Lifetime
Lifetime returns to the land of the Amish for its newest thriller, My Amish Double Life, which is billed at the top of the movie as ‘Inspired by actual events’ but isn’t part of the network’s ‘Ripped from the Headlines’ TV movies, even though the subject matter certainly seems like it would have made some major headlines … if even a fraction of the story is true.
My Amish Double Life stars Lexi Minetree (from Lifetime’s The Paramedic Who Stalked Me) as young Amish girl Emma. Emma had a close relationship with her father, but a tragedy left him dead in the woods near their home and Emma has believed that it was murder, but none of the community elders or the bishop will entertain her wild claims even though she insists she saw someone running away. Her friend Rebecca (Rachel Coopes) has a wild streak in her and has been sneaking out of the community at night to venture into the big city to go clubbing, complete with ‘English’ clothing and a cell phone. Emma asks if she can go along sometime and while reluctant at first, Rebecca finally decides that she will bring Emma along on her next night out, supplying her with a dress suitable for the club.
Almost immediately, Emma is hit on by a drunk frat boy but is rescued by another hunk named Heath, and after making sure she’s okay asks her to dance. Things quickly become heated but Heath refrains from planting a kiss on her, instead asking her to meet him the next day for lunch … which means Emma would have to sneak away in broad daylight and on the Sabbath! But she does, and she ends up at Heath’s McMansion (he’s absurdly young to have this kind of home and it’s not clear what business he owns that has afforded him such wealth at this young age) that evening but he gets called away on business in Chicago. He tells Emma she is free to stay and take advantage of the stocked fridge and bathtub, staying overnight if she wants. She accepts the offer — never once thinking that her mother might be freaking out –and while in the tub she hears a noise. Thinking it might be Heath, she ventures downstairs only to find a woman dead on the kitchen floor. Apparently someone else is in the house and knocks Emma out, because when she comes to she is covered in blood and has a bloody scythe in her hand. Going into full panic mode, she gathers up her things, including the bloody bathrobe and weapon, calls a rideshare (and she never bats an eye when Rebecca first says that word, as if Emma even knows what a rideshare is … and how is this being paid for?), burns the clothes, hides the weapon and sneaks back into her house … where mother Mary is waiting. Emma later tells Rebecca what happened and they swear not to tell anyone but … the police arrive with Heath in tow, lining up all the young women from 18-25 so he can see if he recognizes any of them (the police deduced from his description that the girl had to be Amish and have been visiting all of the communities). He picks out Emma, and the Bishop tells Mary that they will support her but not her daughter, who will be shunned if she is found guilty of this crime. But none of this sits right with Emma because she begins to believe that her father’s death and the Bishop basically seizing the deed to her family land are all tied together with the murder of the woman who turns out to be Heath’s soon-to-be ex-wife. The question is, is Emma right, has she been set up, and is the Bishop — or someone else in the community like Rebecca or Caleb, the young man who is trying to woo Emma — responsible for not one, but two murders?
My Amish Double Life is a serviceable thriller, even if it does have a few eye-rolling moments. The screenplay by Bryan Dick, Ken Sanders and John J. Tierney doesn’t break any new ground when it comes to depicting the life of the Amish, but they do manage to craft a tidy thriller that drops a few subtle hints early on as to who the culprit may be, but also gives us a few red herrings as well to keep us guessing. Director Cooper Harrington does a nice job of building the mystery but stumbles occasionally like the scene where Emma needs to get back to her house with Rebecca accompanying her. There is great urgency in the moment, but the two end up just taking a leisurely stroll instead. But the mystery is tidied up nicely through the use of flashbacks as Emma becomes an Amish Columbo putting all the pieces together (better than the police who were only focused on her).
Lexi Minetree is terrific as Emma. She nails both the conservative Amish girl and the girl who enjoys cutting loose, but still maintains her Amish morals. Even when in panic mode, she still manages to keep her wits about her, and shows great determination to prove that not only didn’t she commit the murder, but there are secrets that need to be revealed concerning her father. Minetree manages to make these damsel in distress roles much stronger than they could be in lesser hands. Lesa Wilson is also good as Emma’s mother Mary, making the character a much stronger female in the Amish community than one would expect. She has not trouble talking back to the Bishop when she goes into ‘tiger mom’ mode. Rachel Coopes, Ty Trumbo, and Nick Clark are all also very good and without going into spoiler territory, they never behave in such a way to give away any of their characters’ secret. There have been too many of these Lifetime movies that are supposed to be mystery thriller but the culprit in most of them practically waves a sign over their head saying ‘I did it’ for everyone but the other characters in the movie to see. It’s so annoying when a supposed surprise twist is just telegraphed by the actor. These three actors use their skills to play their characters pretty normally so that the ending does come as more of a shock. Chalk that up to some good direction and writing … although the writers do try a little too hard to make one of them an obvious red herring to throw us off, but it works nonetheless.
My Amish Double Life may not be the greatest of the Amish films Lifetime has turned out, but it’s far from the worst. There are some bits here and there that are eye-rolling, but all in all it’s a pretty tidy little thriller with a nice bit of mystery that will keep you guesses as to exactly what is going on. This one is actually worth a look.
My Amish Double Life has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-14.