Friends 'Til The End
There is a serious problem when your friend just doesn't want to be like you, but wants to be you.
Every once in awhile I like to review a movie in my guilty pleasure
library. Truth be told, I have lots of them, but a gal cannot reveal all
her secrets at once. So for this installment of guilty pleasure, I submit
my review of Friends 'Til The End. When I saw Friends 'Til The End for the
first time it was aired on VH1. It was part of their line-up under the
category "Movies That Rock." Recently, it aired on the Lifetime Movie
Network with the theme 'Back To School Weekend'." For Shannen Doherty
fans, this is a movie that is sure to have you feeling charmed. I like her
and I know she gets slack, but the way I look at it is, if you don't want
to watch it, don't! I enjoyed this movie and that's why I wanted to write a
review.
The movie, as a whole, was impressive in the guilty pleasure standards. I
love this kind of stuff in movies where there is a creative and motivated
person in college who unwittingly becomes entangled in a friendship that at
first appears innocent and sweet, but then unravels into a manic and
disillusioned frenzy with a dangerous fallout. The person has to fight and
come out stronger than before while learning more about who they are as a
person. The main focus of the movie is the music and, quite frankly, it
was good. The songs, the lyrics, the stage presence was just awesome. There
is even one scene where the band is shooting a video to their song called
"Stop."
As children, Heather Romley (Shannen Doherty) and Suzanne Boxer (Jennifer
Blanc) competed to be the best singer at competitions. Both appeared to
look the part and their talents got them far. But for Suzanne, things
didn't turn out the way she wanted and this disturbed Suzanne. For Heather,
her talents were becoming further developed as she continued to work on
reaching her goals. Heather will never know, until maybe too late, that the
girl she competed with for so many years ago has come back into her life
and this time she has a plan, a dangerous and deadly plan.
Years pass and Heather is now enrolled in college. She is sweetheart of her
sorority, sings in a band called Dead Pink and is dating Simon (Jason
London), a guitarist in the band, who she just adores. Enter Suzanne Boxer
who now goes by the name "Zanne Armstrong." Zanne worms her way into
becoming Heather's friend, gets accepted into her sorority and, when she
finds out Dead Pink is performing in The-Battle-of-the-Bands contest, she
gets herself accepted into the band. Zanne uses her intelligence to win
over Heather's friends, trying to destroy her friendship with Alison
(Marisol Nichols) over a secret revealed and weasels her way into Simon's
bed, which results in Heather leaving the band and Zanne as the new female
lead of Dead Pink.
The only glitch that stands in Zanne's psychotic world is Brad Strum (Rafer
Weigel), someone from Zanne's past who recognizes her alter ego, Suzanne,
and who also knows her psychotic past. Now Heather's world is crashing and
she and Zanne are enemies. Zanne has also done something that can
jeopardize Heather's scholarship. The only one who believes Heather is Nick
( John Livingston) who was a bandmember and never bought the whole "Zanne
story." He has a way to help Heather get all the pieces to Zanne's "real
story," but will it come too late? Now Heather and Nick are on their own
and are going to be up against Dead Pink. The battle has begun and only one
band can win.
I enjoyed getting locked into these characters. Shannen Doherty did a fine
job and she gave a lot of energy to the movie. In my opinion, the
performance of Jennifer Blanc 's character was the best because her
demented mind carried the movie excellently. Overall, a decent cast with
lots of appeal enhanced this TV movie. Friends 'Til The End is artsy,
creative, full of flavor and combined with fun, twisted and interesting
characters, including the upbeat and catchy music that makes this an
enjoyable movie. My favorite song in this movie is "Does Anybody Hear Me?"
and also the song "Stop" is very good. So just sit back and enjoy this
tasty little movie; it sure does lure you in with its seductive premise.
Written by: Lynda Dale MacLean
Reviewers Rating: 6.5
Reader's Rating: 9.13
Reader's Votes: 91
Added: 30-Aug-2003
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