Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime Movie Network premiere, Nightclub Secrets!

Why Was I Watching It?

Because it was on the Lifetime Movie Network, of course!

However, I also have to say that I really liked the title.  Usually, whenever the word “secrets” appears in the title of a Lifetime movie, it’s a good sign.  And, let us not forget, this title not only promised us secrets but nightclub secrets as well!  As anyone who has watched 54 can tell you, nightclubs are full of secrets…

What Was It About?

It’s the story of two sisters and their alcoholic mother.  Rachel (Rachel Hendrix) is wild and does mysterious things.  Zoe (Kate Mansi) reads mysteries and teaches a creative writing class, in which she encourages her students to be sadists when it comes to coming up with difficulties for their characters to overcome.

It’s also the story of a murder.  When Zoe is informed that Rachel’s been murdered, she decides to investigate her sister’s secret life.  It leads to the shy and repressed Zoe getting a job as a “bottle girl” at the same nightclub where her sister worked.  How many secrets can you fit in a nightclub?  It’s time for Zoe to find out!

What Worked?

I liked the sibling relationship between Rachel and Zoe.  It rang true and it’s authenticity provided some needed depth to the film’s plot.  Kate Mansi, who played Zoe, has done a quite a few Lifetime films and always does a good job of striking the right balance between emotional honesty and melodramatic fun.  As well, I thought Gigi Rice did a good job playing the alcoholic mother.

Towards the end of the film, there was an enjoyably absurd twist.  I won’t spoil it in this review but it was still fun, even if it did demand quite a suspension of disbelief.

What Did Not Work?

For a movie that was called Nightclub Secrets, the film really didn’t feature enough secrets about the nightclub.  I was hoping for something that would be a little bit more fun and sordid like Confessions of a Go Go Girl or maybe Babysitter’s Black Book.  Instead, this movie was a pretty much a standard Lifetime murder mystery that just happened to feature a nightclub.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

I related to both of the sisters.  I can be wild like Rachel.  I can be shy like Zoe.  Zoe and I both love solving a mystery.  That said, I don’t know if I’d ever want to work in a nightclub, if just because I’m not a huge fan of crowds, drunks, or, for that matter, working.  So, if I got a job in a nightclub, I supposed it would have to be one of those struggling nightclubs that no one ever goes to.  Of course, those nightclubs always go out of business after a few weeks so it probably really wouldn’t be worth the trouble to even apply for the job.

On an unrelated note, I used to live near a nightclub where you were required to bring your tax return if you wanted to get inside.  If you didn’t make a certain amount of money, you weren’t allowed to enter.  Needless to say, on any given night, you could find the least likable people in the world standing in line outside of the place.  If any business was ever begging to be the target of a wacky, Ocean’s 11-style heist, it was that place.  Of course, the last time I drove by there, it had been turned into a Gold’s Gym.

Lessons Learned

It’s not easy being a bottle girl.