LMN
Lifetime Movie Network’s ‘Unhappily Ever After’ themed movie Shattered Vows actually fits the theme because no sooner than the marriage vows are made, they are most definitely shattered by a sudden death.
That death in question is the groom, Henry, who is found dead in the lobby of the hotel where the newlyweds are honeymooning … and somehow no one notices him until bride Sarah starts screaming. Sarah is convinced Henry was killed by his ex, Lindsey, whom she believed she spotted at the resort (and who also sent a special greeting that was more of a warning to Sarah than a congrats). Sarah thinks Lindsay is trying to regain custody of her and Henry’s daughter Kennedy (or Kenney, according to the end credits, although it sounds like everyone is say ‘Kennedy’ and that’s how IMDb lists her), who Henry had gotten full custody of three years earlier because of Lindsay’s drug use. Now that Henry is dead, Lindsey wants to take her daughter back — assuring Sarah that she’s changed but would never kill Henry. For the time being, Kennedy is staying with her aunt Rachel while Sarah tries to put all the pieces together, but she suddenly finds herself the prime suspect when a video from the resort is released showing her and Henry having an apparent argument while having dinner. Where did the video come from? Sarah is also not helped by a true crime YouTuber-type named Jack, who broadcasts the video, which turns public opinion swiftly against Sarah. She does discover the source, tries to partner with Jack to solve the murder, but makes the bad decision to go on the run with Kennedy. She doesn’t get very far and needs to hide out at the home of her friends Nicole and Jason after Rachel also turns on Sarah and accuses her of murdering her brother. Nicole and Jason also have questions about the argument, and she tells them Henry was living with a deep, dark secret about a hit-and-run incident in which he had been the passenger. He would not reveal the name of the driver, but going through some of his items Sarah knows what the car looked like, and now she has a whole list of suspects: Lindsey, Rachel, Nicole and Jason. But will she be able to reveal the killer’s identity and prove her innocence before she becomes the next victim (of that list, at least one of them is knocked out of contention when they are killed too)?
Shattered Vows (apparently originally titled From Dangerous Heights for no good reason) has a decently crafted mystery by Brooke Williams that does require the viewer to pay attention and put together the clues. All of the red herrings are never really obvious because each of the characters is written believably. It may take you a while to finally realize who the culprit is and that’s a good thing. Far too often in these types of movies, the person of interest has a tendency to over-act to the point of obviousness, ruining any surprise. If you can guess the ending right from the start, there’s no fun in watching. Here, it’s not quite as obvious. Chalk that up to a decent cast, but also to the direction of Haylie Duff. A director’s job is to put the pieces of the script together to form a coherent story, a real task considering most movies are shot completely out of sequence, but the director is also there to guide the actors’ performances, allowing them to follow their instincts on how the character should be played, but reining them in if they go to far or nudging them to take things a little further. Duff has perfectly modulated the performances so every is pretty natural for most of the movie. There are times when some of them go a little over-the-top, especially when they turn on Sarah, perhaps to make them more suspicious but it never takes away from the film. The story isn’t always successful, and there are moments when you will question if some of the plot makes sense, but over all it ends up being a pretty decent thriller.
Christie Leverette does a good job as Sarah, even when some of her character motivations as written are questionable. There is one scene during the climax of the movie where the killer is going to drown her in her own bathtub … and she just lays there and lets it happen. Someone, the actor or the director, should have said ‘this makes zero sense’. When the killer is distracted for a moment, Sarah hops out of the tub and the killer is surprised she didn’t just lay there waiting to die. This is the dumbest moment of an otherwise decent movie. Kabby Borders gives a good performance as Lindsey, but again the writing lets her down. Lindsey is trying to prove she’s changed but Borders is often required to appear unhinged one moment and sympathetic the next, likely so she can be an obvious suspect in the murder. Borders handles it all very well though, so she gets major credit for that.
Rae DeRosa does a nice job as Rachel, always seeming to be on Sarah’s side but her character is also written to slowly begin turning against her sister-in-law, refusing several times to let Sarah take Kennedy home. After the second time, Sarah should have been on the phone with the police accusing Rachel of kidnapping. DeRosa handles the personality change with skill, but the way she just jumps to conclusions about Sarah is jarring, and she also has no legal right to keep Kennedy. Just more flawed plot devices in the script. Courtney Elvira and James Bobo are very good as the friends Nicole and Jason. They actually do support Sarah and never seem to turn against her, calmly asking her about the supposed fight, but never outright accusing her or murder. John Castle plays Jack as a bit of a TMZ-type of asshole when he confronts Sarah at her home, seeming to set her up as the prime suspect to get views, trying to convince her that he wants to solve the case. Um, that’s the job of the police, buddy. David Rucker III actually plays Detective Ruiz as someone who is actually focused on the job and following the clues, not actually focusing on Sarah from the start and never letting go, which is how most of the detectives in these movies behave. There is, of course, more plot convenience in the story regarding Henry’s phone which they were only able to locate after it was planted back in his and Sarah’s house. If they were going to use a location finder, why did it only work then? Well, so Sarah could become the prime suspect, so everyone would turn on her and believe she committed the murder. It’s just lazy writing but the cast manages to make the most of it, and Duff keeps the story moving until the somewhat shocking climax.
Shattered Vows falls between the best and the worst of the LMN crime dramas, buoyed by skillful direction and an excellent cast that brings a mostly decent mystery to life in a way that keeps the viewer engaged.
Shattered Vows has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-14.