Mommy’s Little Star (2022 Lifetime)
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Cast: Maja Vujicic, Rebecca Amzallag, Roderick McNeil, David Lafontaine
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Follows 12-year-old Olivia, who becomes a social media star in order to impress her mother, but her mom’s new boyfriend intends more than just help manage her career, and throws her into a world of betrayal, jealousy, and even murder.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts at an inpatient mental facility. Olivia and her father visit her mother, Lauren, for her birthday. Lauren has checked out, and it isn’t the first time she has abandoned her daughter.
Four months later, Olivia’s father, Brad, continues to care for the sullen pre-teen with the help of a nanny named Hope. Hope helps Olivia get ready for day camp, and the two don’t get along because she is NOT Olivia’s mother.
Meanwhile, Lauren searches for jobs online but is having trouble landing something because of gaps in her employment history. Being in recovery is challenging. Recovery from what? I’m not sure! (Oh wait, Lauren got drunk and almost burned the house down while cooking once… and almost killed her daughter… NBD!)
Olivia’s friend shows her a cool new social media app called “Sparxy,” (AKA Lifetime’s version of TikTok.) Olivia is intrigued not because of the viral dances but the fact that one influencer, Chloe Reynolds, dancers with her MOTHER. Could this be a way to get her mother’s attention finally? Olivia downloads the app immediately.
Olivia practices her dance moves with her camp friend, Cindy. Hope disapproves at first but then is roped into recording a video. Olivia’s caption on the post? “My Nanny is better than yours.” It becomes viral instantly. Olivia dreams big:
“They Like me!. I’m not good at school, sports, or even theater stuff. I’m not good at any of that stuff. What if I could be good at this. What if I could become… FAMOUS!” (Olivia is me as a child, 100%)
Why Lauren is at a bar, I have no idea, but she meets a handsome man named, Aiden, who invites her to have dinner with him spontaneously. Their date is interrupted by a text from Olivia. Aiden thinks she is a cute kid and is impressed that Olivia already has 10,000 likes. Lauren gives Adien her number and makes out with him.
Aiden goes home to research “Kidfluencers” and learns about a Starts Rising contest where the winner receives $500,000. Whoever gets the most views by the end of the month wins. His new girlfriend’s daughter is a potential cash cow, and Aiden is in need of cash. He owes a million dollars to some wine smuggling criminals. (Lifetime always finds a way to work in wine!)
Olivia already knows about the contest and plans on winning. Olivia tells her friend Cindy that she NEEDS to win because she isn’t good at anything else. (Which is sad, get some more self-worth, Olivia!) Nanny Hope is concerned that Olivia spends all her time on her phone instead of focusing on summer reading.
Lauren and Aiden have brunch, and he lays the groundwork for taking Olivia on as a potential client. He managed his niece’s career until she left him for a more prominent agency. Lauren is interested but doesn’t want to be the next Kris Jenner… she is focused on STAYING SOBER!
Brad arranges to have a family dinner where Olivia pushes her mom to make a Sparxy video with her. Then a star-struck kid interrupts the conversation to take a selfie with Olivia. Brad and Lauren are impressed. Lauren mentions Aiden being a manager and brings Olivia to meet him the following day.
The kid turns out to be a plant, and Aiden paid her $50 to pretend to be a fan. He is manipulating the whole situation to get that money. He even tracks down one of the staff members from the contest and slashes her tires to be her knight in shining armor. Aiden tries to charm the woman, but she is a coded lesbian. She gives him company secrets in exchange for half the prize money.
Brad has to go out of town for work. (Like all Lifetime Dads.) Leaving Olivia in the care of Hope. He becomes upset when he finds out about Lauren taking Olivia to meet Aiden. Brad should be upset because Aiden is a shady man (and not just because he tucks his polo shirts into his jeans!)
Olivia mentions to Aiden that her camp counselor won’t let her film video, so he breaks her knee caps with a baseball bat.
Next, Nanny Hope is run over by a car when trying to stop Olivia from going to Aiden’s house unaccompanied. Olivia tells her mother what happened and asks to live with Lauren for the week since Nanny Hope is recovering in the hospital.
Instead of spending mother/daughter time making Sparxy videos, the two play Go Fish and spend quality time. Aiden interrupts by visiting with flowers. He is quick to give Olivia tips on how to win the contest.
CUE a social media montage that is WILD. Olivia climbs the charts to the number two spot. Olivia is flying high, but Cindy calls to take her ex-BFF down a few pegs by telling her that Aiden is a bad guy. Cindy then reaches out to his niece, Fiona Snow, to see the REAL story about him. Lauren overhears the conversation and looks into Aiden’s past online. (something she should have done from the get-go)
Due to a scandal with one of the contest officials sleeping with a contestant’s mother, Olivia beats Chloe Reynolds for the number one spot.
Aiden follows Lauren around, worried that she is onto him because she starts giving him the cold shoulder. However, Lauren breaks into Aiden’s house and finds a gun case; the gun is missing. She realizes that he doesn’t live there and has a history of using fake IDs and names.
Lauren’s snooping is interrupted by Aiden with his gun. He does a whole villain monologue thing. Lauren tells him that he is sick and that she is late for picking up Oliva.
Olivia, at first, thinks her mom is ditching her because she doesn’t love her. Then she realizes that Aiden IS a bad guy, and calls her dad for help. Brad calls the police and heads to the house to save his ex-wife.
Lauren doesn’t need saving; she just knees Aiden in the balls and gets away. The whole thing is very anticlimactic. The police arrive and arrest Aiden while the family hug in the front yard.
One month later, Olivia is up for a brand deal. Her parents ask her what she thinks; the kid declines the offer and instead chooses normalcy. Olivia doesn’t even look at social media anymore! (Wow, she was my idol, and she really let me down.)
Side Note
Minority Report: Nurse, Hope. Felicity, Cindy, Theo,
I Liked that Olivia wasn’t just a fame hungry monster. Her reasoning behind wanting to become an influencer were kind of sweet and sad.
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*** I’ve updated the rating system moving forward. Knives represent # of kills. Wine is over enjoyment (NOT a value judgment) on a 1-5 scale.
I will use the following tags for those who want to know whether to watch or skip: Pour it Up (Would Recommend) or Put A Cork In It (Would Not Recommend).
Overall rating
Number of Kills:
None (0 Knives)
Enjoyment Level: 🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine.)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media @LifetimeUncorked
*Photo Credit: © 2022 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
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