Lies My Mother Told Me

Laren Sims (Joely Richardson) surrenders to the police and leaves her daughter Haylei (Hayden Panettiere). Ten years ago, they're living with Lauren's parents in North Carolina after her failed marriages. She does 90 days in prison after using stolen credit cards for Christmas gifts. She continues to steal. She runs away with Haylei skipping out on house arrest. They travel the country continuing to con and steal with numerous fake identities. In northern California, Laren gets a job working for attorney Lucas Mackenzie (Colm Feore) and later marries him. Haylei hates the marriage. Laren can't help herself and embezzles money. Lucas finds out and Laren tells him the truth. He grows angry as his business fails and always threatens to call the police. Laren, with the help of new hire Kristin, does something out of desperation.

This is a Lifetime movie in its heart. It should try to be more especially with a great actress like Joely Richardson. It should try to be darker but it doesn't. It is a big disappointment. The story has no bite despite some pretty compelling turns. There is a great mother and daughter relationship. The material is done with limited style and no edge.

This movie was directed by Christian Duguay who also directed "The Art of War." I heard that this movie was "inspired by true events." Which I thought was pretty interesting! It had Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) and Hayden Panettierre who, at a very young age, has been in a lot of movies! I found myself into the characters pretty good. At first, I liked the mom but I didn't like the fact that she lied all the time. Later on in the movie, you really kind of hated the mom who turns on her daughter and ends up lying to her as well! This is one movie that I thought was going to be awful but actually ended up being decent enough to watch! If you like a good drama, watch this one!!

I think the reason this film is worth watching is the fact that it's a true story, if it wasn't for that fact this film would need more drama to spice up the intensity. But knowing it's a true story makes the film interesting, because you genuinely want to see how out of hand things got. I really enjoyed the cast as they made a smooth performance of the film. The only downfall is they could have picked someone else for the role of Laren, the actress needed to bring more intensity to her role but fell short. Anne Heche would have been perfect for the part of Lauren. Overall not bad, a little slow and can be boring at times, but it's an interesting story.

(2005) Lies My Mother Told Me DRAMA THRILLER

Cinematography, co-produced and directed by Christian Duguay with another inspired by true events, made for TV movie, and part of a two movie rental DVD starring Hayden Panettiere as Haylei Sims, narrating her experiences while going on the lam with her mother, Laren Sims (Joely Richardson) who was 'Americas Most Wanted', as she lies, cheats and steals from unsuspecting people, and eventually murder. Tired genre without showing who the movie is referring to or who is it based on. Saw this movie as a two movie set produced from the Lifetime channel, the other movie is called "Widow on the Hill".

I was slightly interested in this movie when I first saw the previews on Lifetime a few years back. When I saw it however, I was very disappointed. The acting was alright. At times it seemed forced and a little overdone especially by Richardson. I knew this story sounded familiar. When I saw the "Snapped" episode on Oxygen that this movie is based on it clicked. Lauren Sims or her alias Elisa McNabney was from my hometown of Brooksville, FL and this is where she was arrested and killed herself in jail! That's where I knew the story from. All in all the movie was alright. The locations were obviously changed and from what I've read, the relationship between mother and daughter was exaggerated. But that's too be expected. I give it 5 out of 10 simply for being a Lifetime movie. That's what you get.