Ever since she was little, Brittany Green (Shelby Yardley) has wanted to become a professional race car driver.  She just loves cars and who can blame her?  Her fiancé, Kevin (Devante Winfrey), wants her to help him run his family’s hotel, despite the fact that a hotel is nowhere near as exciting as the Indy 500.  And Andrew James (Phillip Boyd) …. well, he just wants Brittany.

Andrew used to be a hotshot race car driver, until a serious accident left him with vision problems and a slightly obsessive personality.  Andrew now makes his living by teaching other people how to race cars.  Guess who his latest student is?  It’s Brittany!  Unfortunately, Andrew has a former former rival named Mario (Justin Berti), and he also wants to teach Brittany and he’ll do everything in his power to pull her away.  (He’ll even point out that he actually won his race, something that Andrew rarely did.)  Unfortunately, what Mario doesn’t realize, is that Andrew will do anything to keep Brittany as a student.

That’s something that Kevin discovers as well.  When a sudden death (once that Andrew had a little something to do with) forces Kevin to spend more and more time working at the hotel, he starts to pressure Brittany to give up her dream.  Soon, it’s not just a question of whether or not Kevin and Brittany’s relationship will survive.  It’s a question of whether or not Kevin and Brittany will survive as well!

Driven to Kill is a classic Lifetime film, an entertaining movie about obsession, fast cars, and a time bomb.  (Listen, it’s just not a car movie without a time bomb.)  Philip Boyd is convincingly unhinged as Andrew while Shelby Yardley is likable in the role of Brittany and even manages to make you care a little about whether or not she’s ever going to get to hit the NASCAR circuit.  Justin Berti is enjoyable eccentric in the role of Mario and provides some nice comedic relief to all the melodrama.

The key to understanding a film like Driven to Kill is that it’s not a film that you’re meant to take seriously.  It’s a film that celebrates everything that we love about Lifetime — i.e., the melodrama, the obsessiveness, and the message that you can have both do what you love and love the one you’re with.  Yes, Andrew is obviously unhinged but that’s what makes a film like this fun!  We know that Brittany’s in danger long before she knows it.  This is the type of movie that you watch with a group of friend who enjoy talking back to the screen.  It’s a fun movie and it features a lot of race track action and really that is what’s important.  It’s a film that delivers exactly what it promises.

Driven to Kill was directed by Doug Campbell, who is responsible for many of my favorite Lifetime films.  Some will undoubtedly notice that Driven to Kill feels a bit like a companion piece to Campbell’s previous film, Deadly Mile High Club, but so what?  I enjoyed that movie too.