Big Lies in a Small Town

Seriously, I hate to say it, but right away I could tell this was a movie stacked with Canadian actors.

Dont get me wrong there are some A list Canadians that I admire and know are brilliantly talented.

In the range of A to D list, these are all very clearly D list actors.

To be fair, the plot was incredibly weak and unrealistic, this may have given way to the emptiness , non emotional and disjointed plot lines.

It felt like the actors were reading a script and not living the character.

I hung in watching because its -40 below outside,forced to stay home... I was able to play solitair on my phone at the same time, win and watch.

That should say it all.

Formula plot with unrealistic scenarios. Average to below average acting with no likeable characters. The mother (Rhonda Dent) is actually only 3yrs older than her supposed 18yr old daughter (Kristina Paras) and it showed.

Totally unrealistic scenes such as the mother being allowed to wander all over an active murder scene stepping around the forensics team and handling everything in sight as she wanted to call by and feed the victim's cat!

For someone who was so bonded and obsessed with her daughter, it took her an unnaturally long time to enquire after her daughter's welfare when she (the mother) finally gained consciousness in hospital.

Laughable ending.

Can't understand the high ratings.

OK, we don't expect afternoon movies to be good and this one didn't disappoint.

Stopping at a dilapidated petrol station in the middle of nowhere is never a good idea in this type of film, particularly when it's staffed by creepy guys straight from Zombie Central Casting.

Have the almost identical mother & daughter (apparently the actors are only a few years apart in age) not watched the right films?

The mother's behaviour over her daughter's unexplained disappearance is strange: waking up in hospital, "Where's my daughter?" Is not the first but the last question she asks before roaming empty corridors opening random doors.

(Stranger still that she's not asked for her credit card or health insurance to settle the bill before wandering off)

Local sheriff instantly dismisses everything she says, totally uninterested in her story.

In fairness, as the townsfolk all seem to be barking mad, maybe a stranger in town reporting a mysterious vanishing daughter is just one more item to be crossed off his to-do list.

Don't waste your time on this one.

This is an above average LMN movie, but has a storyline that is really very similar to another LMN movie "Into the Arms of Danger".

Similarities:

1. Young woman ready to go college goes missing just before staring school.

2. Mother (parents) frantically search for her and go through all sorts of hurdles.

3. Police are of no help whatsoever (at first), and then they catch on.

Unique Points:

1. The Santa Claus-looking character that is an established "heavy" (where are his elves?)

2. The true perpetrators - some solid-gold screwballs that I did not expect.

If you saw "Into the Arms of Danger" and enjoyed it, you'll probably enjoy this.

It looks like the LMN group has a template that they reference when they make a move - this one is the girl ready to go to college goes missing and her parents try to find her.

6/10.

Rhonda Dent stars as a mother who searches for her daughter, who goes missing after a car crash. Things get even more complicated as she discovers that many people died in mysterious circumstances following the car accident. She soon discovers a shocking possibility and needs to act quickly to get her daughter back.

This is a well-made thriller that benefits from some fine acting, especially by Rhonda Dent, who plays the mother role and is convincingly distressed and desperate to get her daughter back. It's sort of predictable halfway through in regards to who has abducted her daughter, though the why and wherefores isn't clear. There's a sense of foreboding and menace, thanks to the character and atmosphere.