Lies Between Friends (2010) Gabrielle Anwar, Susan Hogan, Thea Gill, Venus Terzo, Craig Sheffer Movie Review

Lies Between Friends (2010)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Venus Terzo, Gabrielle Anwar and Susan Hogan in Lies Between Friends (2010)

Slow Moving Murder Mystery

It's been 14 years since a group of college friends were last together but with one of them getting married they all return to Rebecca Read's (Susan Hogan) b&b for a bridal shower. It does though mean that art authenticator Joss (Gabrielle Anwar) has to come face to face with Cait (Thea Gill) who Joss believes was having an affair with her boyfriend and was the last person to see him before he died in a road accident. Cait promises to explain everything to Joss before the weekend is over but before she can Cait is found dead. With Sheriff Zach Tom Watts (Craig Sheffer) investigating Joss turns amateur sleuth as she believes that Cait didn't kill herself or die accidentally.

"Lies Between Friends" is three things: it is firstly a reunion movie which secondly turns into a murder mystery that thirdly has a touch of Nancy Drew about it, it's also a fourth thing incredibly slow. So yes that basically means this made for TV movie where old college friends come together where one is murdered and another turns amateur detective is very familiar with recognizable elements pulled from other movies of the same ilk. In fact for the most "Lies Between Friends" is familiar with characters and also romantic subplots also being familiar and highly obvious. But thanks to a pleasant cast it is entertaining and when the murder mystery is solved I can guarantee you won't have worked out who did it and why.

Craig Sheffer in Lies Between Friends (2010)

So "Lies Between Friends" starts incredibly slowly with the first half hour feeling like just a reunion movie where we witness these college girl friends meeting up. We may learn that Joss and Cait have issues whilst Laura is not that keen on seeing everyone but what we get is typical reunion movie stuff where they watch old home movies, listen to old music, talk about old times and act like college girls again. Except this seems to go on for an eternity and whilst director and writer Walter Klenhard attempts to toy with us as we learn that a handyman is a huge fan of b-move star Cait it seems like this movie is never going to get going.

A long part one done with we then get to Cait's death and Joss coming over all Nancy Drew as she doesn't believe it was an accident or suicide which means she gets close to Sheriff Zach, yes we have this obvious romantic subplot form, simmering nicely but never really going anywhere. So as you can guess as Joss tries to work out who could have killed Cait she discovers various secrets from college, things which various people have kept very quiet for a long time. What this means is that eventually Joss discovers most of the truth which is enough to cause Cait's killer to have to deal with her and anyone else who maybe involved. Now one thing is for sure you may have suspicions but you won't guess how this tangled web connects because "Lies Between Friends" is so contrived that you can't believe it for a minute but at least it's better than making it too obvious, well sort of.

Aside from that "Lies Between Friends" is watchable because of the appealing nature of its various stars despite none of the characters being anything more than routine. As such Gabrielle Anwar, Venus Terzo and Susan Hogan all are fun to watch even if you end up not paying a huge amount of attention to what they do, mostly because of what they do being flawed. And whilst in a very poorly written part Craig Sheffer is kind of fun as the romantically nervy Sheriff Zach Tom Watts even if his character's name is wrong on so many levels.

What this all boils down to is that "Lies Between Friends" is a watchable TV movie which combines a reunion movie with a murder mystery and some amateur sleuthing but it is nothing you won't have seen before and nothing you will particularly remember a day or so after you watched it. But for all that is wrong about it, and there are several things, it still entertains even if it is both contrived yet predictable.


LATEST REVIEWS