Movie: Matters of Life & Dating (Lifetime)
Premiere Date: Monday, October 22nd, 2007
Rating: 1 out of 4 Stars

Quick Synopsis: Taking life on, “one breast at a time.”

Long Synopsis: A thirty-something woman breaks things off with her current boyfriend, because she wants to try being single for a while. Soon after, she learns that she has breast cancer. She has to have a mastectomy, but is spared having to deal with any chemo or other treatments. Losing a breast completely destroys her self-image and self-confidence, as she believes she will no longer be attractive to men.

She becomes angry and resentful and fear starts to rule her life. She tries attending a support group and finds a fellow member is an old childhood friend. With the help of her new “cancer friend” and her longtime best friend, she tries re-entering the dating world. She finds a whole lot of the wrong ones and then begins dating the guy she broke up before she found out about the surgery. He still isn’t right for her, but he is safe and steady. But, with the help of her friends, she comes to the conclusion that she shouldn’t settle and opens herself up to finding the real thing.

Review: Matters of Life & Dating stars Ricki Lake (The Ricki Lake Show), Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin With Mr. Cooper) and Rachel Harris (Notes from the Underbelly). It is based on the Linda Dackman book, Up Front: Sex and the Post-Mastectomy Woman.

Matters of Life & Dating is the centerpiece of Lifetime’s Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign, which is in its 13th year. The story hits on elements of this year’s campaign, Be My Support, Be My Strength, Be My Bra. Topics like early detection, “drive-through” mastectomies, and women’s health care access for all are touched on.

The topic is an important one and with the tagline “The Irreverent and Poignant Story of Searching for Mr. Right While Living Beyond Breast Cancer,” you would expect a couple of laughs and a few tears. Unfortunately, it didn’t provide either.

Harris was good as Nicole, the best friend, but Lake, as Linda Dackman, wasn’t. You never really buy her in the role. What should be a depth of emotion, never really comes through on screen, as her portrayal is very stiff.

The movie as a whole is very uneven and doesn’t have a very good flow to it. Such an important topic deserves a better and more engaging TV treatment.

Matters of Life & Dating premieres tonight on Lifetime and again on Tuesday, October 30th.

What do you think of Lifetime’s Matters of Life & Dating?