Une star assassinée

I don't remember seeing another murder/mystery movie as bad as this. This movie, about a medical examiner who investigates his friend's mysterious death in a car accident, has the complete receipt for a bad movie: bad acting, boring story, lack of suspense, poor humor and no drama. I remembered seeing this movie on PAX, a TV station notable for dishing out low-budgeted and campy made-for-TV movies such as this one. TV movies, of course, do not have the edge factor or the suspense as movies from the Big Screen. But, this movie sure hit all sour tastes. The makers of this movie have missed out on an opportunity to making "Receipe for Murder" a great TV movie; the title does offer some suspense.

So, if you want a good recipe, don't watch this movie. This movie alone can kill your TV appetite.

Grade F

New York City's chief medical examiner is informed by the police that his movie star god-daughter's body has been found in a crashed car, a possible suicide. Her godfather, not satisfied that her death was an either an accident or a suicide refuses to sign off on her death certificate and begins his own investigation.

Yes, I agree with some of the other comments made. The writing could have been better. The acting was not A-list. But believe me I have seen movies that were far, far worse than this one.

Some pluses: 1) There were several suspects with possible motives and though I have a fairly good record of picking out the villain I didn't see this one until the very end. 2) Some may laugh at me but it was so refreshing to watch a movie that wasn't full of sex. I get tired of having to switch channels. 3) I liked the lead actor Gary Basaraba,(m.e./godfather)but his character should have been more forceful, after all his beloved god-daughter had just been killed! Instead he was a bit too much of a marshmallow. The director should have told him to be more forceful but obviously didn't. 4) Most of the other actors were competent although a couple of the actors didn't reach the high standards set by the majority of the cast. 5) I though the actress who played the godfather's girlfriend was very natural, pity her part wasn't larger. And 6) as I said it was a pleasant little movie - and I stuck with it and didn't change the channel.

One of those jocular TV mystery movies in which the viewer is supposed to be drawn in by the charm of the "detective" and his friends/helpers rather than by the suspense of the crime. Unfortunately, this cast feels like the leads all had the night off and the understudies had to step up. Not really bad performances, but I doubt the director remembered this the week after he finished it.

I saw Recipe for Murder on cable in the UK. For a TV movie this production has excellent acting, dialogue, directing and sound. I'm not someone who gets excited by murder mysteries, especially of the non-nonsense New York tough-guy detective type, but I couldn't turn this off before seeing it to its conclusion. My criticism of the script is that the cast seems to be 80-90% male, with a lot of testosterone flying around in the investigation interviews. Plus perhaps too many New York accents -- there ARE people in NYC who don't have strong Brooklyn/Bronx accents but they don't show up in this film. I thought the lighting was good; interesting that the director was also the cinematographer.

I wish they'd make more films with these characters! A great rainy day popcorn movie-very entertaining! Gary Basaraba (one of the most prolific character actors who isn't a household name) is smart, funny, warm, charming and believable as a medical examiner with a unique gift for the culinary arts. (The fact that he cooks for his beautiful hairstylist girlfriend-who reciprocates with a turn at the shampoo bowl-won me over. Their natural chemistry plays as very real.) And the quirky cast of other characters make it fun to watch throughput. The juxtaposition of his medical knowledge and culinary skills skill comes into significant play elsewhere in the film. The twists and turns as he investigates the mystery (what he believes is the murder of his niece, a celebrated actress whose sudden death others believe to be accident or suicide) is well plotted. If you enjoy clever cozies (ala Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, or any of the new Hallmark mystery movies) you will love this film-if you can find it. Hasn't aired in a while.