"Lying to Be Perfect" Lifetime Original Movie Review

Are you ready to live a fairytale? The Lifetime Original Movie “Lying to Be Perfect,” starring Poppy Montgomery and airing January 30 at 9 pm et/pt, will inspire you to begin living your happy ending. After watching this enjoyable modern day take on the Cinderella story I felt pardoned and empowered. Let’s face it, we all have told a tinsy lie about ourselves. Am I the only one who has “accidentally” entered the wrong weight on the treadmill? Ok my bad. But lies do more damage to us than we sometimes realize. Stopping us from getting to our full potential. Trying to be the perfect size and shape in a media crazed world filled with princess images can be tough.

In the film, Nola Devlin (Poppy Montgomery) is an unassuming, frumpy magazine editor who is overlooked and teased by her coworkers. When the sun sets, though, and she is behind the glow and anonymity of her computer screen, she becomes the famous and “reclusive” advice columnist Belinda Apple. Belinda becomes for the women in the film what we all sometimes need. A “fairy godmother”, encouraging us to recognize the undiscovered beauty within and prompting us to achieve our goals. Nola’s friends tired of being overworked and overweight, band together to create the “Cinderella Pact,” vowing to lose pounds by following the advice of their “fairy godmother”.

As I watched a scene from the film, I recalled a conversation I had with my niece Shelby a few weeks earlier. I overheard her singing “I don’t want to be your Cinderella sitting in a cold dark cellar.” I nearly dropped my plate when I heard this. I was so taken by these words. Early on in the movie, Nola’s character says that sometimes it’s easier for Cinderella to hide out versus go out and find real happiness. When I asked my niece what the words of the song meant, she said you’re not supposed to hide away from the world because you’re afraid you have to go out and live your dreams. With 7 in 10 girls feeling that they don’t measure up in some way this is a message that we need to get across and the film does that. Nola learns this life lesson although the journey for her isn’t always easy.

Early on, binging on sweets was a way that Nola comforted herself when things went wrong. Her overeating was a symptom of a chronic problem experienced by so many of us. Fear. Fear of failure, fear of love, fear to speak up for yourself. Nola is forced to take her own alter ego’s advice and confront her fears when her secret identity is threatened. Through the process she learns that she is stronger than she thought she was and she had the power within all along to live her dreams.

Belief in yourself is the first step to getting fit and healthy. Nola’s friends, her step sisters of sorts initially think their fairy godmother helped to give them the confidence to go out and lose the weight. As the friends drops dress sizes, their real issues are exposed, and better-than-expected life changes begin to blossom. Including love for Nola with a real prince charming played by Adam Kaufman. Nola’s love interest is attracted to her even before she begins to shed the pounds. He sees the beauty in her before she does.

Nola works for a wicked boss at a magazine called Shine. Through self discovery Nola learns that she has her own shine. A star quality that was always there but needed to blossom.

After watching the film, I felt pardoned from those times where I felt bad about myself and empowered to continue creating my own happy endings. If you want to live the fairytale, watch “Lying to Be Perfect”. It is the perfect feel good movie and that’s no lie.

“Lying to Be Perfect” Premieres January 30 at 9 pm et/pt on Lifetime.