Lifetime movie celebrates ersatz sisterhood

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Lifetime, having established itself as one of the most mockable TV brands, is in the midst of a makeover, trading its women in peril for women in pathos. Sometimes it works: “Army Wives,” the “Grey’s Anatomy”-esque soap set on a military post, has been a bona fide ratings success. Sometimes it falters: The dramedy “Side Order of Life” tried to convert personal tragedy into unsatisfying quirk.
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And sometimes it’s so confectionary that its lightness feels like a mission in itself: reassuring women of a certain age that everything will work out fine. So it is with “It Was One of Us,” the movie that premieres tomorrow night at 9.

Written by the Boston-bred sister team of Nell Scovell and Claire Lazebnik and directed by Scovell, the film follows five former college roommates who gather for their 10-year reunion. It’s a bit of a false pretense, since it turns out that four of them live near New York City, but let’s forgive. The point is, all of them are predictably unsatisfied with life: There is the dermatologist (Marissa Jaret Winokur) who struggles to pay her bills; the wealthy housewife (Sarah Joy Brown) who regrets her lack of identity; the investment banker (Kira Clavell) who doesn’t have a social life; the college professor (Elisa Donovan) who can’t stand being poor; and the socialite (Jordan Ladd) who’s estranged from her wealthy family.

After they convene at an unnamed college - brief Boston exterior alert! - they snag a key to their old dorm room, which looks like a suite in a boutique hotel. Passing around bottles of champagne, they proceed to share deep secrets from the past decade. Turns out that all of them have sinned, crimes ranging from adultery to plagiarism to insider trading. A week later, identical letters arrive at each of their homes, threatening to expose the secrets unless they each pony up $20,000.

Under the assumption that the blackmailer is the friend with the clean record, the characters set about investigating each other’s sins. “C.S.I.” this isn’t; it’s more of an excuse for yoga jokes, gags about oral sex, and unsurprising fantasies. Every childbearing woman on TV, after all, wants to be seduced by an English lit graduate student with powerful-looking biceps, right? Or a Spanish soccer star who can’t wait for his divorce to go through? Or a husband who is man enough to put the kids to bed alone?

In fact, husbands and boyfriends barely register in this film; they occasionally beg our heroines to share their troubles, then step aside glumly when rejected once again. Lifetime is far more interested in the vagaries of female friendship. And it’s here that the film has potential to be a dark, sharp study of schadenfreude: Each character seems to find a little bit of glee in learning that her friends aren’t as happy as they look.

But the edges are decidedly rounded here. The movie settles on celebrating sisterhood - another false pretense, since these characters clearly haven’t been close enough to share or trust. Still, they go through the motions of accusing, forgiving, and trading big hugs at the end. Guilt doesn’t even seem to factor into the equation. And “peril” isn’t part of the vocabulary.