Lifetime Review: 'Revenge Best Served Chilled'

Synopsis:

Wine blogger Emily Nguyen (Lynn Kim Do) wants nothing more than to become a professional sommelier through the prestigious American Wine Academy. Years ago, her mother joined the program to become a member of the academy, but died in a car accident before she could finish. So after winning a spot in the same program, Emily seizes the opportunity to not only fulfill her late mother's dream, but keep the family restaurant from going under. But soon after arriving at the academy, Emily realizes the competition will be tougher than she initially thought. In addition to being treated with disdain by her wealthier competitors, Emily finds herself the victim of a few dangerous pranks. Is someone in the program willing to kill to win? Or is there more to what's going on at this sinister academy?

Story:

Much like Dylan Vox's Dirty Little Deeds, Revenge Best Served Chilled cultivates an atmosphere that's often akin to that of a vintage suspense thriller. From the bouts of classical music to the rustically creepy appearance of the American Wine Academy manor, there's definitely a bit of a throwback vibe to be found here. The pacing (while not perfect) is solid enough to keep you invested and the ending takes a page out of the Secrets on Sorority Row playbook by bringing a dose of dark comedy to the proceedings. Since Revenge Best Served Chilled is a generally down-to-earth movie, the ending's tongue-in-cheek nature is a welcome surprise. The mystery aspect is also handled pretty well. While the main reveal won't be much of a shocker, the film wisely doesn't treat it like it's really supposed to be one. As such, some of the smaller revelations might just have you doing a double take.

Characters:

Between her backstory, motivation, and having to deal with a bunch of snooty elitists, Emily Nguyen doesn't have to work hard for the viewer's sympathy. As snide words turn into dangerous attacks, Emily struggles to keep it together for the contest and begins to fear she can't trust anyone around her. Throughout her moments of fear and paranoia, however, Emily demonstrates a fiery spirit that keeps her from giving up and which comes in handy during the big climax. Of her fellow competitors, Kristen stands out as my favorite. While she's initially catty and blatantly looks down on Emily, the film's events see her soften up and begin treating Emily more cordially. She opens up to her about her own motivation for wanting to win a spot in the academy (with implications saying Kristen has a tense relationship with her father) and comforts Emily after a particularly harrowing incident. Alternatively, Clayton is the blandest member of the contest group. He has no personality beyond being generically nice and his romantic subplot with Emily is as lifeless as expired chardonnay.

Acting as Kristen's compellingly hateable opposite is ultra snob Chad, who never lets up on his disdain for Emily and even laughs at her after the aforementioned incident. SPOILER ALERT Even when he's admitting to his acts of sabotage and trying to warn Emily that she and Kristen are in danger, he still can't drop the haughty attitude long enough to get Emily to see he's being serious. The villains are all interesting, with each antagonist being at their own level of callous insanity. At first glance, fellow competitor Lucia seems destined to be Emily's supportive gal pal. But she soon shows she has a ruthless streak to her, which proves to be a sly bit of foreshadowing of her reveal as Gillian's cohort. Gillian herself is an entertainingly straightforward villainess, prepared to kill (again) to protect the life she and Victor have built. And as for Victor, while he may admire Emily's talents and defend her whenever Gillian tries to convince him to cut her from the contest, the climax shows he's more than ready to kill her if it means keeping his secrets buried. Spoilers Over

Acting:

Lynn Kim Do makes for an emotive leading lady, which proves to be a great asset considering she plays a heroine who gets pushed to her emotional limits. She'll have you rooting for Emily as she becomes determined to win the contest and save the family restaurant, and once the competition and life-threatening pranks start getting to her, she'll have you feeling her character's terror quite palpably. Michael Swan brings a suave charisma to academy head Victor while Monique Parent makes Gillian appropriately icy. SPOILER ALERT Even when Victor's confessing his misdeeds, Swan continues giving Victor an affable air--befitting a villain so desperate to keep his ugly past swept under the rug. Parent is clearly enjoying herself once Gillian lets her inner psychopath out while Navji Dixon keeps it lowkey as Gillian's treacherous conspirator Lucia. Before her villainous reveal, Dixon sells Lucia's façade as an average working-class woman and kindred spirit to Emily, dropping a few effectively subtle hints to her true nature along the way. Spoilers Over

As for the remaining supporting players, Micavrie Amaia and Amefika El-Amin make the best impressions as snobby bullies Kristen and Chad. While El-Amin goes all in on making Chad thoroughly unpleasant, Micavrie keeps her performance dialed back, which paves the way for Kristen turning out not to be so bad after all. Troy Lennon Appel does a decent enough job making Clayton the likable white sheep of Emily's competition. But he can't do anything to change how boring his character is and the rushed nature of Clayton and Emily's romance makes it so he and Lynn Kim Do don't have the chance to develop any meaningful chemistry.

Overall:

It's ironic that Revenge Best Served Chilled and Dirty Little Deeds are both Lifetime movies revolving around wine, as they share a lot of strengths and weaknesses in common. They both set a spooky atmosphere that evokes a retro feeling. They both have one character whose flat personality is at odds with those of the characters around them. They both have occasionally overbearing background music, with Revenge Best Served Chilled having an additional visual blunder (one part of the climax is very poorly filmed/executed). They both have overall strong casting, a decently paced story, and a mystery that--while partially predictable--gets livened up by an unexpected third-act plot twist. Stir it all together, and you've got another Dylan Vox-directed Lifetime thriller that would pair nicely with a glass of merlot--or even a glass of boxed wine if the fancy stuff is beyond your price range.

Score: 7 out of 10 down pillows.