Lifetime Review: 'You Can Never Go Home Again'

In the months since losing her mother to cancer, Izzy Fletcher (Maria Breese) hasn't felt right. On top of her grief, she's let her painting career fall to the back burner and she's felt a distance forming between herself and her husband Jack (Omar Gooding). But having moved to Jack's hometown for a fresh start, Izzy hopes it'll be the change she needs to heal and bridge that gap. As Izzy adjusts to her new home and tries to move past her pain, Jack throws himself into his new job in app design while bonding with an unlikely friend. That friend is Emma Sanders (Jackie Moore), a teacher at his old elementary school where his and Izzy's daughter Taylor (Liliana Ali) is now a student.

But between his estrangement from Izzy and Emma's intense advances, Jack gives in and shares a passionate kiss with Emma. It's a mistake he instantly regrets, but unfortunately for Jack and his family, Emma isn't about to accept that Jack wants to stay with his wife. This teacher's obsession runs deep...and she won't stop until she has the life she's always wanted.

Reading that synopsis, you'd think You Can Never Go Home Again is your average Lifetime movie. It's even got the standard collection of central characters: the loving but troubled heroine, her workaholic husband and adorable kid, and the psychotic mistress looking to steal her husband by any means necessary. It's in the film's atmosphere that things take an unexpected turn. You get your first taste of how different You Can Never Go Home Again is going to be through its opening scene. Instead of showing Emma doing away with a former victim or opening on the Fletcher family arriving in their new home like other Lifetime movies, it opens on Izzy sharing a poignant moment with her ailing mother. It's a touching and tearjerking scene well-performed by Maria Breese and Deborah Rennard. You'll be sympathizing with poor Izzy right out of the gates thanks to witnessing her backstory firsthand. The film's events and Breese's empathetic performance as a woman dealing with loss, career uncertainty, and betrayal will be what keeps you on Izzy's side.

Still, if you started the movie without knowing what it was, you'd think you were watching a character drama rather than a made-for-TV thriller. But then Emma Sanders comes sauntering into the picture and you'll be reminded what you're watching--hard. Simply put, whenever Emma's onscreen, any semblance of emotional subtlety goes flying out the window. The movie pulls out all the stops to make sure you know Emma is an evil seductress set on destroying Izzy's family. Her introduction has her making a slow-motion walk towards Jack while foreboding music plays, with the affectation being used on Emma a few other times. What's substantially more unsubtle, however, are Emma's insanely transparent flirting techniques. She's all smiles and quips whenever she's around Jack. She has no understanding of personal space. She heaps increasingly egregious compliments onto Jack, including one where she unironically refers to him as an "alpha male" (yuck). Everything about Emma's behavior is at complete odds with the rest of the movie, which often takes a more serious tone as it explores Izzy and Jack's feelings of dissatisfaction and everything else that led to their marriage coming undone.

Surprisingly, though, this doesn't completely tank the film. For all of its emotional flip-flopping, the story is engaging and well-paced enough to keep your interest. As over-the-top as her character is and as ridiculous as her dialogue gets at times, Jackie Moore completely commits to playing Emma Sanders and is clearly having fun with the role. The script even rewards you for your patience in the third act. Not only is the climax as off-the-wall as Emma herself, but there's a nice twist regarding Emma's fixation on Jack that I enjoyed seeing unfold. The overall strong casting is what makes up for You Can Never Go Home Again's inconsistent mood. Starring opposite Breese and Moore, Omar Gooding gives a solid performance as a less-than-stellar character. While Gooding does a good job conveying Jack's remorse, it's hard to feel bad for the guy considering how obvious Emma's intentions were. If he was truly interested in being faithful to his wife, you'd think he would've put his foot down long before Emma officially made her move.

(Point in Jack's favor, though: after that encounter, he's seemingly the only person to recognize how unhinged Emma is. Even when she's acting like a total loon during a parent-teacher event and momentarily reveals her true colors to Izzy, no one besides Jack appears bothered by it and the incident between Emma and Izzy is never brought up afterward.)

The supporting cast members follow in the main trio's footsteps, though the strongest of the bunch is Princess Elmore as Jack's mother. Elmore makes Olivia a lovable angel when she's comforting/giving advice to Izzy and a sharp-tongued Mama-in-Law Bear when she's scolding her son for his infidelity. Al Sapienza is just as appealing as Olivia's retired cop husband Chuck, getting the chance to shine when Izzy turns to her supportive father-in-law for help. Other kind allies in Izzy's corner include her neighbor Natalie and her former student Samantha. Both are thoroughly sweet characters brought to life by Sherri Eakin and Jaida Standberry. Eakin makes the bigger impact, though, thanks to having more screentime and an accent that fits her character like a glove. Jack has a friend of his own in his goofy but business-savvy colleague Kyle, and apart from his stilted delivery during Kyle's awkwardly written reaction to Jack's affair confession, Matt McVay gives a fun performance as Jack's charming best friend.

Ironically, the supporting actor who gets the short end of the stick is also the shortest member of the cast: Liliana Ali. Taylor Fletcher is more of a prop than a character, only becoming involved in the story when her presence is needed to raise the stakes. Then there's the more irritating matter of her voice--or rather the voice of Allie McCarthy, who provides the voice for Taylor via ADR. I won't nock the use of the ADR itself due to not knowing the circumstances behind why it was employed, but I will say that McCarthy's attempt to mimic the voice of a young child is very grating. Thankfully, Taylor doesn't do a lot of talking, so you're not forced to endure the earache for long.

Some viewers may have more of a problem than I do with You Can Never Go Home Again's split personality, which makes the story alternate between poignant family drama and hammy Fatal Attraction-esque thriller. But if you can adapt to the fluctuating tone, you'll find a film that knows how to keep you entertained with its sometimes heartfelt and down-to-earth, sometimes wild and histrionic story. So if you're willing to strap in for a Lifetime movie with as many mood shifts as there are desks in the average elementary school classroom, You Can Never Go Home Again is worth watching over a homebody weekend.

Score: 7 out of 10 alcoholism rumors.