This is the tragic story of wealthy, elitist parents suffocating their children.

Young Danny's first love is playing the guitar; he has genuine musical talent and no interest in attending college. Young Emma is only interested in being close to her boyfriend, who had been admitted to Yale; but she has no interest in actually being admitted to Yale herself. It was the parents, led by two zealous mothers, that spearheaded the dirty tricks and sweetheart deals to have their kids admitted to prestigious universities. Were the parents doing it for the kids, or for themselves?

Operation Varsity Blues led to a total of 50 indictments, 35 of which were parents. Nearly $25 million in bribes exchanged hands in order to pull the strings. Coaches were indicted from Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, University of Texas, USC, Wake Forest, and Yale. The sting operation exposed admissions procedures at colleges that were already rotten to the core.

The film works closely to the cases of the two notorious Hollywood actresses for the storylines of Bethany (the mother of Emma) and Caroline (the mother of Danny),who work closely with Rick Singer, who facilitated the hanky-panky with as many as 800 families in the scam. In the film, Rick is known as "The Motivator"; but, in truth, he is The Fixer.

The filmmakers took a sympathetic approach in the portrayal of the kids. Both Emma and Danny knew that there was foul play, but they placed their trust in their parents and easily fell under their sway. In the home stretch of the film, Caroline seeks to throw herself on the mercy of the court and "beg forgiveness" like Felicity. By contrast, Bethany vows to plead not guilty and fight the system like Lori.

The most moving line in the film is when young Danny tells his parents, "Sorry I wasn't the son you wanted." It was pitiful to witness the young people's dreams of playing the guitar and pursuing love crumble, due to the greed and vanity of their parents and an out-of-control system of higher education that has lost its way in serving young people.

This movie found a nice balance of creating horrible unlikeable characters. (based on real people, but NOT Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman, or anyone alive or dead... for legal reasons.) while still having the characters be ones you love to hate.

I added an extra star for Emma's hunky boyfriend, Brian!

Very well written acted and directed. Lifetime has done a good job at showing the scandal from the point of view of the parents and the children. Managed to incorporate in a composite manner the details and aspects that we know from the headlines. It's nice to go beyond the headlines into their homes to see the detailed genesis of the crime from good intentions and love of their kids to over the line. Felicity and Lori aren't portrayed as characters. But we know who is based on who roughly. Really found Penélope Anne Miller sympathetic as the anxious mom faking her unknowing son's scores and sports record for a place in Stanford. Mia Kirchner is great as a different kind of mom pushier and less repentant. Really hams it up here in this juicy role. There are some pretty funny moments along the way. But things get serious when we get to see the fallout on the kids who have to face the consequences of exposure. The most moving aftermath I've seen in a Lifetime movie for a while.

Highly recommended