video, and the tape was found in a box five years later?!). The Rick character is also pointless because he just disappears after he meets with Gwen and commits another murder (and the scene is presented as Gwen is paying him for the job but we never really know the motive for that particular killing). The climax of the film does ramp up the tension and keeps you on the edge of your seat, so this is all a mixed bag of really good stuff punctuated by peripheral nonsense. At least director Bruno Hernández keeps things moving and doesn’t allow the actors to be too obvious, letting some of them be just shady enough to keep us guessing.
The cast is uniformly good. Kelly Sullivan is really terrific as Nicole, totally believable as a woman in this totally out-of-character situation. She always has a sense of caution and incredulity to her when someone presents her with new information, carefully and thoughtfully putting all the pieces together. She makes you empathize with Nicole, especially when she mentions how it’s difficult to find a job after being released from prison, even though she was found completely innocent of the crime. She also shows a true motherly bond with Sarah, completely understanding of how the situation has affected her daughter. It’s just a really solid performance that supports the whole movie. Alex Trumble is also really good at maintaining a level head as the walls begin to close in, slowly unraveling in the climactic moments as the truth of Connor’s murder is revealed to all.
Nadia Adelay is terrific as Gwen, giving the character just enough shading to make us wonder if she is indeed capable of murder. She seems to dote on Sarah, but is that all an act? Even in her contact with Nicole, her perfomance is so good that we believe she’s on the up-and-up while at the same time considering that everything she’s saying is a lie to misdirect everyone. She really makes the most of her screen time, even when that one scene with Rick really makes no sense. Jess Matney, as Rick, is totally shady and carries a real sense of menace about him, it’s just a shame that he’s quickly disappeared with no explanation. Diane Box Worman is just a bit too over-the-top as Nicole’s mother Mallory, but perhaps her motivation was just to overly dote on her daughter after she was released from prison. She just needed to turn it down from an 11 to about a 6. Andrae Todd James Bicy is fine as the detective, unfortunately written typically as the cop who patronizes the victim when she comes to him with new information. He does the best he can with the character, but he’s not given much depth to work with. Lauren Pike is also pretty good in her short time as Kristen, playing it just enough to make us think perhaps she had something to do with Connor’s murder … until it’s clear she does not. Colton Tapp, just seen in Lifetime’s I Am Your Biggest Fan, does a good job at establishing Connor’s relationship with Jack in what amounts to a cameo. Overall, this is a really solid cast that makes the bulk of the story work very well.
Murder, Lies & Marriage might have some plot holes you can drive a truck through, but with a decent central mystery, competent direction and a cast that really saves the day, this one is a nice bit of entertainment.
Murder, Lies & Marriage has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-14.