Your Family or Your Life (2019 Lifetime)
Stars: Jennie Garth
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Dr. Kathy Meyer’s (Jennie Garth) perfect world is turned upside down after husband David (Alexander Carroll), a successful civil attorney, is found dead in their home of an apparent suicide. It’s an open and shut case for the police, but for Kathy, it’s an impossibility and David’s strangely worded suicide note points toward foul play. With the help of her daughter April (Luca Bella) and best friend Michelle (Alexandra LeMosle), Kathy decides to investigate and soon discovers that her husband had uncovered damaging information exposing a billionaire banker. Now Kathy must not only catch her husband’s killer but must make sure she and her daughter aren’t the next victims.
Thoughts
Jennie Garth is sleeping when she hears a handsome intruder snooping around. She grabs a bat and smashes that man in the face.
Flash to 6 days earlier to a happily married Jennie Garth with a husband and a daughter named Apple. (It is a childhood nickname.) Apple posts on social media a lot and has a boyfriend with a beanie and a mysterious past, probably. Jennie Garth is a doctor and is very busy. Her husband, David, is having some problems at work. He is close to cracking the Gallagher case. The case involves an offshore account, a redhead named Erica, and embezzling money. David gets shot by a man in his home with his gun. (It is made to look like a suicide.)
Jennie Garth calls her daughter and David’s co-worker John to break the news to them. John already had an idea that this could happen, because he has had heated arguments with Erica in flashbacks. Jennie Garth does the best dramatic acting that she is capable of, lots of crying . Then she inexplicably speaks in sign language with her best friend. (It will come back, I’m sure.)
Something is off with the suicide note. It mentions The Velveteen Rabbit; inside the book, Jennie Garth finds a key. Jennie Garth, her BFF, and daughter get a hold of David’s planner and find an appointment with Erica. They go to see her at her office and run into Beanie boy who is related to Erica.
Erica is aware that they are onto her and visits her partner Ed. (The man who killed David.) She yells at him for being an idiot and not getting a recorder that David planted for his family to find. How did she know all of these details? Beanie Boy has been getting information from Apple and relaying it to Erica. She forces him to drug Apple, so she passes out, giving him time to look for the recorder in her house. This is the point where the movie started.
Jenni Garth interrogates Beanie boy while he is writhing on the floor after being hit in the face with a baseball bat. He admits to drugging Apple and tells her about Ed killing David. Jenni Garth fills the police in. Since the police are moving so slowly, Jenni Garth gets Uncle Mike to help her. The key from the book is to a gym locker, and the Gallagher case is in a briefcase. Uncle Mike doesn’t last long and gets murdered by Ed.
At the hospital, Apple is by Beanie Boy’s bedside when Erica arrives and tells her the truth. Erica is angry that her nephew is injured and pulls a gun on Apple. Erica is out for revenge. (She is also an awful actress.) She bounds her with zip ties and throws Apple into the trunk.
Jennie Garth is also in trouble. Ed confronts her in a parking garage and demands for her to deliver the briefcase in exchange for Apple. The transfer is going to happen at John’s house. Beanie boy, Ed, John, Erica, and Apple are all there.
The BFF goes to the back yard and gets into a struggle with Erica. In the front yard, Jennie Garth makes the exchange with Ed. Beanie Boy and Ed argue about letting Apple go. The BFF uses sign language and tells Jennie Garth to stall; the police are on their way. Erica comes to and shoots Ed before he can shoot everyone. The police arrive and take the briefcase. The Beanie Boy took a bullet to save them, and he wants to date Apple still.
The girls eat burgers and drink wine and laugh. It is David’s recipe, so it is supposed to be a sentimental moment.
Side Note
Jennie Garth, in a Lifetime movie, should have been more publicized. (Even if it was terrible)
Minority Report: Police detective. Bank teller,
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Overall rating
🔪 (1 Knife)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2019 Lifetime
I think the movie has its moments and Jennie is doing the best she can with this script. Luca Bella gives a steady debut but the rest of the cast is awful. Jennie is standing out from the others. But in the End I had a nice movie night and was entertained well.