Jailbreak Lovers (2022 Lifetime)
📺. Stream/Watch the Movie (Ad): Watch Now
Cast: Catherine Bell, Tom Stevens, Prince Justin Atkinson
➡️ Check out our Youtube Channel: Lifetime Uncorked: Lifetime Movie Reviews
🎧 Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast: https://anchor.fm/lifetime-uncorked
🍷 Support the show with a $5 tip: https://ko-fi.com/patrickserrano
The Hillsdale Adoption Scam Lifetime Movie, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and KitchenAid Mixers? – Lifetime Uncorked
- The Hillsdale Adoption Scam Lifetime Movie, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and KitchenAid Mixers?
- Spinning Out of Control Lifetime Movie, Peloton, and Ria Ridley??!
- Reba McEntire's The Hammer Lifetime Movie, Speeding Tickets, and Matty Finochio?
- A New Orleans Noel Lifetime Movie, Praline Secret ingredient, and Brad James?
- Lifetime Christmas Movie Santa Bootcamp, Rita Moreno, Melissa Joan Hart and Lena Dunham?
Synopsis (via Lifetime)
When Toby loses her job and starts a nonprofit to rehabilitate abused rescue dogs at the local prison, she hatches a plan to break her lover out of prison by smuggling him out in one of the dog crates, sparking a federal manhunt.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts with Catherine Bell, as Toby here, in a high-speed car chase with a man named John. They are trying to outrun the police. The chase pauses, and voiceover plays; Toby will tell us the story of how she got here.
Cut to Toby and John talking directly to the camera, saying they were in love.
Next, we see Toby in a stale, empty-nest marriage whose father is dying of cancer. Toby struggles to find joy in her life and focuses on doing SOMETHING with her life. So, she starts taking in stray dogs and training them as rescue dogs for a god prison program. (Her pitch to the warden included a pun “Paw-sitive impact.”) Clearly, Toby isn’t qualified to run a program like this with just her friend, Deb.
In the prison yard, Toby is approached by John, aka Hooligan. He gets the slow-mo walking treatment, which is entirely unwarranted. (I guess it is from the POV of Toby, who is into him immediately.) John turns out to be one of the best dog trainers.
The prisoners get attached to the dogs, and the program continues to grow. John casually flirts with Toby. He even comes to her rescue when an inmate gets angry and almost hits Toby. The prison doesn’t have enough money to supply Toby with a guard, so John becomes her unofficial protector.
Toby’s program is going so well that she is given free unsupervised reign of the hospital. She spends time in John’s cell and looks at the pictures on his wall. He tells her his story. John is in prison for murder and was charged with life in prison when he was 17. Toby tells him that people make mistakes.
Toby opens up to John too. She shares that she is unhappy in her marriage. He tells her to watch porn and think of him. (Which Toby does) She even starts wearing a WJD bracelet, but instead of Jesus, she thinks, what would John do…to her body! They start making out in the kitchen and pushing the boundaries.
John asks Toby to start smuggling stuff in for him. Like a tape player of her talking so he can fall asleep listening to her voice. She also brings in a cellphone, so they can start texting. The jailbreak lovers start planning a way to be together on the outside.
The plan was to run away for a couple of months together. Toby cleans out her and her husband’s retirement savings and rents a storage locker. John pressures her to sneak him out as soon as possible. She puts John in a dog crate and just drives him out. They drop off the van at the storage unit and take a bag full of cash and guns to go on the run.
The prison goes on lockdown once they realize that John is missing. They didn’t even suspect that Toby was capable of sneaking him out. It becomes a huge news story as the police search for them. Detective Blake interviews Toby’s husband, who is clueless about his wife’s affair.
John snaps at Toby on the road, and she sees a different side of him. The criminal side. He makes it up to her by playing the ukulele and then doing her in a motel room. (So romantic?) They make it to a cabin in the woods and play house. Toby worries about getting caught, but John tells her not to worry because he will say he kidnapped her and forced her to go on the run with him.
John signs a song he wrote for Toby in falsetto while shirtless. She is swept off her feet. They go out into the world. They spend time shopping for a new guitar, a bird at the pet store, and fighting over what to name it. John is subject to mood swings, and Toby puts up with them because she says it makes her feel alive.
Toby is not a criminal mastermind and leaves a paper trail. The police laugh at her ineptitude and track them down fairly easily. As they leave a book store, police surround them, leading to the high sped car chase where the movie started. The police surround them and apprehend Toby and John. As the lovers are being separated, they shout that they love one another.
Toby gets divorced, and her son cuts off communication. She has no idea how much trouble she is in and decides not to play the victim card. Toby says she wouldn’t do it all again and is now remarried.
Side Note
Minority Report: Dr. Sanchez, Deb, Damien, Matto, Darnel, Deputy Blake, inmates,
This movie features a dependable Lifetime movie star and interesting true story to create a new Lifetime Movie classic.
Read about the REAL TRUE STORY HERE and see where they are now. (Spoiler alert, jail.)
Picture of the real Toby Young and John Manard. (Lifetime REALLY missed an opportunity to put Catherine Bell in a bad wig!)
📺. Stream/Watch the Movie (Ad): Watch Now
➡️ Check out my Youtube Channel: Lifetime Uncorked: Lifetime Movie Reviews
🎧 Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast: https://anchor.fm/lifetime-uncorked
🍷 Support the show with a $5 tip: https://ko-fi.com/patrickserrano
📚 Read the book this movie is based on: N/A
Inquiries | podcast@lifetimeuncorked.com
🍾 Your Support is appreciated. Donate today to keep the website going! Thank you.
*** 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:
(0 Knives)
Enjoyment Level: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 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®
Live tweet along with @LifetimeUncork using the hashtag #JailbreakLovers
Tweet
