Fox’s made for TV movie, “Truth Be Told” stars Candace Cameron Bure (Full House) and David James Elliot (JAG) and has a great cameo performance by Danny Gokey (American Idol Season 8 finalist). The movie premieres Saturday, April 16th on FOX at 7pm CST.
My family and I were able to view the movie early and initially I felt the movie was the typical G-rated, sugary sweet, family friendly movie. My wife and I watched it with our 5 year-old daughter and made it into an in-door picnic screening on Friday evening. My 5 year-old summarizes it as “A lady lied and falls in love.” But actually, after some time to think about what we watched, this movie provides some great talking points/opportunities for families that watch the movie together:
- For a child/teen, dealing with the death of a parent
- For a child/teen, dealing with the surviving parent dating
- Young love/crush
- Emotions of a tween
- Living a lie and how it snowballs
- Guilt of living a lie
- Family’s code of ethics/morals
- Honest look at relationships/marriages – it’s not easy, needs work, understanding and compromise on both sides.
The story is about a single marriage counselor, Annie Morgan (Candace Cameron Bure) who at a big social event bumps into an old college acquaintance, Mark Crane (David James Elliott) who is a recent widower and father of two. Annie befriends an eccentric business mogul at the event and he mistakenly assumes Annie and Mark are married and as he wants to hire Annie to do a marriage counseling radio talk show, he invite the “family” to his ranch in New Mexico for a hands on interview. Annie, afraid that being single will shut this once in a lifetime opportunity and Mark, who needs funding to keep open a children’s activity center, conspire to make the trip to New Mexico, come clean on their marital status and hope to get the job and funding. One thing leads to another, emotions run high, the charades continue and love blooms…
Watch the premiere of “Truth Be Told” on FOX, Saturday, April 16th at 7pm CST to see how this story ends… You will be entertained, laugh, and feel some emotions and be provided with a great opportunity to talk about the items I listed above (if they apply to your family). View the trailer for the movie at the official Family Movie Night “Truth Be Told” website or checkout the Facebook page!
I write this review as a participant in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a movie kit (a movie reel tin filled with candy and microwave popcorn) to facilitate my review and a gift code to thank me for taking the time to participate.
As a side note, some of the ways my family enjoys movies or TV shows together are:
- Make it fun, like an event – we do in-door family picnics on occasion to enjoy a family friendly movie or TV show together.
- Talk about the movie/show afterwards, what was each family members favorite part and why? What did you find the funniest, saddest, etc.
- Take turns selecting the movie or show to watch. Although our older daughter is only 5, she enjoys watching Top Chef, Minute to Win It, Cake Boss, Secrets From a Stylist – don’t assume your young kids will only watch cartoons!
- Do a theme event – i.e. watching Cat In The Hat, serve Green Eggs and Ham ( a little food coloring won’t hurt!), watching a Western, serve a meal on pie tins, etc – be creative and make it fun!
Enjoy, enjoy & enjoy your family time! Make it a priority, our lives only get busier as our kids get older, so make quality time for each other.
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