It is a given in cinema that suburban, middle-class domestic bliss is sustained by a web of little white lies born out of the desire to avoid conflict over subjects one partner may deceive themselves into believe are no big deal. The pretentiously-titled but engrossing SYMPATHY, SAID THE SHARK - feature debut of Devin Lawrence produced by GHOST ADVENTURES/PARANORMAL CHALLENGE reality show star Zak Bagans - shuffles overlapping first person POV takes of its central triangle to explode all of them for a young couple and their estranged third wheel, the selfishness behind the seemingly sincere intentions of those lies, and the trajectory of those deceits towards their current deadly dilemma. A rainy date night at home for District Attorney clerk Justin (Lea Coco, SINISTER 2) and his Starbucks manager wife Lara (Melinda Cohen, PERFECT HIDEOUT) goes all to hell with the abrupt arrival of Church (Dominic Bogart, EXTRACTED) - Justin's ne'er–do–well friend from his days as a drug dealer - high as a kite, clutching a briefcase, sporting a flesh wound, and claiming that a cop tried to run him down. Although Lara believes that they have not seen Church since they left Los Angeles after Justin got his degree, Justin soon confesses that he got bankrupt Church a job for the DA as a runner. Lara has not been so truthful either, revealing to Church when he needs something to calm his nerves that she drinks behind two years sober Justin's back; but she ends up preempting Church's bombshell about their brief affair when he starts feeling as though the couple have made him a scapegoat for all of their own problems. When it becomes apparent that the threat from without is not a product of Church's drug-addled mind, Justin reveals what he knows of the evidence in the briefcase Church was supposed to deliver. The film stumbles in its buildup of tension once the threat becomes more concrete and less ambiguous, but quickly regains it as the trio's attempts to band together are continually hindered by not only the love triangle but the ever unraveling series of lies and resentments compounded by yet new deceptions. The overlapping POVs not only reveal things one character might have missed occurring between the other two (although it does slow down some of the forward momentum later in the film), but the filmmakers also make clever use of reflections that do not expose the placement of the camera on the actor but also seem to force the character to look at themselves while betraying the others. The finale also goes one twist too many to be as clever as it might have been (even if it is logical in retrospect), but the central performances are engaging and dramatically satisfying. Nicholas Gonzalez (THE PURGE: ANARCHY) and Richard Gunn (DARK PLACE) are featured in prominent supporting roles.