Lifetime Review: 'The Wrong Neighbor'

For aspiring restaurateur Tim Sullivan (Steve Richard Harris), his upcoming restaurant grand opening is a bittersweet accomplishment. His pursuit of his culinary ambitions have put a strain on his relationship to his wife Heather (Andrea Bogart), leading the pair to take a trial separation while attending marriage counselling. Caught in the middle is Tim and Heather's 16-year-old daughter Lisa (Cristine Prosperi), who struggles with her family suddenly falling apart around her and begins to isolate herself from everyone outside of her father.

It's after Tim moves into his own apartment that he and Lisa find themselves befriending his new neighbor Jamie (Ashlynn Yennie), who proves to be a supportive friend to both father and daughter when they need one. But soon, both Tim and Lisa notice Jamie's behavior shift from friendly to obsessive, leading them both to cut her out of their lives while Tim and Heather try to patch up their marriage. But Jamie is not the kind of woman who takes rejection well—and is willing to stoop to any means necessary to have the perfect family she's always desired.

To start off, despite two of the film's lead actors (Ashlynn Yennie and Cristine Prosperi) being recent inductees to his "Wrong" saga, I was surprised to revisit The Wrong Neighbor and find it was not the work of David DeCoteau. Regardless of that misunderstanding, The Wrong Neighbor rises to just about the same levels as DeCoteau's series, thanks to a combination of solid writing and a talented cast that brings both the drama and heart of this story to life.

To start off, we have Ashlynn Yennie in her first villainous Lifetime role, and the film allows the viewer to see why she would go on to appear on Lifetime again. Like the characters she would later portray, Jamie is hardly a subtle antagonist, as we are introduced to her banging on an elderly couple's door and angrily screaming for them to let her inside. As the film progresses, the dimensions that would later also appear in Yennie's future antagonists emerge, though Jamie proves to be a far more volatile and delusional character than the ones Yennie would be seen as later on. Unlike Jordyn Robinson or Phoebe Sutton, however, Jamie is shown to have an emotional side hidden behind her screaming fits and insane stares, with Yennie utilizing to good effect the scenes that allow her to show Jamie's tragic side.

Thankfully, unlike the previously reviewed Hidden Intentions, there is more than just one cast member/character who is able to rise up to Yennie's level. This is linked to how, much like David DeCoteau's The Wrong Crush, the troubled backstory of The Wrong Neighbor's protagonists is put under greater focus and is used to develop them in a richer way. This can definitely be felt most strongly in Tim and Lisa, with Steve Richard Harris and Cristine Prosperi developing exceptional chemistry in their father-daughter dynamic. Harris brings an authentic warmth to Tim as he develops him into more than just a "Cool Dad" trope, and brings a sense of poignancy to Tim when it comes to his marital troubles. Even though Lisa and the audience knows Tim was not in the wrong for wanting to pursue his dream, he still grapples with guilt and a belief that his actions are selfish. It all combines to make Tim a well-rounded protagonist, whose happiness you root to see come to fruition.

Cristine Prosperi follows Harris' example in her portrayal of Lisa, who is likable and sympathetic as the troubled teen. The film goes to lengths to show how her parents' marital collapse has affected her and why she has come to isolate her and side with Tim over her mother, with Prosperi selling Lisa's emotional moments where her vulnerability is shown and bringing heart to scenes where she shows the depths of her love and support for her father. With their shared vulnerabilities, the viewer is able to see just why Tim and Lisa are so quickly taken by Jamie's supportive demeanor, and in a refreshing turn, both don't take too long in discovering Jamie's true nature and making attempts to cut her from their lives.

Now, however, we must talk about The Wrong Neighbor's most divisive character: Heather Sullivan. To put it bluntly, it doesn't take too much time spent on Heather to make the viewer understand why Lisa is completely on her father's side. Through her first scene with Lisa and her first couple's therapy scene with Tim, Heather is shown to be thoroughly self-centered and unwilling to admit to any wrongdoing, instead choosing to lay all the blame on Tim for the crime of not bowing to her whim—to say nothing of her implied jealousy of how close Tim is to their daughter. Heather's unlikable behavior continues once she learns about Jamie's presence in Tim's life, displaying disproportionate jealousy and anger given the fact that (as far as she knows) Jamie is merely a friend of Tim's.

But as much flashbacks as she gave me to Lynda Johnson of Driven to Dance infamy, The Wrong Neighbor definitely handles Heather's character arc better than Linda's (if I had that movie to re-rate, I'd give it a 6 due to realizing in hindsight how haphazard and audience-alienating Linda's character arc is portrayed). As the film progresses, the audience is allowed to see Heather become aware of how unfair her harsh treatment of Tim is, culminating in a cathartic moment when Heather—of her own volition—admits that she was selfish in believing her ambitions mattered more than Tim's. Andrea Bogart sells the character arc well, and she and Harris play well enough off of each to where you believe that Heather and Tim still love each other, in spite of their differences.

(Less lucky in regards to divisive characters, however, are Lisa's best friend Penny and Lisa's boyfriend Steven, played respectively by Ayani Tamar and James Gaisford. Both repeatedly hound Lisa for isolating herself from them during her parents' divorce, with neither respecting Lisa's justified desire to have time to herself during this difficult period. Penny is particularly egregious for essentially telling Lisa to "just get over" her parents' divorce and getting upset at her for her budding friendship with Jamie. Steven is somewhat more understandable, though he has his own low point when SPOILER ALERT his final moments before being killed by Jamie are dedicated to him whining to a friend about Lisa "blowing him off" when she actually had to cut their talk short for swim practice Spoilers Over.)

The side cast contains a few notable gems, including Dominic Leeder as Tim's charismatic and supporting business partner Nate and Julia Farino as level-headed therapist Dr. Fischer. The highlight of the side characters, however, would definitely be Michael Madsen as Lisa's stern but kind-hearted swim coach Coach Jaworski. Madsen makes the most of every scene he's in, bringing charisma and heart to his character in a way that allows you to see the good nature hiding behind his gruff appearance and attitude. Jaworski also brings some comedy to the proceedings, with my favorite scene of his being him playfully instructing Tim and Heather in a "coach tone" to work things out for Lisa's sake.

Overall, while The Wrong Neighbor fumbles somewhat in the same area of secondary characters as Hidden Intentions, it certainly comes out of the area less scathed than its successor. Add to that another stellar performance from Ashlynn Yennie and a strong cast that brings the emotions of the film's story the forefront, and you have a Lifetime thriller that will delivers both drama and heart. It may not be an official part of the "DeCoteau-verse," but The Wrong Neighbor can certainly stand tall beside the films in his series.

Score: 8 out of 10 comically oversized murder weapons.