Lifetime Review: 'A Deadly Grudge'

Things were going well for Lindsey Peterson (Annika Foster). The family restaurant was thriving, her parents' marriage was going strong, and she was on the verge of marrying her fiancé Gavin (Jonathan Stoddard). But her perfect life comes crashing down when her mother is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run. Even more shocking is a surprise guest who arrives at the funeral: Sarah (Aubrey Reynolds), the daughter Lindsey's father Jim (Patrick M.J. Finerty) had during a previous relationship. Stunned from all these revelations, Lindsey has trouble acclimating to the fact that she has a half-sister.

Despite that, Lindsey begins making an effort to welcome Sarah into her life and as part of her family. At first, the transition goes smoothly, with Sarah bonding with Jim and finding common ground with Lindsey. But over time, Lindsey begins to suspect something off about Sarah. It seems she's doing everything she can to worm her way into Lindsey's life--as if she wants to take her place. Does Lindsey just need more time to adjust? Or is her half-sister plotting to steal everything from her?

Another day, another Lifetime movie about someone's long-lost relative turning their life upside down. That familiarity quickly becomes the glass shard in A Deadly Grudge's proverbial foot. With a story as bland as it is uneventful for most of its run, the film also squanders the potential it had to have a well-crafted plot twist in its final minutes. It would've brought a splash of color to an otherwise drab feature and kept the climax from ending on such an anticlimactic whimper. As is, there's hardly anything remarkable to be found in A Deadly Grudge. So even with a fairly solid cast, some of whom have done good work on Lifetime in the past, you might find yourself zoning out as Sarah goes about sabotaging her sibling's life in the most mundane and expected ways.

After the plot-triggering murder of Annie Peterson, the middle stretch of the movie sees Sarah's schemes against Lindsey downgrade in terms of villainous zeal. And no, that's not an unmarked spoiler, as the film makes it no secret that Annie's death is a homicide and that Sarah has sinister ulterior motives. With her sly/fake smiles and occasionally chilly voice, Sarah sometimes lets her true nature creep onto her sleeve and it's perplexing how no one besides Lindsey seems to notice. I'd say the blame for this can be split between the direction and Aubrey Reynolds' performance. Reynolds is at her best when she's allowed to truly dig into Sarah's insanity. Unfortunately, she only gets this opportunity in the last few minutes of the movie. Even then, she's weighed down by some awkward bits of dialogue and a finale that gives Sarah a subpar sendoff. Elsewhere, Reynolds is stuck playing a generic schemer whose generic tactics include the usual bits of food tampering and relationship wrecking.

Speaking of the latter, Reynolds is joined by fellow Lifetime familiars Annika Foster and Jonathan Stoddard, who play main heroine Lindsey and her chef fiancé Gavin. Foster's performance is a little shaky in places, possibly as a consequence of Lindsey Peterson being even more of a nondescript character than Sarah. While Sarah at least gets the chance to let loose during the final act, Lindsey has scarce room to do the same in between the formulaic Lifetime protagonist beats she has to go through. Still, Foster gives a serviceable portrayal of a young woman who suddenly has a lot to grapple with: her mother's death, her father's sordid past, and her deranged newfound sister. It's not a perfect performance, and neither is the one given by Patrick M.J. Finerty as Lindsey's father Jim. But both work well enough with their characters and their rocky father-daughter relationship, with the story keeping Jim's naivete regarding Sarah from getting annoying. Presented with the chance to make amends to the daughter he more or less abandoned, it's natural that Jim would want to believe nothing but the best about Sarah.

Stoddard, meanwhile, makes it easy to feel for Sarah's fiancé Gavin. Granted, it's pretty annoying how he initially takes Sarah's side and dismisses Lindsey's suspicions as "overreactions" (unlike Jim, Gavin has no emotional connection to Sarah and thus shouldn't be so quick to dismiss her odd behavior.) But once Sarah starts sabotaging his and Lindsey's relationship, you'll definitely sympathize with Gavin as Lindsey starts turning on him and making some callous insinuations. Although, considering how little effort it takes for Sarah to drive a wedge between Lindsey and Gavin, I'd say the couple had some unspoken problems long before Sarah came along. However, those issues (chief among them the tension between Gavin and Jim and how Lindsey does nothing to try and resolve it) are ultimately left unaddressed when they could've been used to more dramatic effect.

SPOILER ALERT (kind of) That tension could've even led to a surprise reveal in the climax that Gavin secretly teamed up with Sarah, agreeing to help her kill Lindsey so that he could then kill Jim and take over the restaurant. Some of Gavin's mannerisms and interactions with Sarah would've made such a twist believable. The climax for such a storyline could even result in an explosive Evil vs. Evil confrontation once Sarah finds out about Gavin's plans for her father. Instead, Gavin is totally innocent and after Sarah's unceremonious defeat, we get a flashforward to Lindsey and Gavin's wedding. It's supposed to be a happy ending, but honestly, I've got my money on Gavin's bitterness over Jim not letting him have a share of the restaurant leading him and Lindsey to get a divorce. Spoilers Over

Considering how all the main protagonist's family owns a restaurant, it's no surprise that A Deadly Grudge is so food-centric. But unlike Sarah's lemon bars or Gavin's canapés, the film itself doesn't have much flavor to distinguish itself from the rest of the Lifetime buffet. The actors do what they can with the shoddy characters they're given and the pace does just enough to keep the story from becoming painfully boring. But the script and those aforementioned characters still leave A Deadly Grudge with all the personality of a stale cookie. So while you may be able to stomach one viewing of this mediocre Lifetime flick in your downtime, it's not likely to be one you'll come back to for seconds.

Score: 3.5 out of 10 pressure cooker incidents.