Lifetime Movie Marathon!

Yes, I watch them. Maybe I should’ve added them to my Guilty Pleasures list. But I only go on marathons once in a blue moon. And these aren’t the Meredith Baxter gets raped type of Lifetime movies. These are more feel-good-romances-probably-made-from-chick-lit-books. 


Elinor (Ashley Williams) and Marianne (Marla Sokoloff) Dashwood are dealt a blow when their father Henry is convicted of running a Ponzi scheme. They have no money and finding work is hard with their last name. So much so that Marianne uses an alias when she is finally hired as a copy room attendant at a marketing firm. There she meets the serious Brandon (Nick Zano) with whom she develops a friendship though she is in a relationship with John Willoughby (Jason Celaya), a man she believes to be in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Elinor gets a job as a janitor at a spa run by Fran Ferras (JJ Neward). She meets Fran’s brother Edward (Brad Johnson), a patent lawyer.


So where does the “scent” come in? Well, Marianne likes to make lotions in her free time. She makes one that works wonders on tired limbs. Elinor gives it to a customer at the spa who praises it to high heaven. Word spreads and other clients wish to buy the lotion. Fran notices this and, hoping to solve her own financial problems, enlists employee Lucy (Jaclyn Hales) to steal a bottle of the lotion. She plans to sell the lotion to a cosmetics firm and make profits to support her lavish lifestyle. Can the Dashwood sisters stop her in time? And find love in the process?


Is it close to the source material? Well, “Sense and Sensibility” is on my “To Read List” so I can’t say for certain. But I have seen the 1995 movie starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman. And it seems that this Marianne is more practical than Austen’s. Brandon is also slightly changed. In the book, Marianne initially rejects him because he is serious and older. In the movie, she claims he is “serious” but we never really see it. But is it a fun romp to pass the time? Absolutely.


The next movie was “Sundays at Tiffany’s.” The story tells of Jane, who has an imaginary friend named Michael as a child. One Christmas Eve, Jane and Michael accompany her mother (Stockard Channing) to Tiffany’s so Jane can pick up her gift. That night, Jane’s birthday, Michael leaves her. The movie jumps forward in time to when Jane’s an adult and now played by Alyssa Milano. She is engaged to an actor, Hugh (Ivan Sergei) who is appearing in one of her mother’s plays. But she is having trouble planning the wedding, remaining indecisive on many things.


After another failed appointment to try on wedding dresses, Jane has an odd encounter. She is being followed by a man (Eric Winter) who seems to know very personal information. Eventually, she realizes this is Michael—who is now also grown up. And visible to others, to his surprise. The two of them reconnect as they try to figure out why Michael’s reappeared. Along the way, Jane finds herself doing something she hasn’t done in a long time—doing things that make her happy. With Michael, she also manages to get everything prepared for her wedding.


Things take a turn when she finds her wedding gown thanks to Michael. He remembered the one she said she wanted when she was a little girl. Caught up in the moment, the two share a kiss. Jane finds herself now confused about who she wants—Hugh or Michael. Especially as she is getting married on Christmas Eve, the same day Michael may disappear from her life forever.


This will probably get a rewatch come Lifetime’s Christmas movie marathon. I like Alyssa Milano, ever since “Who’s the Boss?” And I liked her as Phoebe on “Charmed” (though Piper was my favorite!). She has some great chemistry with Winter and it is easy to root for them. The story is well paced, though she does accept that he is her old imaginary friend pretty quick. But overall, the story is enjoyable.


Moving on, we go to “Lying to be Perfect,” based on the novel “The Cinderella Pact.” It tells the story of Nola Devlin (Poppy Montgomery), an overweight magazine editor. She’s in charge of the magazine’s popular advice column written by the reclusive Belinda Apple. The reason Belinda is so reclusive is the fact she’s imaginary. Nola created her when the magazine’s editors wouldn’t give her her own column. One day, she and her friends Deb (Audrey Wasilewski) and Nancy (Chelah Horsdal) go out to lunch. When they feel slighted due to their larger frames, the girls decide to follow Belinda’s advice. They form a “Cinderella” pact to shed their weight and start to look as beautiful as they feel on the inside.


Together, they start to eat better and exercise. And Nancy and Nola both see results while Deb struggles. To the point she considers surgery to help her lose weight. As she debates this, Deb and Nancy discover Nola’s secret—she is Belinda Apple. They are shocked and hurt she didn’t trust them. And they stop talking to her at a time she needs them the most—Belinda’s columns have just been published as a book! People want to talk to Belinda and actually meet her, so Nola is in a conundrum.


And on top of it, she’s found love. A fellow magazine employee named Chip (Adam Kaufman) begins romancing her. It turns serious and he eventually confides he is really Alex, the heir apparent to the publishing company. She, though, can’t confess being Belinda Apple. As things unravel, Nola learns she still has some fairy godmothers who will help her embrace Belinda and perhaps get her Prince Charming.


Okay, the message seems a little off—you can only be happy when you look like what society says, but even the movie notes that’s not what it is trying to say. Toward the end, when the women are much thinner than at the start of the movie, they return to the restaurant. Encountering the same waiter, they tell him that they knew he was embarrassed to have the fat women seated in the window but now they would like to sit there as they are skinny. The waiter is bemused and says the table is occupied, stepping away to reveal a party of overweight people sitting there. It never had to do with their weight—that was their own insecurity.


The movie is about women finding their own inner strength. Even once she starts losing weight, Nola remains insecure. It takes her friends and the realization of how Belinda—how she—has helped so many people to make her realize her own self-worth. It is a movie about finding your inner strength.


And I love Poppy Montgomery. Just not enough to watch “Unforgettable,” even with its reprieve.