Lifetime Review: 'Secrets in the Snow'

Christina (Aubrey Reynolds) is in for a big weekend. Having been dating Ted Ryant (Travis Caldwell) for three months, they're on their way to taking their relationship to a new level: meeting the parents. Returning to his small-town for his mother's birthday weekend, Ted introduces Christina to his family and is given a warm welcome. But it doesn't take long before Christina begins to pick up on the tension brewing in the Ryant clan. Everyone's still reeling from the tragic death of Ted's brother Paul--with things only getting more awkward when Paul's fiancée Angie (Liz Fenning) arrives.

Due to a freak power outage at her house, Angie is invited to stay with the Ryants for the time being--much to the consternation of Ted's sister Nicole (Dana Simone), who blames Angie for Paul's death. But as Christina learns more about the drama and secrets in her boyfriend's family, she begins to wonder if Paul's death was really an accident. Will uncovering the truth spell a brutal end to Christina's weekend?

After she was introduced to my blog through a supporting role in the underwhelming and frustrating Her Deadly Sugar Daddy, I'm pleased to report that Aubrey Reynolds' newest Lifetime movie (her first one in the lead role) is quite a bit better. Mystery has always been a tricky genre for Lifetime, and spoiler-ridden promos released by LMN have the potential to clue viewers in to the solution before they even start the movie. But once you begin watching Secrets in the Snow, you'll notice it's more of a tense family drama than it is a suspenseful murder mystery. It may not be everyone's speed or do enough to cover for the predictable mystery. But with its delicious drama and capable cast, Secrets in the Snow makes for a good Lifetime movie set against the beautiful snow-covered countryside.

Befitting its December premiere date, Secrets in the Snow boasts a lovely snowy aesthetic. While much of the action takes place indoors, the winter scenery we get when things go outside (most notably towards the end) is beautiful and complements the feeling of isolation the Ryants' quiet hometown gives off. The closed circle nature of the mystery also complements how much of a slow-burner Secrets in the Snow is. Unlike other Lifetime murder mysteries, Christina doesn't start investigating Paul's death until the last 20 minutes of the movie. Until then, she's preoccupied with unraveling the unspoken strain his death left on his surviving relatives. While this change of plot structure is a surprising one, Secrets in the Snow makes it work. The Ryant family's animosities are revealed at a consistent pace, leading to an explosive dinner where it all comes to a head. And while promos may spoil who the culprit is, there's a decent pool of suspects to make you wonder if there's more afoot than meets the eye.

(SPOILER ALERT In the end, though, the mystery resolution was precisely what I thought it would be from the start. But despite the predictable nature of the overall mystery, Travis Caldwell gives an effectively chilling--pun intended--performance once Ted's true colors begin coming out. There was also a bit of a surprise thrown into the mix when Ted revealed he'd only begun dating Christina as part of a long-term plan to win Angie back. As for the rest of the climax, it makes for a nice cat-and-mouse sequence that ends on an unexpected-but-appropriate ambiguous note. We're left to wonder how Ted's death and reveal as his brother's murderer will impact Christina, Angie, and his already fractured family. The only hiccup comes in the form of Ted and Christina's final exchange. While it's meant to be a clever bookends moment, it instead comes across as awkward and as bizarrely delivered as Christina's other self-commentating moments. Spoilers Over)

The cast proves essential to keeping the deliberately boiled drama warm, with the players behind the Ryant family doing well at maintaining that sense of a quietly dysfunctional family. Nightmare Wedding's AnnMarie Giaquinto brings a sympathetic sincerity to Katherine's maternal grief and efforts to keep her crumbling family together, while Peter Carey is more subtly pitiable as a father whose coping mechanism is ignoring and bottling up his emotions. Dana Simone and Liz Fenning, however, stand out as the brightest stars of the supporting cast roster.

Nicole Ryant is quick to make her passive-aggressive nature clear, with Simone throwing herself into her character's biting attitude. At the same time, the script makes Nicole (in a way) the most likable of the Ryants. With everyone else being so unwilling to admit their unresolved issues, Nicole's brutal honesty is refreshing. Fenning, meanwhile, gives an emotional performance as ex-fiancée Angie. She effortlessly sells her character's guilt and shame over her past actions, with Fenning and Simone both firing on all cylinders during the climactic dinner scene. SPOILER ALERT Angie becomes even more sympathetic in hindsight once the truth about Paul's death comes out. Not only has the poor woman been blamed for a "suicide" she didn't cause, but she'll likely end up having to deal with a whole new sort of guilt once she finds out Ted killed Paul to have her to himself. Spoilers Over

Of the supporting cast, Russell Bradley Fenton gets the least opportunity to stand out as Nicole's similarly snippy husband Jacob, though he does do the best he can to match wits with Simone in the time he has. As for the leading lady, Aubrey Reynolds makes for a likable main heroine. Reynolds makes Christina believable as a compassionate social worker with a natural desire to help people because of her rough past--though her best moment comes when Christina takes off the kiddie gloves and calls the Ryants out for letting their family get so estranged. But when it comes to her chemistry with Travis Caldwell, it's definitely lacking. Not that the pair is helped by the movie not giving them much time to establish Christina and Ted's relationship, either before or during their chaotic weekend.

For her first Lifetime movie post-Her Deadly Sugar Daddy, Aubrey Reynolds luckily landed in a film with much better writing/pacing and a much more likable heroine. The mystery is nothing special, especially for those who will have had it spoiled for them by LMN promos or the MarVista Entertainment trailer in advance. But with a worthwhile cast and consistently delivered drama, Secrets in the Snow makes for a solid Lifetime movie to snuggle up with on a cold night. Whereas Her Deadly Sugar Daddy is best left out in the cold, Secrets in the Snow is a movie that earns a spot by the fireplace.

Score: 7 out of 10 World War II models.