Jane Doe: Vanishing Act

It's like they tried to do everything wrong. And succeded.

The initial car chase: Not a single sound is from one of those vehicles. That's when you realize this is going to be really bad.

The rest is just one politically correct cliche after another, from the happy, white middle class family with the oh-so-supporting mother to 'do this for your country'.

This show is aimed at naive under-stimulated stay-at-home soccer moms, dying for just a tiny spark of something interesting to happen in their middle class suburban lives. Wannabe suburbanites in trailer parks may like it too.

Read a book in stead.

Lea Thompson plays an ex-government agent, now a wife and mother. She is re-drafted by her ex-beau, played by Joe Penny, to help on a strange case. Thompson's work now is devising puzzles, and the government has a beaut. How can a man riding in a plane knock out the pilot, have the plane dip under the radar, and disappear from the plane in ten seconds? These types of cases were what the dashing dilettante Banacek toyed with in the '70s. The setting here is a little more ordinary but somehow more likable, thanks to its cast of Thompson, William R. Moses, and Joe Penny. It's great to see all of them again, even if it's only semi-regular TV.

This is pleasant enough fare from Dean Hargrove, who brought you the clean entertainment of Matlock, the Perry Mason TV movies, Jake and the Fatman, and many episodes of Columbo - in fact, he was the producer of the NBC Mystery Movie, which the Hallmark rotations emulate. These shows aren't as good as McCloud, Columbo, et al., but make for enjoyable watching.

By the way, all these Hallmark TV mystery movies have ratings of 6 or 7 on IMDb, which are a little on the high side, but no comments. Hmmm.

6/10 - it's interesting to see how the series all began even if this is one of the worse mysteries of the lot.

6/10 - it's interesting to see how the series all began even if this is one of the worst mysteries of the lot.

Despite having left the CSA years ago, Cathy Davis (aka Agent Jane Doe) is picked up by the organisation and taken to their secret offices behind a supermarket. Her former boss is Frank Darnell who is in a bit of a pickle. You see, the CSA had been escorting Miles Crandell to safety due to the sensitive nature of his work. They put him on a small plane but not long into the flight they lose contact with the pilot and the plane falls out of the sky below the radar for about ten seconds. The pilot comes to just in time to pull out of the dive and land the plane but somehow Crandell has vanished off the plane. Davis is brought in as a puzzle expert in order to try and solve this one and recover the valuable Jupiter Project before it is sold on the black market.

This was my second Jane Doe film (yes, I know I've come to them out of order) and although I wasn't that impressed by my first, I stumbled onto this one and a few others so decided to give the series more time. This film starts off well with an interesting premise that acts as a good mystery seed, which the film mostly builds on quite well, keeping the main answers till late in the game but getting closer to them in small steps while also adding layers of mystery. This is not to say it is a great film but it does enough to satisfy for those looking for a solid TV mystery genre movie along the lines of Columbo and Perry Mason – ie formulaic and a bit contrived but still quite entertaining.

The general production helps the film by being quite stylish and giving it a nice mystery feel. The parts of the story that deal with Cathy's family life are a bit clunky but they are wisely kept to a minimum as, although they are important in regards the ongoing series but it was not the reason I came to this specific episode. Thompson is good enough on screen but she doesn't really convince in the character – she doesn't come across as a real sharp pin and she didn't play like some form of Government agent. She is well supported though by Joe Penny, who is a real good presence throughout, even if the film doesn't use him that well. The support is mostly so-so, good enough to make the genre film work without doing much else.

Overall then, a reasonably enjoyable genre film that is built on a nice mystery. The "puzzle" aspect of the film helps to cover up for the lack of depth and for the lack of real good characters (which is what other series usually require). Worth a look if you want a solid television mystery movie.