Burning Little Lies (2021 TV Movie) User Reviews

Burning Silliness !!!!! But fun to watch.......

[mja58 · 5/10 · 22 August 2021]

The movie held my interest, but the storyline got pretty silly at times. The villain is revealed about 30 minutes before the end, and who the villain was, and why the villainous deeds were done surprised me.

Burning Little Lies has the usual attractive cast, and enough action to keep your interest. Just remember that this is set in the Lifetime Universe, where all sorts of unrealistic things happen as if they are everyday occurrences.

Also, there is a very happy ending!!!

VIEWS ON FILM review of Burning Little Lies

[burlesonjesse5 · 6/10 · 5 August 2021]

"Life marches on". You mean Lifetime "marches" on. The network has compiled 2000 titles and its assembly line is an oiled machine.

Anyway in 2021's Burning Little Lies, the "burning" has to do with houses going up in flames. And yup, the flames in "Lies" are fake CGI to the hilt.

So OK, Burning Little Lies is a Lifetime thriller whose thrills are barely in fits and starts. Most of the time the film plays solely just for camp. "Lies" is not cinematic art mind you. It's trashy yet mild soap opera incarnate. After the director yelled cut, I could just see the actors say, "oh yeah I nailed that line, love that!"

Burning Little Lies is helmed by veteran TV guy John Murlowski. John keeps things pretty hacked up until the big twist comes about an hour in. I got to admit, I didn't pick up on this surprise revelation so kudos to Murlowski. He gives the audience a maxed out red herring until the actual antagonist shows his squeaky clean face. The initial nice guy character in "Lies", well he turns out to be a real pisser.

Shot in what looks like the Hollywood Hills and distributed by a non-US company (huh?), Burning Little Lies is about a young woman who has googly eyes for a hunky firefighter. But hey, the firefighter may or may not be trying to ruin her life (look closer, hint hint). Any conflict in "Lies" arises from attempted accidental murder, insurance money collection, catty half-sibling slang, and you guessed it, internal combustion.

Sometimes "Lies" almost makes out like an unintentional comedy (the melodramatic acting and uneven musical score are assurances of that). Other times the flick feels a little too flamboyant and/or theatrical for its own good. Don't "lie" Lifetime. You wanted it that way!

Slightly better than some

[LetsReviewThat26 · 5/10 · 14 November 2022]

Most of these made for tv movies follow the main principle. Often a young womans parents die or something along them lines and a mysterious guy throws himself into their life. This has a bit of that but its an ok movie. What I cant really forgive though is the terrible cgi fire. And im talking syfy level budget fire. I dont understand why it had to look so fake. Our main hero in this is heather Played by the beautiful annika foster. She gives off a well enough performance and is pretty believable. On the other side we have her half sister gwen. She is played by ashlynn yennie. Her performance didnt really do much for me and her acting was not the best. And fireman ben played by jamie roy was also a little cheesey. Altogether a tv movie that was better than some but some acting let it down here and there and the terrible cgi fire.

Want to scream at the tv?

[callahans20 · 2/10 · 22 August 2021]

....then watch this movie. There are not one, but two drivers who seem to forget their cars have brakes! Not one but two drivers who can't seem to release their seatbelts! There are fires that never seem to block the exits! Massive blows to the head that don't bleed or leave bruises! Who wants to give that a miss? (Hint: you do.)

Ughhhh

[haroot_azarian · 8 February 2022]

Ben the fireman is a total tool and a dipstick! Gwen is the wicked stepsister who turns a new leaf tennminutes before the end! Heather is just plain stupidI give up.

Just not good

[scarletepilogue · 2/10 · 1 August 2021]

Okay..I understand it's a Lifetime movie and they don't have the best fun funding or whatnot but this was almost unwatchable. I love watching most Lifetime movies, even if they're not the best but this one is another story. The acting is far from impressive...the graphics are actually so terrible that it was hilarious! It's like the actors in this movie knew it was going to be awful and just didn't bother trying. Don't even waste your time.

Good story - poor execution

[nagybela-96296 · 3/10 · 27 January 2024]

The storyline itself would be good, but the acting is terrible, also there are too many stupid human failures and nonsenses in the movie.

They brought the most handsome guys - at least the 3 main guys - just to grab the eyes of women viewers probably?

Maybe with good direction and some better actors this could have been a good thriller because the base idea I think is good.

So here are the stupid, non-logical things 1) The house at the beginning has burnt, at least they don't show any firefighters coming to stop the fire. But after the death of the parents, they return to the same house - which is in full, top condition, all of the family relics - like photos, the whole garage - remained in perfect condition those didn't get burn or something like this. So they return to a fully clean and nice house after it has burnt. Did someone renovate it?

2) The stupid bicycle accident - there are many ways to stop a speed bicycle for example if she did a right turn up to the trees she would have stopped very easily

3) They hack that top category BMW a) the guy can easily open the right front door - but the lady had to use the remote control to unlock the car. SImply can't believe these cars don't have any survelliance mode.

B) Also the guy has cut something on the bottom of the car - was this the break wire which was hanging down below the car - if it was it the break, than that piece of metal bar was too thick for that, also these cars have completely covered from the bottom, no way you can just cut the break lines so easily.

C) further on - just can't imagine that these care don't run some diagnostic before startup - and it would immediately either wouldn't allow the car knowing that break liquid is missing, or if it was the gas pipe car should also know about it....this is reallly stupid.

D) the lady starts grabbing the seatbelt, however if she was just pulling it gently, she could have enough length and simply could pull herself out of from the loose seat seatbelt

When the in law burns the house at the end of the movie firefighters arrive to the scene. But instead of starting pulling fire hose and start fighting the fire, everyone is focusing on that one guy. Why they haven't called police and ambulance - it should be default...

So there are too many stupidities in this movie, but again storyline somewhere is good.

Ashlynn Yennie

[svader · 1/10 · 30 August 2021]

Ashlynn Yennie has starred in all of teh worse movies in the past 6/7 years.

That are all awful.

A great afternoon watch

[gailmccoo · 8/10 · 22 June 2021]

This is a great afternoon watch with a cup of tea. The characters have back stories, the plot is imaginable and the acting great for these new and aspiring young actors. There's enough drama and tense moments to hold your attention and the ending.... Well I'll not ruin it for you. Watch it.

Edge of the seat actually!!

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 21 October 2022]

A woman ( Annika Foster) falls for a handsome firefighter after he rescues her from a suspicious car crash. But her life spins into a series of "accidents" and the firefighter seems to be there in hand to save her. She teams up with her step sister (Ashlynn Yennie) to discover who is behind the attacks.

Quite a good suspense thriller with some edge of seat moments. At first,I thought it would be a typical boyfriend turned possessive psycho but there's a series of neat twists before the fiery finale. There's the usual implausibilities as in thrillers of this kind, however it's quite a fun watch.

Mr. October

[lavatch · 8/10 · 12 February 2022]

In major league baseball, Reggie Jackson was known as Mr. October for his heroics in a string of World Series victories. In "Burning Little Lies," the fireman named Ben is called Mr. October for always being in the right place at the right time to save the Cinderella heroine, Heather King. But Ben may be deceiving Heather. Instead of putting out fires, Ben may be setting them.

The film unfolds through the horrific experiences of Heather as someone clearly wants her dead. The filmmakers are successful in developing a number of potential villains. The list includes Ben, Heather's ex-husband Richard, and Jason, the husband of Heather's shrewish step-sister, Gwen.

The Cinderella metaphor is played out successfully as Heather always seems to have bad luck with men. After extricating herself from nearly falling over a cliff and then from being trapped in a burning automobile, Heather must escape from a burning house. Along the way, she is searching for her knight in shining armor.

There was nice chemistry between Heather and Ben and good suspense in a film about family tragedy and pyromania that were closely tied. Heather derived her courage via her father's influence. But she also had a good supporting cast in her bestie Aniki, Ben, and a surprising assist from Gwen, all of whom worked to extinguish a set of burning little lies.