Truth & Lies (2015 TV Movie) User Reviews

As bad as you'd expect it to be

[soph_ia · 3/10 · 12 March 2016]

I will start this review by saying that it was not a boring movie - it certainly kept me entertained for the duration of it. But it wasn't a good movie.

To start with, I wasn't impressed with the performances. Everyone in the cast was good-looking, but nothing more than that. Emily Tennant had only one "distressed" expression in all of her sad/unpleasant scenes. I didn't see any depth from her, or from the others from the cast. Dina Meyer delivered the strongest performance, but it was nothing award worthy.

The storyline was predictable. I knew that it was going to have the "twist" it had in the end - it was typical for movies of that genre.

Attractively Cast Text Trauma

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 12 April 2015]

Over the credits, a car crash looks deadly for three people. Mature-looking high school teenager Emily Tennant (as Taylor Sinclair) wakes up in her bed. It was only a dream. Word up, it's also a flashback. Two years ago, Ms. Tennant's dad died in that nightmarish accident, along with another couple. In school, Tennant attracts cute, leather-jacketed transfer student Keenan Tracey (as Cody Williams). He drives an amazing 1971 Skylark, which is exempt from smog checks. Very quickly, both Mr. Tracey and Tennant's other high school friends are victimized by a hooded Internet bully. This person seems to know all the dirt on everyone, and has embarrassing sex videos to share with the world. This all leads to tragedy...

Tennant's widowed mother is sexy super-detective Dina Meyer (as Allison). Eventually, mom will have stuff to investigate. Even without a bullet-proof vest, she may be invulnerable. The villain "TRUTH&LIES" can't even give Ms. Meyer back pain. While handy in protecting her daughter, mom's tactics are not politically correct. In fact, they're offensive and illegal. For example, detective mom interrogates by threatening a suspect with rape or other physical abuse in a juvenile facility. If this woman knows an individual, presumed innocent, is about to be raped or otherwise assaulted, she should report it immediately. Instead, we have a character condoning the crime and using it as an interrogation tactic.

*** Text to Kill (4/11/15) George Erschbamer ~ Emily Tennant, Keenan Tracey, Dina Meyer, Kurt Ostlund

So so

[haroot_azarian · 9 November 2020]

Overall the plot and acting and Dina Meyer's superb presence was good. The only part that ticked me off was Barb's memorial scene where Taylor was dressed like a two bit hooker. I'm not a puritan or anything like that, but did she have to wear such a short dress? Script writers messed it up there.

C rubbish

[gward-43234 · 2/10 · 10 February 2022]

A crowd of old actresses trying to play teenagers. The first Five minutes of the show and you know exactly the tripe it's going to be.

Watched 21 minutes and gave up.

Terribly written/directed/edited

[stevenmsmith32 · 2/10 · 22 April 2022]

Yikes. This film was terribly directed and edited. Even put the wrong names for Zach and Cody under their faces during the skype/zoom call. The people in charge of making this film just didn't seem to care to make it as perfect as they possibly could.

The story is incredibly predictable too. It's not even remotely close to a solid "whodunnit" mystery. It was obvious from the start who "Truth and Lies" was.

The only shining star is the actress who plays the main role, Taylor. (Emily Tennant) Not a bad actress at all -- just apart of a bad script/film.

A Film Worthy of Reflection About Text Messaging

[lavatch · 8/10 · 30 October 2019]

"Text to Kill" (a.k.a., "Truth & Lies") begins as a social media bullying melodrama, then transitions into a murder mystery. The message of the film may serve as a lesson to youngsters to use your social media responsibly. But it also may be a more serious warning about the abuses of modern technology that results in the loss of life.

Indeed, the film's opening scene gets at the heart of the matter when the father of the protagonist, Taylor, dies in a multi-car crash in which innocent people died because the father was texting. It wasn't so much that he was engaged in a romantic liaison with the mother of Taylor's best friend, Hannah. The deaths were the direct result of the father's distraction with his technology while operating a motor vehicle.

Two years have passed since the auto wreck, and young Taylor and four of her school chums are being harassed by a tech wizard. Taylor has now been alienated from Hannah, and her new best friend, Barb, is outed for being gay, and she commits suicide. Or, perhaps Barb's unfortunate death was murder!

A frustrating part of the film is that Taylor's mom Allison is a police detective, yet Taylor waits far too long to tell her about the harassment. Barb's death might have been avoided by early detection! In the meantime, the kids are whiling away the hours in in Marco's snack bar, lamenting their situation, when the police could be on the case.

The screenplay was effective in keeping the audience off balance as to who is the perpetrator. The interesting twist is revealed in the final fifteen minutes. The good character developments and fine performances, especially, in the interpretation of the caring mother and widow, Allison, make the film compelling. Yet, one cannot but recall the senseless death of poor Barb as a life cut short that was just as preventable as the lives lost at a crossroads when a careless adulterer was distracted while texting after returning home to his family after an extracurricular tryst.

Social media terror - quite fun to watch

[phd_travel · 8/10 · 11 September 2018]

A PLL style social media terror reigns in a high school.

Dina Meyer is a convincing Detective and the actress who plays her daughter and friends are all cute.

Don't quite get why the wacko had it in for them so much, it wasn't their fault. The ending is quite fun to watch despite this.

***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 23 April 2015]

Better than average Lifetime film dealing with high school teenagers who begin to receive texts which could prove very embarrassing to them.

Two girls, who were once best friends, are now bitter enemies because of an event that shook their lives 2 years back. What makes the film good is that the girls soon realize that neither is sending the other the nasty texts and they work together to solve this mystery.

I love the loose high school setting where just about anything goes on in the halls of academia.

I also liked that the suicide of one girl may not have been suicide at all and that the obvious suspect is not so obvious after all.