Légitimes défenses

Deceit ... the marlo thomas one, from 2004. She was already 67 by now. After a death in the family, ellen mccarthy discovers the amount of debt she is now in. And because the body has never been found, she can't sell the house or car. This is just the beginning of the bad news. Checks for large amounts written to strange names. Her husband's friend ken claims he had no part of these secret companies. Strangers are showing up in her yard, and she's getting threatening phone calls. And answering machine messages. But she doesn't seem to tell the cops, who could have gotten involved sooner. Kind of a weakness in the story. She even finds solid evidence that someone is lying, and instead of giving it to the police, she gives it to someone she hardly knows.... i guess some of these could be chalked up to a grieving widow, but she misses so many chances to give evidence to the cops. And is it customary to have someone identify a body at the scene of a possible crime? Wouldn't they do that at the morgue, after the coroner had prepared the body? Beautiful scenery of new zealand, although i don't remember them ever talking about the location. It's okay... not quite as bad as the ratings show here. It's all explained at the end. Can't say too much, to avoid spoilers. Directed by john young... was nominated for emmies for china beach and for west wing. From the novel by clare francis. Check out francis on wikipedia dot org ....she was a (british) master sailor, and sailed across the atlantic alone. Twice.

Lifetime movies have a few plots, all of which are recycled to make dozens of movies: the insane yet seductive babysitter, the "All Above Eve" scenario in the office, except the wannabe wields a knife; baby-stealing; psycho stalkers; wife killers; and the plot of "Deceit," a man lost at sea who may or may not be dead and the wife finds out things about him that she never knew.

In this story, a man (William Devane) is lost at sea, and the man's wife (Marlo Thomas) is haunted by a police detective that is suspicious about the circumstances. She also finds out about financial improprieties in her husband's business. The question is, what does she know and when did she know it?

"Deceit" moves slowly, and the plot is convoluted enough that one soon loses interest. Marlo Thomas is a good actress who has made some very good TV movies; this isn't one of them.

At 67, she's too old to be the mother of that little boy - in fact, it's not a stretch that she could be his great-grandmother. There was easily a thirty-year gap between Thomas and the woman playing her sister.

There was one scene where Thomas was beautifully lit; if attention had been paid to the lighting throughout, she could have gotten away with it.

William Devane had too little to do.

Just not very good.

OMG I thought Marlo Thomas was playing the grandmother in the beginning-she's 66 or 67 years old and is supposed to be mother of this little boy? I don't think so-she must have funded or produced it and wanted a vacation! One of the more stupid Lifetime movies I've seen, but I am sick in bed and it was this or Wife Swap (-: Maybe I should have gone with Wife Swap...at least it would have been more believable! She does look great for her age, but really. This is one more easy to solve in first fifteen minutes-too much information that will make it easy to solve unless you are ten years old, like her son in the movie! Jeez, her sister is in her thirties!

Well, actually, I do love a murder mystery. But this one had too many red-herrings and well, nothing agains the lovely Marlo Thomas but I don't think she is able to believably play the mom of a young child. She is 66 years old and looks amazing for her age.

She has a great body and her face is fine. But because I know how old she is, well, it just wasn't believable to me.

But I did love the black top she wore that was off her shoulders. This lady can wear clothes, believe it.

The movie was okay, but just barely. William Devane is always a treat.

Just my opinion.

It was not a good mystery. I thought it was way too simple to solve way before the movie was over. I'm also tired of movies where the police are painted in an unflattering light. The supporting cast did a good job. I do think, though, that the roles were very stereotypical. There wasn't anything fresh and new about this film. The worst problem was the serious miscasting of the lead role.

I totally agree with the earlier comment on Marlo Thomas not being a good choice for the role of a mother with a young child. She's still attractive, yes, but she does look much too old to be the mother of the little boy. She looks old enough to be the mother of the actress playing her sister. I could have enjoyed the film much more if that oddity hadn't kept bothering me.

The same applies for William Devane. Despite the fact that men can have children much, much later than women, I think they look silly.