Plot: Victoria Robinson (Golden Brooks) has the perfect life or at least it seems to be from the outside, with a loving husband, a lavish lifestyle, and a bright future, though things are not always as they appear. In truth, her husband Carl (Gary Anthony Sturgis) is not a faithful partner and while he is about to make millions in a business deal, his cheating ways threaten to sabotage his success. His side woman has decided to take a stand and demand a big portion of his revenue from selling his business, which he has to turn over or she will reveal the affair to Victoria. Meanwhile, Victoria herself is feeling neglected and lonely, since Carl is always at work and tending to other matters, leaving her on her own most of the time. A young man who works for Carl shows some interest and the two spark a quick bond, but will Victoria cross that line and in either case, what will happen as all the lies start to unravel?
Entertainment Value: I wanted to check this one out because I hadn’t seen much content from Urban Movie Channel and this movie had some Lifetime thriller vibes, so I figured it might be a good choice. As it turns out, Everything That Glitters does indeed have the melodrama, betrayal, cheating, and other drama you’d find in a Lifetime thriller, which was a plus. On the downside, the movie doesn’t lean on these often enough and that leads to some slow stretches, which the thin narrative isn’t able to support. The script tries to account for that with several side threads, but whenever we leave Victoria’s story, the movie grinds down to a crawl. The business deal and blackmail stories just aren’t interesting, especially when compared to Victoria’s more layered, drama charged narrative. She is the central focus of Everything That Glitters, so I wish the material stuck with her more often, instead of wandering off into the side stories so often. So to me, when Victoria is around, this is a solid thriller with some fun melodrama, but once the movie shifts focus, it loses steam and sputters out. Even so, for those looking for some drama, it is a decent watch.
In case you couldn’t tell from the above, Golden Brooks is one of the movie’s strongest assets and the film more or less sinks or swims by her presence. She is a capable lead and seems to thrive with the drama laced material, though she does take a more restrained approach at times than I’d prefer. I would love to see her just unleashed on some wild melodrama, but she handles this material well and goes a little over the top when the script offers the chance. She is given a likable, but flawed character and I appreciated the time taken to develop Victoria as more than a trophy wife, as not all stories of this kind would do that. I think that the movie is so much better in any of her scenes speaks volume about her screen presence, as she is consistently able to elevate the material here. The other performances were mostly fine, but no one else shined quite as brightly as Brooks. The cast also includes Clifton Powell, Gary Anthony Sturgis, Selynne Silver, and Terrell Carter.
Marc Fusion 