Lifetime Review: 'Burning Little Lies'

Heather King (Annika Foster) is suffering from a royally bad luck streak. Already struggling with a messy divorce, she's recently lost her parents to a devastating house fire--a tragedy that forces Heather back into the company of her haughty stepsister Gwen (Ashlynn Yennie). One of the few bright spots of returning home is running into Ben (Jamie Roy), an old high school classmate Heather briefly dated. Now a handsome local fireman, Heather feels their old bond start to rekindle, even as she frets over whether or not she's ready to trust her heart again.

But things get a whole lot more complicated when strange events begin to unfold. First, Heather is saved by Ben from a near-fatal accident. Then she learns that her parents' deaths were the result of arson. Then after another near-death experience, Heather uncovers some shocking secrets about Ben. Has Heather's bad dating track record finally culminated in her falling for a psychopath?

Well, this is one Lifetime movie that's not winning any awards in the Special Effects category. While subpar effects aren't uncommon in the made-for-TV realm (given how they're often made on a meager budget), the ones for Burning Little Lies stick out badly because of how often they're used. The opening scene depicting the house fire that killed Heather's father and Gwen's mother perfectly encapsulates what you're in for in terms of the CGI. The unconvincing acting from everyone involved (even the unseen 911 operator) only further makes this an unappealing scene to open with. Thankfully, the story and other aspects of Burning Little Lies don't come close to being as haphazard as its computer-generated graphics and ADR flubs.

I must admit, the first half of Burning Little Lies felt less like a Lifetime movie and more like a darker-themed Hallmark romance. The initial dynamic between Heather and Ben (woman returns to her hometown after a breakup and runs into an old high school boyfriend) is straight out of the Hallmark playbook. There's even a fluffy scene of Heather and her best friend Anika goofing around with clay awkwardly shoved into the third act. Rest assured, though, there are plenty of scenes that remind you what channel you're watching. Having previously appeared on my blog as a crazed nanny and a doting teen boyfriend respectively, Annika Foster and Jamie Roy share some decent chemistry as reunited former high school friends. It's nothing spectacular and both Foster and Roy have their share of stale moments. While she was consistently strong in The Twisted Nanny, Foster falters on at least half of Heather's emotionally intense scenes (particularly her brushes with death). But the two still have plenty of cute interactions, thanks in large part to Heather's awkward apprehension over putting her heart back on the line and Ben's mild case of Adorkable-itis.

Outside of Foster's unsteady performance, Heather makes for a mostly sympathetic protagonist. Her unlucky-in-love status and the string of whammies that get thrown her way make it easy to feel sorry for the poor woman. The only time this wavers is when she dismisses the red flag that pops up regarding Ben soon after she reconnects with him. It's totally out-of-character behavior for someone so sick of being burned by falling for the wrong men. Good thing it's only a temporary lapse in judgment, as Heather is otherwise a fairly on-the-ball protagonist. It also helps that Ben is such an endearing guy that you might be tempted to forgive Heather for letting her guard down in the face of suspicious circumstances.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Story-wise, the most noteworthy thing about Burning Little Lies is its big twist. As a seasoned Lifetime viewer, I was eventually able to catch on that Ben was a red herring and that the only other viable suspect was Gwen's husband Jason. To the film's credit, this moment didn't happen until 10 to 20 minutes before Jason's big unmasking, which itself happens 20 minutes before the ending. As such, we're given enough time to watch Mark Hapka (last seen on my blog as a non-villainous Lifetime love interest) have some fun with the reveal after spending most of the movie playing a generic background hubby. In a nice subversion of expectations, Jason isn't motivated by an obsession with Heather. Not only is he totally in love with Gwen, but his fixation on her and having enough money to "keep her" is what drives Jason to commit his crimes. Hapka is moderately fun to watch as the desperately money-strapped and lowkey resentful Jason taunt and rant throughout his final scheme. Not that he's enough to distract you from the horribly rendered fire, Foster's half-strained efforts to convincingly plead for her life, or the comically bombastic music that accompanies the climax's final minutes.

(Three other notes: 1. That kind of exaggerated background music is also found in a few other places during the movie. 2. There's a lowkey ironic scene right before the climax kicks off where we listen to Heather vent to Anika about how naïve she was to trust Ben while we watch Jason--the truly untrustworthy man in her life--set her house on fire. 3. The film's sole good moment in terms of graphics is the shot of Heather and Ben's winter dance photo burning away into their wedding picture. Just another way this Lifetime thriller utilizes its fire theme.)

Spoilers Over

Foster is joined by fellow Lifetime familiar Ashlynn Yennie, who throws a lot of snark as wicked stepsister Gwen. While she has her nastier moments, especially during her introduction, Yennie manages to have a little fun with her stuck-up character and give her some humanizing shades. We see in one instance how much Gwen is hurting from her mother's death (a pain she seems keen to hide with hostility) and we see in doses that for all her sour remarks, Gwen does care about Heather. It's her concealed grief and the difficulties she has with saying sorry and letting go of the past that keep her from reconciling with her stepsister. SPOILER ALERT Though if you still can't stand Gwen after all that, you're bound to take some pleasure from Gwen's shocked reaction to finding out her seemingly perfect husband was a greedy monster who killed her parents. Spoilers Over Alex Trumble is effectively sleazy as Heather's ex-husband Richard and Trenyce's Detective Carver is a proactive and compassionate investigator. Tristina Lee's Anika matches wits with Ben in terms of being a sweet and supportive ally to Heather. But with Anika being such a textbook Token Black Friend, Lee only has so much to work with. SPOILER ALERT Also, Richard's poorly CGIed death scene is made even more laughable by Trumble's wacky "OMG, I'm gonna die!" expressions. Spoilers Over

If I were to judge Burning Little Lies solely on an aesthetic level, it definitely wouldn't be receiving a score higher than a 3. For a movie where arson is a key plot point, you'd think the crew behind it would work to make sure the fires on display are up to snuff. But of course, a critic can't blindly condemn a film for not looking good on a surface level. Looking beyond that cracked surface, Burning Little Lies has a fairly efficient cast and a consistently paced story to keep you from averting your eyes in secondhand embarrassment for the effects department. And with a decent twist that leads into a fiery conclusion (literally), the film ends feeling like a cozy campfire after opening with cold digital flames.

Score: 6.5 out of 10 charity chili cook-offs.