User reviews

What a waste of time and actors. I guess Melissa Gilbert couldn't get hired to do a Lifetime "based on a true story" so she or her agent picked this bomb, exploiting the "kidnap a child" story. Writing fiction about a subject that so many GOOD TV-movies have been made and try to spice it up.

Michael Reilly Burke did a tour de force with "Ted Bundy" but stepped way down with "Childhood Sweetheart?" I'd venture a guess that any movie with a title ending in a question mark is going to be bad. By the end of this mess I didn't think his love affair with the deceptive woman Gilbert played, was romantic, I thought it was bizarre and it left me hoping for "unhappiness ever after" for the pair.

I thought that the Gilbert character was responsible for her "would be father" Ronny Cox's death. If not, I must have missed it... but by then I couldn't care less, I still had no sympathy for the deceptive woman and her loyal "Childhood Sweetheart?" Please Lifetime fans, don't waste your time.

I am always a sucker for a good "Lifetime" channel movie -- especially if it stars Melissa Gilbert or Valerie Bertinelli. This was really awful. It was completely predictable from beginning to end. They could have shown just the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes and we would have had the whole story.

truth is i figured the super secret plot twists 30 minutes into the flick but being a childhood fan of melissa gilbert (Laura from "Little House on the Prairie") i stayed on to watch her go through the throes of resurfacing after a terrifying kidnapping and repressed memory trauma. gilbert is quite impressive when it comes to weeping, shrieking and cringing, all of which she is called upon to do in great abundance. ronny cox, like gilbert, looks quite a bit older than from his TV salad days, still does a credible job playing gilbert's uncertain dad, who learns to love his wife the more as he comes to distrust his daughter. michael reilly burke (ersatz TV dreamboat, ie. "Creature" & one of the many hunks de jour on 90210) plays the title character, gilbert's childhood sweetheart who can't tell who to trust. snappy black 'n' white flashbacks pump up the tension, but the real mystery is what will be playing in the next commercial break. guaranteed filler for two hours; but don't expect to hold your breath.

I think this film is really good. It is one I would like to see again. It is exciting and romantic, and I like the theme. It really touched my heart.

One of the best TV movies I've seen. I get a kick out of giving movies of this genre the MST3000 treatment, jabbing at the often ho-hum plots and predicting what's going to happen at every turn to anyone unfortunate enough to be watching with me. I often have the mysteries solved, and the plot licked, by about half-way through, and in most cases, I don't feel particularly compelled to sit through the second half. This one, however, captured me-- and although I did have it figured out pretty early on, it had just enough plot twists to keep me interested. The theme was very romantic, and haunting; the characters were realistic, emotional, and nicely developed and portrayed; the cinematography, especially from the haunting flashback scenes, was great; and the story was a teaser-- I caught every hint the writers' dropped, and they left me begging for more-- it was strangely enthralling: I saw it two hours ago, and I still can't get it out of my head. I enjoyed this film very much, and I think I would gladly watch it again. That's a lot coming from me.