10 Year Reunion (2016 TV Movie) User Reviews

Wine, Women and More Wine

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 4 November 2016]

Five Harmony High School girlfriends make and hide "time capsules" revealing their innermost secrets. They are hidden by pretty blonde Abigail Klein (as Abby Edwards). That's too bad because she drops dead at a party during the opening minutes of this story. They attribute her death to "alcohol poisoning." Her gravestone says "Abby" only, placing this character in league with "Cher", "Garbo" and "Elvis". Ten years later, the four remaining girlfriends gather for their "10 Year Reunion" and must decide whether or not to dig up old secrets. Freelance photographer Kacey Clarke (as Carly Newman) is our heroine. She is the main protagonist and the one we guess is not a killer...

The other three young women are brainy brunette Kayla Ewell (as Patty Garner), dancer-turned-teacher Jillian Nelson (as Rose Crenshaw) and Washington politician's wife Anya Engel-Adams (as Erica Campbell). They all drink a lot of wine. There are two good-looking young men in the mix, both acting like suspects. They are blond policeman Bryce Durfee (as Chase Majors) and edgy drifter Johnny Pacar (as Shane Conley). Even though they look nothing alike, it's difficult to tell them apart. You could say the same about the women. The "clues" to find a killer are implausibly hidden and writer-director Jake Helgren simply doesn't have the resources to make this story work.

*** 10 Year Reunion (10/23/2016) Jake Helgren ~ Kacey Clarke, Kayla Ewell, Jillian Nelson, Johnny Pacar

As the World Turns

[lavatch · 4/10 · 13 January 2021]

"10 Year Reunion" unfolds like a full season of a soap opera condensed into a ninety-minute television drama.

At the ironically named Harmony High School reunion, four "besties" have reunited, and they recall a pact they made during senior year in which they created a time capsule. Unfortunately, one of their friends, Abby "Abs" Edwards died under mysterious circumstances prior to graduation. The treasure chest will include clues that points to the true cause of her death: murder!

The narrative unfolds with a hunt for the clues as Patty, Rose, Erica, and Carly give each other a "cuddle hug," then set off to discover the clues. The filmmakers deserve some credit for imagination in devising such locations as under a rock in a pond, in the hay loft of a barn, and in a flower pot in a cemetery.

Unfortunately, the pace of the film is sluggish, and it becomes predictable that one of the "besties" is concealing secrets and lies from the others. A romantic undercurrent is always in the subtext with the two males, Shane and Chase, hovering in the background.

In the end, there wasn't much genuine harmony among the friends, one of whom fed "Pink Lady" pills to the saint and martyr, Abigail "Abs" Edwards.

Not great. Not gawd awful.

[VictoriaSays · 3/10 · 17 March 2022]

If you can get past the middle age women with wrinkles playing high school girls at the beginning, it's not too bad. Girls bury time capsule box with their "secret confessions" inside, but someone wants to keep the secrets buried. The secrets seem pretty ridiculous when you consider they are all still so close when they meet again in 10 years to open it minus one of the girls. I am sure they meant well in a "I know what you did last summer" horror movie kind of way. It just had too many twists that make you roll your eyes, but it's solid entertainment if you can turn your brain off.

Terrible at every level

[arthousefilms-68-939717 · 1/10 · 15 October 2017]

Good grief, this movie was terrible!! It's hard to know which was worse, the script, the directing, or the acting. Actually, I feel like the actors may have been passable, but the over-the-top, melodramatic directing made this film so campy and dopey that it could literally be fodder for mockery in memes across the web.

I was interested in the film because the synopsis had elements that I liked in "Pretty Little Liars", sneaky, backstabbing friends trying to solve a murder of one of their besties.

The script relied on dense layers of exposition. At the big reveal scene, I was tempted to grab a yellow pad to diagram the plot so I could keep track of it all. But at that moment, I was far too distracted by the bombastic, heavy-handed, bigger than big "emotional" shouting scene between the characters. The acting in that scene was so completely over-the-top that I erupted into spontaneous belly- laughing. I doubt that was the intention of the scene. This movie had zero nuance at any level. The characters weren't cardboard cutouts, they were regurgitated clowns.

Why did I continue watching this film if it was so bad? I was playing a game of trying to predict each character's next line. I did really well… until everything came off the rails in the bizarre expositional ending showdown.

Horrid in every aspect- run away from this movie

[klorenzen81 · 1/10 · 16 March 2017]

By far the worst Lifetime movie - ever! Even worse acting and writing. It was painful to watch these so called actors whom they clearly hired based on availability vs acting ability didn't give a hoot about giving it their all. The writing was clearly done in record time- 1 whole day. If you see this on your TV screen, bypass and do so quickly. I'm disappointed in you Lifetime. Lately your movies suck and show poor quality writing and acting and seem to be put together in a week. Please go back to the core of Lifetime and show quality movies with quality acting and the dose of cheese you are known for.

*

[edwagreen · 1/10 · 31 October 2016]

Was this awful! With a rating of one-star, I am being very kind.

Didn't these idiotic women know that by placing their darkest secrets in a time capsule, they would be opened eventually, and I'm surprised that someone didn't wait for the 10 year period to be over?

These four girls purported to be best friends but their dark secrets reveal all sorts of mayhem occurring: sleeping with other friend's guys, failing a final exam to drop grade point average index so that one of the girls, from a poor family, could get the scholarship she craved for. Then there is murder as well and much of the film concentrates on accusing Rose of that killing. She is reminded that she was the only one of the four to remain in town and as a ballerina, she has wound up teaching English in a school!

The inevitable fighting at the end is just as miserable as the rest of the film and there seems to be punishments abounding.

In summary, this was absolutely dreadful.

Huge waste of time. Don't waste your precious life.

[jessg32 · 1/10 · 11 January 2017]

Very bad acting. Ridiculous story line. I feel like the script was written in an hour, and not much thought was put into it. Like others have said in their reviews, its ridiculous that the clues were out in the open but were never found for 10 years. I usually enjoy the cheese factor in Lifetime movies, but this one was too much. Did I mention the bad acting? The over the top facial expressions are ridiculous. It takes you out of the moment and distracts you from the story. The characters are trying to solve whether their friend was murdered or not. It's no surprise in the end who the murderer is. Surprise, its one of two characters who share most of the screen time.

pathetic

[rome-428-326501 · 1/10 · 16 March 2017]

I agree with all other reviews , this film is abysmal. To help you decide not to watch it - one girl uses a pair of shears to attack another girl holding a gun!!! Now I need to type 5 lines apparently - how many times do I need to tell you how awful it is. The actors are so boring I could not tell which one was which even by the end of the film.

I Liked It !

[carolynocean · 6/10 · 3 March 2022]

Geez, this movie got a slamming from the reviewers , but I have to say that I really enjoyed it ! Yes , I know the acting wasn'nt top notch , but the plot was a good one . I always like a good " Who Dunnit ", and this was one that kept me guessing .

The location was good , and the characters were a good mix .

A few crazy situations , and a mad ending , but look , it kept my interest . It was way better than some other movies that I have seen lately .

Give it a chance .

Am I the only one who liked this?

[ileas · 8/10 · 29 January 2019]

Spoilers. Lots of spoilers. I'm sorry, but I liked this movie. Yes, I guessed who the murderer was, but throughout the whole thing, I was hoping I was wrong, as she seemed so nice. Well, like the others have said, the heroine is Carly. It starts out with five girls, Rose, Patty, Carly,Abby, and...rats, I forget the last girl's name, maybe because she's hardly in it...let's just call her so obviously not the killer. They are putting their darkest secrets and fears in a time capsule, to be dug up in 10 years. Rose never seemed to understand that point, because she seals her envelope with "the kiss of death", saying it should never see the light of day. Obviously not the killer isn't much better, saying she's glad to be saying goodbye to those memories. Is no one hearing Abby when she makes them all swear to come back in ten years to dig it up? Now, the actual idea of this capsule is a bad idea, sure, but it's also a very teenage girl thing to do, so they can be forgiven for it. Later, they are at Rose's fancy house throwing a graduation party. There is drinking, there are no parents. Abby is started to act off. The poor girl dies from alcohol poisoning. Fast forward ten years later. Carly talks Patty, who is now her BFF instead of Abby, because, well, she's dead, into going to their ten year reunion. They've apparently been invited ahead of everyone to Rose's parents house, which I think is now her and Chase's house. It seems Patty and Carly have stayed friends, and Rose and obviously not the killer have stayed friends, but all for of them haven't been together in a long time. Patty is now a lawyer, Carly a freelance photographer, Rose a teacher, and obviously not the killer is a politician's unhappy wife...which technically isn't a job. They meet up with the boys of the group, Chase, who is now Rose's husband, and Shane, who was Abby's boyfriend when she died. They're happy for like five minutes, and then gloomy gus Carly feels the need to remind everyone that not all of the old gang is here. She's never gotten over Abby's death. People feel that now is the time to break it to her that Abby didn't die of alcohol poisoning, she died of a drug overdose that was mixed into her drink. Only Carly sees a problem with this, because a)Abby didn't do drugs, and b)in my own personal opinion, the class valedictorian would know better than to spike her drink with a bunch of pills. Carly is quick to conclude that one of them murdered Abby. It's a leap, I know, but lifetime has to get to the main story line quickly, for some reason. Which is what i'm now going to try to do. Here goes... Carly finds documents Rose's dad drew up that stated the fake cause of Abby's death, and someone in a gardening mask thing is stalking outside and looks in her window. She then finds a cd Abby left her in the back of a picture frame. Abby says in it she doubts she's there with them, because she has read the secrets, and think they all have reason to want her dead. Now, she says it so calmly, my guess is she doesn't think they literally want her dead...we all know she was mistaken. Anyway, after advising them to leave the secrets buried, she says if anyone wants to still read them, she's left clues to make it like a scavenger hunt, cos why not? Maybe she's hoping everyone will be over it by now. Everyone just wants to forget about it except Carly, but when she keeps finding clues, they can't help but act a little excited and want to read them, and tell Carly what they mean, as the clues are personal. The masked person comes back, attacks her in the kitchen, then knocks Shane out when they are in Abby's barn at her house looking for the 2nd key left for Carly to open the box, and steals the clue she finds instead. Chase is called...oh yeah, he's a cop. Obviously not the killer is missing, and Patty very much wants to leave, telling Carly things are getting to dangerous. Chase tells her obviously not the killer called and said she decided to go to her husband's event after all. Carly wants to stay, and so does Chase, as his wife has worked very hard on this reunion. During the reunion, Chase is quite drunk, and is confrontational with Carly. Abby used to date him, and he claims she was only with Shane to get back at him, but that she still loved him. When Carly says that's impossible, Shane tells her Abby wasn't perfect, and to stop putting her on a pedestal. Carly tells Patty she wants to go home. Patty is a little too relieved. They get in the car, and Carly wants to stop by Abby's grave first and put flowers there. She does, then she swings by her mom's grave to do the same. Innthe flower holder, she find a not from Abby and the 2nd key. Abby mentions she did something unforgivable to Shane, which automatically makes him suspect in Carly's mind. Again, Patty seems too eager to agree. Shane has followed them, and they drive off after accusing him. They go back to the house to get their stuff. While Patty is in the house, Carly is trying to call obviously not the killer, and is told she never showed up. She then finds a shovel with blood on it. She and Rose dig up what they fear is Rose, but find the box instead. Oh, earlier we saw someone hit obviously not the killer with the shovel, and rebuying the box, instead of destroying it, or getting it off the property. Not a very smart killer. Shane shows up, they freak, they find obviously not the killer's body in the well, freak some more, and Rose hits Shane over the head. Patty gets chase's gun, (where the heck is he, anyway) and puts it on Rose, saying she found the gardeners thing in her car, and something else incriminating, I forget what. Rose insists Carly is framing her (why?) but goes with them and sits down outside while they wait for the cops(again, where is the cop she's married to?!) Carly opens the box with her key, and reads Abby's. She cheated on Shane with Chase, but was planning to make it up to them by staying in the horrid town, and letting Rose and Chase be together. She also intended to flunk her test so she wouldn't be valedictorian, and Patty would (Patty looks too horrified at this). Carly makes Rose read obviously not the killer's one. She apparently got pregnant during a one night stand, and Rose took her to get an abortion, which was botched, and she possibly couldn't have anymore kids, which seemed to be true. Carly reads Rose's. She knew about the affair, and even though she could just kill the both of them, she plans to get even by tricking Chase into marrying her, I forget how (seriously, where is that boy?) patty insists Rose had the motive the kill Abby, she also insists that hers and Carly's secrets no longer matter. Carly finally wises up, and disagrees, reading Patty's. It says she hates Abby. She asked her as a friend to fail her test, because she was poor, and had no other way to get out of that town and not be like her mother without the scholarship. Patty tries to pass it off as blowing off steam, and there were no issues, but Carly doesn't believe her, and moves to stand by Rose. Okay, she this next part, i'll admit, is over the top, like the other reviewers have said, but come on; no one is calmly going to explain why they killed two people, especially when they've been trying to cover it up this whole time, and keep her bff from finding out. So, Patty loses it. She starts ranting. She also says she killed obviously not the killer because she's found the clue she'd stolen, and had uncovered the box. She gets angry at Carly for not believing her, when she didn't hurt her in those attacks, and went to the trouble of framing Rose for the murders, and she picks up the gun lying on the table that nobody thought to get away from her before this. Shane comes to, and she shoots him. The girls run to a car. Okay, this is the only part that I didn't care for. It's beyond unrealistic. I usually don't mind unrealistic in a movie, but this was ridiculous. Patty shoots at the car, and it lights on fire. The girls start to get out, but Rose's seatbelt (in this kind of situation, forget putting on the seatbelt!) gets stuck. After a couple of feeble attempts to get it unstuck, she tells Carly to just leave her. I wouldn't have done that. Death by burning is horrible, my worst fear, and I would ask her if she had something sharp on her, attempt to squeeze out of it, heck try biting through it, anything to get out. Well, she doesn't and the car blows up, so at least it was quick. Carly calls the cops on the phone Rose gave her, (ok, is the cop husband dead, and they didn't bother telling us?) Patty, thinking both girls died, stands over Shane's body, giving his leg a kick to make sure he's dead, (like that'll really make him perk up and say, nope, not dead yet, Patty!) she then begins cleaning up, when Carly reveals that she isn't dead while holding hedge clippers. She then declares just how pissed off she is by saying 'you've killed everyone i ever loved'. Patty tries to fire the gun, saying she just determined not to lose what she's worked so hard to gain, the things they've all taken for granted because they're rich, but the gun is out of bullets. Cue dear in headlights look, which was quite effective, and cue the 'oh, you're so dead,' look, also very effective. After a little chase, Patty grabs the shovel, and she looks confident again. But confidence ain't gonna beat that look of death, sweetheart! They argue as they fight, which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it seems out of place, but on the other, i'd want to know why my bff would do this to her friends too. The clippers get knocked out of her hands, and land conveniently blade up in the grass. We all know what's going to happen, but personally, I don't care; it's so time for this rhymes with witch to get what's coming to her. Patty losses the tug of war, and lands on the clippers, cue rather gory death. Turns out Shane is alive, they have a little moment. I love lmn!

Oh Dear God ........

[adeans-63119 · 4 January 2019]

........ this 'film' is just unbelieveably bad !.I only watched it because Kayla Ewell is in it and I just hope this 'film/thing' hasn't damaged her career ! How the script/story was deemed fit for acceptable viewing is a complete mystery to me ! There's just so much that's awful about this 'film' but the ending scene is just the icing on he cake ! 2 girls have just jumped into a car to escape the murderer - a shot ignites the petrol-tank but all of a sudden one girl's seat-belt has somehow or other jammed so she just gives up and tells her friend to save herself then sits back and calmly accepts her flaming death ??. I'd really love to know how much the script-writers got paid for this and also where do I apply for a job alongside them !