Lifetime Review: 'Betrayed by My Husband'

For their 20th anniversary, Gabrielle Langston (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is excited to be taking her husband Parker (Michael Sirow) on a kayaking trip. But what was supposed to be a romantic getaway became a tragedy when Parker disappeared, seemingly having fallen into the water and gotten swept away. Devastated, Gabrielle struggled to process her grief, for her own sake and the sake of her and Parker's daughter Lexa (Rayne Galay).

Two months later, Gabrielle is still working to put her life back together, returning to her job and dealing with her continued grief. That is, until she spots Parker in San Francisco and begins to suspect her husband faked his death. Then she discovers Parker's life insurance money stolen and her estranged brother-in-law Carson (Darren Wall) is murdered, with Gabrielle being pegged as the prime suspect. Desperate to clear her name, Gabrielle has to launch her own investigation and uncover the truth about Parker--before his secrets cost her everything.

Given how heavily the entertainment industry has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, it's not surprising that the Lifetime Movie Network's upcoming string of premieres includes a few movies that have already been released elsewhere. In this case, Betrayed by My Husband was originally released in 2017, under the significantly less on-the-nose title Washed Away (hence, the above poster). Having learned about this movie's existence before it made its Lifetime premiere and seen some less-than-charitable IMDB reviews, I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised once I saw it for myself. But in this case, I have to agree with popular opinion and say that Betrayed by My Husband doesn't come close to being what makes for an entertaining Lifetime drama.

Of all the issues it has, Betrayed by My Husband's monotonous pace is definitely the most severe. It feels like it takes forever to get into the main mystery, and once the movie gets there, it continues to slog as we watch Gabrielle deal with being framed for murder and trying to uncover the truth. Despite the high stakes set for Gabrielle, that tension and urgency isn't conveyed thanks to the sedative plot progression. Add in the routine answer to all the plot's goings-on (which 1. does not make the long wait worth it and 2. is partially spoiled by Lifetime's promos for the film) and you have a bland story made even blander by its potential to bore you to sleep.

Characters don't fare much better when it comes to writing, with not a single character or actor in Betrayed by My Husband going unscathed to some degree. Gabrielle is a likable and sympathetic heroine, thanks in no small part to Emmanuelle Vaugier delivering her emotional scenes with a heartbreaking zeal and bringing fire to Gabrielle's fight to prove her innocence. But despite Vaugier's consistently strong performance, the script doesn't give her a lot to work with for much of the film's second half, where Gabrielle is put through the standard "Playing Nancy Drew" beats.

Fellow Lifetime regular Cameron Bancroft is in a similar position as detective Asher Blackton, with his efforts to give a charming performance being hampered by stiff dialogue and Asher's overall "Harsh/Useless Cop" personality. Both Asher and Gabrielle's mother-in-law Karen (played by Susan Kelso) all too easily--and nastily--turn on Gabrielle and assume her guilt despite the shaky "evidence" against her, with Karen's essentially taking custody of Lexa in response to Gabrielle's initial arrest being memorable in its disgusting callousness. SPOILER ALERT The fact that both are easily forgiven in the end, with Asher being treated as though he'd believed in Gabrielle all along and approached the case with an "innocent until proven guilty" attitude (which couldn't be further from the truth) throws salt into the wounds. To say nothing about the out-of-thin-air implications that there's some romantic chemistry brewing between Gabrielle and Asher... Spoilers Over

The rest of the primary cast is less acquainted with Lifetime than Vaugier and Bancroft, with their performances being a mixed bag. While Darren Wall effectively transforms Carson into an over-the-top drunk jerk, Lifetime newcomers Ava Darrach-Gagnon and Rayne Galay both fall flat. SPOILER ALERT Darrach-Gagnon is a surprise hammy gem when Brooklyn's treacherous nature is revealed, and the twist about her and Travis (played by Adam Hurtig, trying his best in a cookie-cutter bad guy role) did throw me for a loop. But before that villainous reveal, Darrach-Gagnon is stiff as a board and fails to mask her character's true nature--especially when Brooklyn's setting Gabrielle up to be framed for Carson's murder. This comes with the additional side effect of making Gabrielle look like a dense idiot for buying into her sister-in-law's transparent frame job. Spoilers Over Galay is similarly stagnant as Gabrielle's daughter Lexa, with none of her character's emotional moments hitting the mark (Lexa's thin role in the story doesn't help). Even bit player Kimberley Rampersad is memorably wooden in her character's sole major scene with Gabrielle. It's all enough to give me Revenge for Daddy flashbacks.

(SPOILER ALERT Lastly, Michael Sirow can join Vaugier and Bancroft in the wasted actors department. Sirow doesn't give a bad performance, but with Parker being such an inconsistent and inactive villain, he's not given much room to make an impact. At the climax, it seems he keeps shifting between motivations for what he's done, as though writer Rosalyn Muir wasn't sure which one to stick with. Parker's mob ties would've made a better choice, as his affair with Brooklyn is a bland motivation that doesn't even make sense, given how miserable Parker looks and sounds when she shows up for the climax. Spoilers Over)

In addition to all its script and acting problems, Betrayed by My Husband has an aesthetic goof in its use of fade-to-black transitions. Even accounting for its low budget, this transition device is bizarre and off-putting. But it's a minor nitpick when compared to the more destructive issues with this bomb of a thriller. If you can fight your way through the sleep-inducing pace, Betrayed by My Husband's flimsy script and arsenal of wasted or downright poor performances are sure to have you tempted to change the channel. After the stellar performances they gave in Dying for Motherhood and Secrets of My Stepdaughter, Emmanuelle Vaugier and Cameron Bancroft both deserve better material to work with. Fingers crossed they get the chance to collaborate again soon in a movie that better utilizes their abilities.

Score: 2 out of 10 ripped life jackets.