So many child actors fall from grace. So, seeing Nicole Tom transition into an adult acting career (she's commendable, here) is the selling point with this "Tubi Exclusive" that premiered in December 2022.
How Tubi came to produce exclusive, original streaming content: In April 2020, FOX purchased the successful with-ad streaming platform, which has since grown to Smart TVs -- as well as PCs and laptops. Two years into the deal, by May 2022: Tubi announced their plans to bring 100 new, originals titles to the FOX-owned streaming service. Prisoner of Love is the latest.
Now, when you read reviews on these Tubi-FOX produced films, reviewers namedrop cable TV's "Lifetime Network," so as to describe the production values and damsel-in-distress plot lines. That Lifetime déjà vu is no accident: the production company shingle on Prisoner of Love is MarVista Entertainment, the distribution/studio behind those numerous Lifetime (as well as Hallmark and ION) films, as FOX purchased MarVista in December 2021.
Yeah, there's some smart cookies running the show at FOX. The business model is analogous to Paramount Studios getting into the home video business during the Blockbuster Video '90s, as the studio would front 1.5 to 2.5 million to produce original, low-budget content for the direct-to-video market. Same business model: only, instead of VHS tapes and DVDs, it's direct-to-streaming. And, according to the IMDb: Prisoner of Love was produced for 1 million. So there you go.
The cinematic -- as well as real life -- doppelganger, here, is the Lifetime Channel-distributed (uh-huh) New York Prison Break (2017); that film starred an incredible-in-the-role Penelope Ann Miller as Joyce Mitchell of the infamous New York's Clinton Correctional, Shawshank-style breakout. Here, instead of Joyce Miller's prison-employed seamstress falling in forbidden love: we have Alabama, Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Lt. Vicky White breaking out her prison-lover.
In the former film: Mitchell and her lover, survived: we get both sides of their story pulling together the plot. In this latter film: Vicky White, committed suicide when law enforcement closed in. As result, no one really knew Ms. White's sad, mental state; her side of the story. And Casey White, her lover, a convicted murderer, isn't to be trusted with his "version" of events (the Pizza-Sex scene). So, what's left: news reports to pull the story together. The rest are composite characters (portrayed by serviceable, yet unknown Georgia actors, where this was produced) because, well, this is BASED on a "true story" -- and not the least biographical.
Regardless of those non-bio script compressions and dramatic-narrative liberties, ex-comedy scribe Guy Nicolucci (of the brain candy-enjoyable, 2022 Tubi-exclusive Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trail) hits all the major plot points and gets the job done for those who would rather not dig through Google article links to get the story. Director Jodi Binstock (of cable's popular Z Nation and enjoyable A Snow Globe Christmas; I enjoy those Hallmark X-Mas flicks, so sue me) works that paltry million dollar budget effectively into, while not a visually stunning film, is TV movie-production solid. The difference is that MarVista is now producing those same "Lifetime" films, only for FOX-Tubi.
The curious qualm of the film is its length. Sure, this isn't intended for commercial TV, which means the film would need to be 80-minutes tight to fit into a two-hour block (120-mintues) with 40-minutes of commercials. But at 100 minutes, the proceedings, here, meander a bit -- into an undeveloped subplot about how the new, interim Sheriff-boss got his job at the prison, as well as the mutual flirting with a female FBI agent on the case (both non-composite and non-factual). That superfluous sidebar could have easily shaved 20-minutes off the running time. Or, keep the 100-minute running time -- but tell us more about the damaged psychology (at least guess) of what drove Vicky White to throw away a respected, 17-year career on the cusp of an honorable retirement. Again: Vicky committed suicide, so we -- and the filmmakers -- can never know. Binstock and Nicolucci should, however, be commended for making solid, educated guesses as to how the forbidden relationship played out.
Remember, this is a (streaming) TV movie: As long as one comes, not come for the factual accuracy (the main negative-qualm of those familiar with the case and those personally-related to those involved in said case) and psychological-subjective story telling (from the characters' points of view), you'll enjoy your watch.
Ah, but since the many are predispositioned to hate any Hallmark or Lifetime movies produced under the MarVista banner, and their now-new Tubi-streaming variants -- and those who speak in the positive of said films -- will be disliked. Then, again: there are those familiar with the case who don't like the film, or the related reviews, solely on that basis. And so it goes.
