Lifetime Review: 'Saving My Daughter'

Fifteen years ago, Joanna Kennedy (Alicia Leigh Willis) experienced a mother's worst nightmare when her 3-year-old daughter Chloe was kidnapped during a shopping trip. Even all these years later, with the now 18-year-old Chloe (Emily Skinner) safe at home and her abductor in prison, Joanna is still haunted by the event. So when she learns that Chloe's kidnapper Brittany Maxwell (Laurie Fortier) is being released, she's naturally alarmed--even more so when she returns home the same night to find Chloe missing.

While the police and even her husband Tyler (Robert Pralgo) initially believe Chloe has simply run away, Joanna's maternal intuition is telling her otherwise. She's certain that something's happened to her daughter and believes that Brittany may be involved. But as Joanna launches her own investigation into Chloe's disappearance, little does she know that the culprit may not be who she thinks it is--and that the truth may lie shockingly close to home.

Right out of the gates, Saving My Daughter hits you with aesthetic messiness. Joanna's opening-scene nightmare of Chloe's original kidnapping has all the appropriate frantic energy and camerawork. But the light flashes and disorienting sound effects drag it into visual overload territory. This serves as halfway foreshadowing of the film's more consistent technical issue: the background music. Several times throughout Saving My Daughter, scenes are underscored by intense "action-y" music. And more times than not, the music either overpowers the dialogue or clashes with the tone of the scene its playing over--sometimes even doing both. But beyond the film's technical pitfalls, there's a surprisingly intense and poignant story about the events leading up to a teenage girl's abduction--one which is well-carried by Saving My Daughter's three main actresses.

Let's start with the story itself, though, given how Lifetime's promos and even their social media coverage of Saving My Daughter give away the new kidnapper's identity. Thankfully, the film itself doesn't keep the guilty party a secret for long; it's pretty much made crystal clear who it is by the first commercial break. While it avoids becoming a repeat of Revenge for Daddy, the film still wears its story a little thin. So much of the movie is spent watching Joanna chase empty leads as she searches for her daughter, and as it stretches on, it starts to get tiresome. It's thankfully not as bad as Revenge for Daddy, but you might feel yourself growing restless between the midway point and the big "reveal". But once the in-universe culprit reveal happens, the tension is amped up quite a bit and it's after this point that we get the best performances from the trio of actresses I mentioned before.

Beginning with our main protagonist, Alicia Leigh Willis does well at depicting Joanna's Mama Bear desperation. She starts the movie out already on edge because of the upcoming anniversary of Chloe's kidnapping and Brittany's release from prison. So once her daughter disappears again, Joanna is naturally distraught and scrambling to find out what happened to Chloe. Willis captures all the emotions of a mother in her situation, and while Joanna's reckless investigating sometimes goes too far, Willis allows you to understand where she's coming from even in her less-than-likable moments. If nothing else, Joanna's mild hysterics are much more understandable than her husband's insanely nonchalant demeanor regarding the situation. Robert Pralgo's performance is fine and Tyler gets one moment of real worry where you get the sense he's desperately trying to convince himself his daughter hasn't been kidnapped again. But elsewhere, Tyler never seems nearly as concerned as he should be.

WARNING: SPOILERS (sort of) BELOW

Beating out Willis in emotional prowess, however, is Ashley Jones as neighbor Mandy. It helps that between Joanna and Mandy, Mandy is the character with the most baggage and complexities. It's not long after we meet Mandy that we learn about her abusive drunk of a husband Craig (a venomously accurate portrayal done by Drew Waters). With the same subtlety she employed in last year's short film We Die Alone, Jones shows how Mandy has been deeply affected by Craig's abuse--with that psychological damage ultimately being what drives her into a downward spiral. After killing Craig in self-defense, Mandy falls further down the rabbit hole by forcing Chloe to help her cover her tracks and subsequently holding her hostage.

Mandy's willingness to hold Chloe prisoner, claim she's an accessory to murder, and even threaten to kill her is bound to make many lose sympathy for her. But in the grand scheme of things, the movie never loses sight of the tragedy behind Mandy's turn to the dark side. Before Craig got his hooks into Mandy, she was a good friend to Joanna and a loving mother/mother figure to her son Kyle and Chloe. And even with everyone in her life telling her that Craig is awful to her and that she should leave him, Mandy still can't bring herself to walk away. Like many real-life abuse victims, Mandy took Craig back in the hopes that he would change--and when she's forced to kill him, her already fractured mind cracks as she becomes convinced the police won't believe her. It doesn't excuse her actions against Chloe, but Jones consistently lets the poignancy of Mandy's villainy shine through.

Lastly, there's Emily Skinner as kidnapped daughter Chloe. The last movie featuring Emily Skinner that I covered was the disastrous Next Level, which gave Skinner little to work with in a bland and badly written "Wannabe Regina George" role. Here, while Chloe Kennedy isn't a groundbreaking character by any stretch of the imagination, she still gives Skinner more room to show her ability. In a departure from Next Level's Cindy Stallings, Chloe Kennedy is a perfectly likable girl, with hardly a trace of brattiness to be found on her.

Chloe's empathetic side is particularly noteworthy, whether she's comforting Joanna after her cold-open nightmare or showing silent concern for Mandy as she sees Craig is back to his old ways. Once Chloe's been kidnapped, however, is when Skinner really shines. Skinner effectively sells Chloe's terror at her situation, as well as her dismay that the person holding her captive is the woman she's considered a second mother her whole life. Together, the lead actresses of Saving My Daughter work together to bring the weight of the film's climax to life. Willis and Jones do so the best as we see Mandy's deteriorating psyche and Joanna's realizations about her best friend fall hard on the pair. The only downside is that the subsequent wrap-up feels rushed and unaligned with the climax's heavier-than-usual-for-Lifetime tone. A tearjerking confrontation between Mandy and any of her victims (Chloe, Joanna, Kyle, or some combination of the three) would've been more satisfying.

Spoilers Over

The supporting cast, though, doesn't replicate their main counterparts' strengths. Some give serviceable-to-stale performances while others are left stranded in roles that don't give them a whole lot to do. Lifetime newbie Sam Ashby is adequately charming as Chloe's best friend/Mandy's son Kyle, fighting through a plethora of stiff moments to give a solid emotional delivery in time for the climax. Tonia Jackson is memorably feisty as bit player Sabrina while Amar Stewart gives a subpar performance as bland "Jerk Jock With a Heart of Gold" Javier. Even Lifetime regular Laurie Fortier can hardly do anything as Chloe's released former kidnapper Brittany Maxwell. SPOILER ALERT (again, sort of) Similar to Javier, Brittany's only real purpose in the movie is to be a red herring for Joanna to chase after while the true culprit is ironically right under her nose. Fortier herself even seems to realize she's been saddled with a plot-device character, given how indifferent her performance feels--even during Brittany's big scene of sitting down with Joanna to apologize for all the pain she caused her. It doesn't help that this is also one of those scenes that end up getting hijacked by the overwrought background music. Spoilers Over

Action-wise, Saving My Daughter's stumbling pace keeps it from joining the ranks of Lifetime's more quick-footed kidnapping thrillers. Some technical issues and a hurried finale also weigh the movie down. But thanks to its well-faceted villain and the combined efforts of its main female stars, Saving My Daughter gets an edge above its contemporaries with its emotional resonance. It might not keep you on the edge of your seat like My Daughter's Ransom or Who Stole My Daughter?, but the heartbreaking web of treachery at the center of Saving My Daughter is sure to move you in some way.

Score: 7 out of 10 "Querioo" searches.