All of the best Lifetime movies ranked

IMDb rating: 3.7

Director: Tom McLoughlin

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

In this 2005 drama, a high school boy (Jeremy Sumpter) sees his life spiralling out of control after he develops an addiction to internet porn. Before long, he’s maxing out his parent’s credit cards and even watching pornography on school computers, all to feed his merciless addiction. While the premise might be vaguely relatable to swaths of high school students across the country, the execution is about as campy as a TV movie can get.

IMDb rating: 4.1

Director: Lloyd Kramer

Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Starring former A-lister Lindsay Lohan at the height of a failed comeback, 2012’s “Liz & Dick” chronicles the rocky romance between actress Elizabeth Taylor and actor Richard Burton. Despite respectable viewership numbers, the film was not well received, with the The Hollywood Reporter referring to it as “half trainwreck, half ‘SNL’ skit." Meanwhile, if Lifetime ever wanted to make a sequel, they had Taylor’s many other marriages to draw from.  
 

IMDb rating: 4.7

Director: Doug Campbell

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Not to be confused with the 2011 hit comedy “Bad Teacher,” this 2013 clunker finds a teenage girl (Kelcie Stranahan) getting set up for the murder of her own boyfriend (Cameron Deane Stewart). Framing her for the deed is the boyfriend’s former lover, a psychotic teacher named Molly Matson (Josie Davis).  

IMDb rating: 5.0

Director: Rosemary Rodriguez

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Lifetime movies frequently rip their stories straight from the headlines, and 2010’s “The Pregnancy Pact” is no exception. The film takes direct inspiration from a real-life event involving a group of high school girls in Gloucester, Mass., all of whom allegedly agreed to get pregnant at the same time. It remains unclear to this day as to whether the real girls in Gloucester ever actually formed a pact. Nevertheless, the legend persists. Actress Thora Birch stars in the film as a vlogger and alumna who catches word of the pact and then promptly investigates.

IMDb rating: 5.0

Director: Mark Rosman

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

With the Lifetime movie about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released earlier this year, now is the perfect time to revisit 2011's "William & Kate." As one might expect, the film explores the budding relationship between Prince William and Kate Middleton, which gets put to the test by intense media scrutiny.

IMDb rating: 5.3

Director: Mary Harron

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

From director Mary Harron—of “American Psycho” fame—came this 2013 biopic about the rise and fall of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. Chronicled in the film are Smith’s small town beginnings as a dancer, her success with Playboy, her marriage to billionaire J. Howard Marshall, her subsequent struggles with addiction, and her untimely death in 2007.   

IMDb rating: 5.3

Director: Stephen Kay

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Based on a true story, this 2011 Lifetime movie depicts the life of Philip Markoff (Jake McDorman), a promising med school student with a dark and deadly secret. Unbeknownst to his friends, family, and fiancée, Markoff has been meeting with girls through Craigslist, and then attacking or killing them. It’s only a matter of time before he’s caught.
 

IMDb rating: 5.4

Director: Lee Friedlander

Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes

In this 2015 movie, a group of young babysitters turn to prostitution in order to finance their respective college educations—and who better to target than the fathers and husbands of their babysitting clients? Things are running smoothly enough, until the FBI catches wind of the operation. It’s all reportedly based on real-life incidents.

IMDb rating: 5.4

Director: Morgan J. Freeman

Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes

First things first: no, actor Morgan Freeman did not direct this 2009 film, which was directed by Morgan J. Freeman—no relation to the actor, produced independently, and then picked up by Lifetime. The movie stars Mischa Barton as a bona fide crazy ex-girlfriend named Shelby Mercer, who terrorizes both her ex-boyfriend and his new flame when they move in to town.

IMDb rating: 5.6

Director: Chris Zalla

Runtime: 1 hour, 26 minutes

Starring Rob Lowe, Candice Bergen, and Paz Vega, this 2015 movie—which alternately goes by the name "The Novack Murders"—centers on the respective homicides of Bernice Novack and her son, Ben Novack Jr. Suspected in both crimes is Ben Novack Jr.'s wife, a former stripper named Narcy. As one might have guessed, the story is based on actual events.
 

IMDb rating: 5.6

Director: Arlene Sanford

Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Lifetime movies are more than just sappy biopics and salacious thrillers. Proving as much is this 2009 romantic comedy, in which a big city publicist (Kristin Chenoweth) has her life uprooted after her fiancé cheats on her with her boss. Seeking a change of pace, she takes a job in Montana, where she discovers a whole new series of misadventures and romantic entanglements. Anna Chlumsky co-stars in the film.

IMDb rating: 5.6

Director: Mikael Salomon

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Based on a novella by horror legend Stephen King, this 2014 film stars Maria Bello as mystery writer Tess Thorne, who is the victim of a brutal rape by a stranger after she gets stranded in upstate Massachusetts. Instead of going to the police, Tess takes matters into her own hands by enacting murderous revenge against her attacker and his accomplices.

IMDb rating: 5.6

Director: Stan Brooks

Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Taking family drama to extreme places is this 2014 flick, which stars Abigail Breslin and Mira Sorvino. In the film, two sisters have had enough of their abusive mother and her alcoholic ways, so they decide to do the only logical thing in their opinion: drug her before drowning her in the bathtub. The story is loosely based on actual events.  

IMDb rating: 5.6

Director: Mikael Salomon

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

While most movie buffs are familiar with “The Blue Lagoon” from the 1980s—the scandalous film that made Brooke Shields a household name—they might be less familiar with this 2012 reboot. Similarly based on a novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, this film once again finds two teenagers stranded on an island, where they learn to survive while they fall in love. Appearing in a guest role is actor Christopher Atkins, who starred opposite Shields in the original version.

IMDb rating: 5.7

Director: Kelly Makin

Runtime: 1 hour, 37 minutes

This 2004 flick finds Lifetime once again flexing its muscles in the romantic comedy department. The movie stars Denise Richards as a divorced wedding planner with a new client and a major dilemma on her hands: she's fallen in love with the groom-to-be (Dean Cain).

 

IMDb rating: 5.8

Director: Robert Dornhelm

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

The trial of Amanda Knox—an American student accused of murder while living in Italy in 2007—sparked an ongoing media circus and no shortage of controversial opinions. It was only a matter of time before Lifetime offered its own take on the whole affair. The result was this 2011 movie, which starred actress Hayden Panettiere as Knox. Expect plenty of melodrama and some taut performances, but nothing that will shed new light on Italy’s “trial of the decade."
 

IMDb rating: 5.8

Director: Sam Pillsbury

Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes

In 1998’s “Fifteen and Pregnant," Kirsten Dunst stars as a Tina Spangler, a 15-year-old girl who must weigh her options—abortion, adoption, or life as a single parent—after getting impregnated by her boyfriend right before he breaks up with her. Based on a true story, the film came out years before movies and TV shows like “Juno” and “Teen Mom."

IMDb rating: 5.8

Director: Nick Gomez

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

The original female killer—Lizzie Borden—got a Lifetime movie of her own in 2014, with actress Christina Ricci playing the title role. As the legend goes, Borden took an axe and murdered her stepmother and father, possibly delivering up to 40 whacks—if the iconic poem is to be believed. Despite an overwhelming amount of evidence, the jury set Borden free, though history has come up with a different verdict: guilty as charged.
 

IMDb rating: 5.8

Director: Eric Laneuville

Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes

A Lifetime movie popular enough to spawn its own series, “The Client List” stars Jennifer Love Hewitt as Samantha “Sam” Horton, a mother of three who takes a job as an erotic masseuse in order to pay the bills. After being arrested, Horton turns over her client list in exchange for a reduced sentence, and even ends up dispensing advice to the wives of her former clients. The film is based on a prostitution scandal that rocked Odessa, Texas in 2004. Cybill Shepherd co-stars in the film.

IMDb rating: 5.9

Director: Mike Robe

Runtime: 2 hours

"Northern Lights" is one of several movies featured on Lifetime that is based on the work of romance novel author Nora Roberts. A homicide detective named Nate Burns (Eddie Cibrian) decides to move to a small town in Alaska and accept the job of chief of police. He moves from Baltimore not too long after his former partner is killed, and later meets a pilot named Meg Galligan (LeAnn Rimes). She asks for his help in finding out what happened to her father, who went missing. The film then turns into a story of mystery, romance, and a little bit of fear when Meg and Nate discover they are being followed as they find answers in their investigation.

IMDb rating: 5.9

Director: Nancy Savoca

Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Adapted from a best-selling novel by V.C. Andrews, this movie takes place six years after the events of 2014’s “Petals on the Wind,” which appears later on the list. In the film, married couple Christopher and Cathy have moved into a new home and started a new life. However, the past comes back to haunt them in the form of a mysterious woman named Corrine, who moves in next door and begins to terrorize them. As it turns out, Corrine is both Christopher’s and Cathy’s mother, meaning the married couple are in fact brother and sister.  

IMDb rating: 5.9

Director: Ralph Hemecker

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

In this 2007 Lifetime movie, Heather Locklear stars as Reese Gilmore, a talented chef who moves to Wyoming after a fatal shooting occurs at her restaurant in Boston. While out on a hike, Gilmore witnesses another murder, but when the police arrive, the body is gone. Soon, Gilmore starts to wonder if what she saw was even real. As of 2016, this film was #10 on a list of most-watched telecasts in the network’s history.

IMDb rating: 5.9

Director: Mikael Salomon

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Heather Locklear returned to the fold for this 2008 Lifetime movie, which eschews the typical murder and mayhem for much lighter fare. In the film, Locklear plays a divorced mother who goes to Hawaii for her 40th birthday, and ends up falling for a much younger man.

IMDb rating: 5.9

Director: Douglas Barr

Runtime: 1 hour, 29 minutes

Months before she debuted as Penny in “The Big Bang Theory," Kaley Cuoco starred as Alyson in this Lifetime movie about a physically fit girl who thinks that overweight people have an excuse for everything that goes wrong in their lives. To prove as much—and make a documentary on the subject—Alyson dons a fat suit to her summer classes, soon discovering just how wrong her initial assumptions truly were.

IMDb rating: 5.9

Director: James Hayman

Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Childhood friends Katie (Lucy Hale) and Sara (Phoebe Strole) are convinced that nothing can come between them—until they join rival sororities at the same college. So goes this 2009 Lifetime movie, which sees the two friends and their respective sororities engaging in all-out warfare. The rivalry is so intense that the girls' own mothers end up in a showdown of their own.

IMDb rating: 6.0

Director: Gary Harvey

Runtime: 1 hour, 29 minutes

Based on “The Cinderella Pact” by Sarah Strohmeyer, this 2010 Lifetime movie follows a frumpy magazine editor named Nola Devlin (Poppy Montgomery), who secretly writes sassy lifestyle columns under a pen name. Inspired by her own alter ego, Devlin and two friends make a pact to start shedding the pounds. Romance, comedy, and drama ensues.

IMDb rating: 6.0

Director: Stephen Tolkin

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

From the popular novel by Nora Roberts came this 2007 feature about a psychic woman who returns to her hometown, where she finds danger and romance. This was one of four Lifetime movies based on a Nora Roberts novel in 2007 alone.

IMDb rating: 6.1

Director: Nikole Beckwith

Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes

After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, this award-winning dramatic thriller was acquired by Lifetime in 2015. In the film, a kidnapping victim (Saoirse Ronan) is freed from captivity, and then returned home to a family she can barely remember. While no longer subject to her abductor’s cruel whims, the victim now faces an entirely new battle, as she struggles to bond with those who truly love her.
 

IMDb rating: 6.1

Director: Vic Sarin

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

This 2012 Lifetime movie centers on a seductive teenage girl (Jessica Lowndes), who displays violent behavior after her boyfriend tries to end the relationship, which is bad news for the boyfriend’s mother, hence the title. Lowndes also stars in the follow-up, “A Father’s Nightmare," which is currently in post-production.  

IMDb rating: 6.1

Director: Tom McLoughlin

Runtime: 1 hour, 24 minutes

Marcia Gay Harden plays a mother with a nightmare of her own in this 2004 Lifetime movie. Her daughter catches an sexually transmitted infection at the young age of 14. Soon an outbreak has spread amongst the teenagers of Halifax High School, and Harden's character faces a backlash as she tries to warn others. While never explicitly stated, the film is loosely inspired by a syphilis outbreak from 1996, which affected over 200 teenagers in an upper-middle class suburb of Atlanta.

IMDb rating: 6.1

Director: Tom McLoughlin

Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Another Lifetime movie ripped straight from the headlines, this 2008 film sees a group of entitled, snotty high school cheerleaders wreaking havoc on their Texas town. Caught in the midst of the drama is their coach, Emma Carr (Jenna Dewan Tatum), who works overtime to keep her team together, and then struggles to keep her own job. Think “Bring It On” meets “Mean Girls."

IMDb rating: 6.1

Director: Deborah Chow

Runtime: 1 hour, 26 minutes

In this film adaptation of V.C. Andrews’ outrageously popular gothic novel, audiences follow the four Dollanganger children as they move into Grandma’s house after their father dies in a car accident. Unfortunately, Grandma (Ellen Burstyn) is a heartless, psychotic vessel of a woman, who locks them in the attic, causing both psychological and physical damage. This movie kicked off a series, which culminated in 2015 with “Seeds of Yesterday."

IMDb rating: 6.2

Director: Mike Robe

Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Another entry from the Nora Roberts movie collection, this 2007 film tells the story of a wealthy stock trader who bequeaths his massive Montana farm to his three daughters—all of whom are half-sisters to one another. There’s just one catch: the daughters must live on the property together for a year before they can officially own it. While that deal might sound simple enough on the surface, the three daughters had not yet met, which paves the way for some bitter personality clashes. Meanwhile, some of the father’s former enemies will do whatever it takes to get their hands on his property.

IMDb rating: 6.2

Director: Karen Moncrieff

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

The second installment in the “Flowers in the Attic” series, this 2014 film takes place a decade after the three remaining Dollanganger children escaped from Grandma’s attic. As they struggle to move on from their past, Cathy, Christopher, and Carrie encounter demons new and old. Eventually, Cathy embarks on a quest for revenge against both her mother and grandmother, which involves seducing her own stepfather.

IMDb rating: 6.3

Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Neve Campbell stars as Kate Burkholder in this 2013 thriller, about a series of murders in a small Amish farming community. The first murders occured when Kate was just a young Amish girl, and the experience prompted her to leave that world behind. Fifteen years later, Kate returns as the chief of police and finds herself grappling with yet another murder.

IMDb rating: 6.3

Director: Robert Mulligan

Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes

In this 1988 melodrama, a young boy forges a connection with his Jamaican housekeeper (Whoopi Goldberg) as his world crumbles around him. Meanwhile, it turns out there’s much more to the housekeeper than first meets the eye. Initially released in theaters before Lifetime movies were even a thing, the film was later picked up for distribution by Lifetime.  

IMDb rating: 6.3

Director: Karen Moncrieff

Runtime: 1 hour, 29 minutes

After failing to find an audience elsewhere, this film was picked up by Lifetime and aired in 2014. Featuring a fairly reputable cast—which includes Kate Beckinsale and Nick Nolte—the movie follows a disgraced lawyer named Cate (played by Beckinsale), who takes on a pro bono appeal in order to get her credentials back and regain custody of her daughter. At first, Cate believes that her client is innocent, and even gets the sentence overturned. After discovering her client did in fact commit the crime, Cate takes extreme measures to put a murderer back behind bars.

IMDb rating: 6.4

Director: David Jackson

Runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutes

In this 2015 holiday flick, a workaholic lawyer must rid a bed and breakfast of Daniel, its resident Christmas spirit, before the property can be appraised and sold. However, things get a little complicated when Daniel turns out to be quite the charmer, and an attractive charmer at that. Can the movie’s protagonist really fall in love with a ghost?

IMDb rating: 6.5

Director: Courteney Cox

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

“Friends” alumni Courteney Cox took on directing duties for this 2012 TV movie, which was based on a 2009 documentary—and vicariously based on actual events. In the film, husband and father Thomas Montgomery gets lured into the devious world of online chat rooms, where he becomes obsessed with an 18-year-old girl named Jessi (aka talhotblond). Vying for Jessi’s attention is Montgomery’s co-worker, Brian Barrett, whom Montgomery eventually murders. Meanwhile, both Montgomery (aka marinesniper) and Jessi have been catfishing each other the whole time.

IMDb rating: 6.5

Director: Jason Priestley

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Taking a page from the "Sleepless in Seattle" playbook, this heartfelt drama centers on spoiled shopaholic Crystal Carruthers (Amy Acker), who comes across a letter to Santa written by a 7-year-old girl named Olivia (Emma Duke). In the letter, Olivia asks Santa to send her widowed father (David Haydn-Jones)—who owns a snow-plowing business and operates a local soup kitchen—a new wife for Christmas. In order to get close to Olivia's father, Crystal volunteers at the soup kitchen, and learns some truly valuable lessons about life, love, and the holiday spirit.
 

IMDb rating: 6.7

Director: Paul A. Kaufman

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Before she was the best-selling author of the “Harry Potter” series, J.K. Rowling struggled with the loss of her mother, an abusive husband, and single parenting. That and more gets chronicled in this 2011 biopic, which was based on Sean Smith’s biography. Suffice to say, it all works out in the end.

IMDb rating: 6.7

Director: Mick Jackson

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Representing one of Lifetime’s most ambitious efforts, this 2008 movie stars Dermot Mulroney as Dr. David Henry, who helps his wife deliver twins in 1964. Upon discovering that one of the twins has Down syndrome, Dr. Henry gives her away to a nurse (Emily Watson), and then tells his wife that the baby died. Taking place over the course of decades, the movie chronicles the father’s ongoing efforts to reconcile with both his abandoned daughter and his selfish deed.

IMDb rating: 6.7

Director: Mark Piznarski

Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Adapted from a novel by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet, “Sundays at Tiffany’s” stars Alyssa Milano as Jane Claremont, an engaged theater manager with a wedding right around the corner. However, Jane’s plans get waysided by the emergence of Michael, an imaginary friend from childhood who’s now a full grown, flesh and blood man. As Jane becomes disillusioned with her fiancé, she starts to wonder if Michael is both literally and figuratively the man of her dreams.

IMDb rating: 6.8

Director: Lee Rose

Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes

The truth about Jane is that she’s having romantic encounters with another girl at her school. After getting her heart broken, Jane struggles to come clean about her sexuality with her own mother (Stockard Channing) while getting ostracized by her peers. This film was nominated for Outstanding TV Movie at the GLAAD Media Awards.

IMDb rating: 6.9

Director: Laura Dern, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bonnie Hunt, Ashley Judd, Sharon Maguire

Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Featuring a bevy of A-list talent both on screen and off, "Call Me Crazy: A Five Film" is an anthology of short films, with each short film centered around mental illness. It follows in the footsteps of a previous anthology called "Five," which told separate stories about breast cancer, and similarly included a range of top female talent both in front of and behind the camera.  

IMDb rating: 6.9

Director: Peter Werner

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Lifetime once again explores teenage pregnancy in this 2005 film about a 16-year-old girl named Jacey Jeffries (Danielle Panabaker), who gets impregnated by her boyfriend and decides to keep the baby. Soon after, Jacey attends a new high school, where the other students aren’t aware that she’s a mother. So that Jacey might lead a normal life at her new school, she pretends that her daughter is her sister while her own mother pretends to be the infant’s mother.
 

IMDb rating: 6.9

Director: Tom McLoughlin

Runtime: 1 hour, 24 minutes

Hot on the heels of 2004’s “Mean Girls” came this similar sounding TV movie, about a teenage girl who flirts with the same guy that the most popular girl in school has a crush on, and then gets harshly bullied as a result. It’s based on the book “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls” by Rachel Simmons, which brought the largely overlooked issue of female high school bullying to much wider attention.  

IMDb rating: 7.0

Director: Christian Duguay

Runtime: 2 hours, 19 minutes

Famous French fashion designer Coco Chanel makes for a compelling subject in this 2008 biopic, which chronicles her rise from child orphan to global icon. Along the way, Chanel experiences hardship, heartbreak, and outrageous success. Starring as Chanel in her later years is actress Shirley MacLaine, who received a Golden Globe Nomination for her performance.

IMDb rating: 7.3

Director: Peter Levin

Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Based on the real-life exploits of its title character, this inspiring biopic follows Liz Murray (Thora Birch) as she runs away from an abusive environment, lives on the streets, and then turns her life around after losing her mother to AIDS. Not only does Murray work her way through high school, but she ends up being admitted into one of the country’s most prestigious universities.

IMDb rating: 7.7

Director: Peter Werner

Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Taking inspiration from parts of a Reader's Digest article, this 2004 film stars Kristen Bell as Gracie Thompson, a teenage girl with a drug-addicted mother. As Gracie's mother proves derelict in her duties, Gracie is forced to raise four half siblings by herself. Also starring in the film is actress Anne Heche, who received an Emmy nomination for her performance.