Mystery Woman: Oh Baby

I've watched Kellie Martin movies since 2016. Christmas movies, Hailey Dean mysteries, love movies, then i discovered these mystery movies she did in 2007. Wth? How did her bra size get bigger the farther back you go? She is huge and with deep cleavage in 2007, and not much there in 2016 and on. She looks small now. She looked huge then. Odd, very odd.

I have been enjoying this series of movies, since they started the marathon over the weekend . I've been a Kelly Martin fan, so I thought I would enjoy them. Ok, so they aren't the absolute best crime movies. Think of this series as the precursor to The Hailey Dean Mysteries, which I think are made better. For Hallmark movies, these are just fine. It's worth watching for entertainment and mystery solving, plus it's kind of fun to catch a blooper now and then. Hallmark Movies often have bloopers....such as one scene a shirt is open, the next all butttoned...or even a different color! Or how glasses are not filled the same during the scene...one zip it's nearly empty, the next it's full! I find these bloopers and mishaps in continuity so funny at times. Of course, it can also be annoying and distracting.

As for their mysteries... I do enjoy many of them. Of course, you can always switch to the original Hallmark Channel and watch the "fairy tales" complete with happy endings 😊

Let's face it: "Mystery Woman" "McBride" and "Jane Doe" are about as bad as you can get. They have no pacing and most of the time suffer from poor direction and bad scripts.

What these series have going for them are attractive leads, sometimes okay mysteries, and if you have an elderly relative at home who is affronted by just about everything else on television, the Hallmark Channel is perfect for them.

"Mystery Woman" stars Kellie Martin as the owner of a mystery bookstore with no customers. We know it's a mystery store because there's an establishing shot of it every two minutes. Obviously, these shows run short - there are lots of scenes where we see a car from way off driving down the street, into a driveway...endless.

In this episode, Sam winds up taking care of a fugitive's wife and baby though at first, she thinks the woman is just a family friend. The woman's husband is sought in a murder that took place on a golf course - he was seen bending over the body. There are people after him and they're not all police. At one point, he's shot and his wife leaves Sam with the baby and goes to his motel to take care of him. Sam's investigation uncovers an FBI case and blackmail.

It's hard not to like Kellie Martin as both an actress and an individual. I love her, and she's good as Samantha. She doesn't have a lot to work with, yet she always manages to give a charming performance. As her best friend and the DA, Nina Siemaszko does well with an impossible role. Clarence Williams III, as the mysterious Philby, is certainly mysterious - it's a mystery how he was cast. Dead man barely talking.

Okay if there's nothing else on television.

I don't expect writers to know highly technical details. But a golfer holding a driver on the green? No, never a driver. That's pretty basic. It is very hard to believe that no one on this movie would suggest the obvious choice of a putter instead. Admittedly, this is a minor detail that has little impact on the movie as a whole.

In this movie, Sam doesn't really begin solving the case until over half way through. Until then, her role is to fumble through trying to take care of a baby by herself. Also, it is pretty obvious who the bad guys are and who the innocent bystanders are, with one exception. There is one mystery player that is revealed toward the end. Other than that, the story pretty much wanders around toward a predictable conclusion.

The acting is borderline. Nina Siemaszko is an insult to strong capable women. She plays the ADA, Cassie, who is basically Sam's spineless stooge. It also bothers me sometimes how loosely Cassie plays with the law and legal procedures. Many of the other characters are one dimensional and exaggerated. Kellie Martin is appealing especially if you follow the series although her acting isn't great either. She always has some witty dialogue especially with Philby.

Out of the amateur detective series currently running on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, I place this series near the bottom and only above the Aurora Teagarden series for the worst slot.

I know this is a Hallmark movie, so don't expect a mega budget mega star academy award blockbuster. But once again the background music is WAY WAY TOO LOUD!!. Don't the producers, etc., review these productions before airing them? Don't they realize just how ANNOYING THE LOUD BACKGROUND MUSIC IS? It drowns out the actual dialogue. Not only that, it's the same notes OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!