When it comes to your standard-issue Lifetime movie, there’s “predictably bad” and “predictably good” — and don’t forget the handkerchief and Bon Bons.
Tonight’s offering, “Of Two Minds,” falls into the latter category.
This story of a woman forced, by circumstance, to deal with her schizophrenic younger sister, has enough realistic twists and turns to keep it interesting — and to keep it from sinking into a morass of sentimentality and feelgood smarminess.
That’s due, in large part, to the two leads, Kristin Davis and Tammy Blanchard, around whom “Of Two Minds” revolves.
Davis plays Billie Clark, a successful Oregon businesswoman with a devoted, self-employed husband, Rick (Joel Gretsch) and two good kids — tween daughter Molly (Mackenzie Aladjem) and teenage son Davis (Alexander Le Bas).
Their close-to-idyllic lifestyle (they live in a beautiful lakefront house — very bucolic) is thrown into chaos by the death of Billie’s elderly mother, who’s been caring for Billie’s younger sister, Elizabeth (Blanchard) in their big, rambling house.
The thirtysomething Elizabeth, or “Baby” as everyone calls her, suffers from schizophrenia, and has been estranged from Billie for years (for reasons never made clear, although there are allusions to sibling rivalries and Billie’s inability to deal with her sister’s emotional condition).
Billie, figuring the decent thing to do is to take Baby back to live with her family in Portland, does just that — but the sudden appearance of this muttering, wildly unpredictable, slightly unkempt stranger plunges the entire Clark household into an emotional maelstrom that plays itself out over the course of tonight’s two-hour movie.
Davis (“Sex and the City”) and Blanchard (“Moneyball”) are excellent in their respective roles — lending their characters just the right amount of nuance without overplaying their hands (a more difficult task for Blanchard, who pulls it off without getting too hammy).
Gretsch, Aladjem and especially Le Bas — whose Davis finds he’s not so different from his aunt on many levels — provide excellent support, as does the always reliable Louise Fletcher as Billie and Baby’s wise aunt.
Having no experience dealing with schizophrenia, or with anyone suffering from the illness, I can’t vouch for the realism of Blanchard’s portrayal of Baby (or for the effect it has on the Clark family).
But, at the very least, “Of Two Minds” doesn’t pander to its audience, and tries earnestly to give us a sense of what it is like to deal with a very real affliction.
And that alone is worth the time you’ll invest in hunkering down for what, in the end, proves to be a satisfying viewing experience.