Murder, with Love

Good movie, good cast, interesting mystery, kept me guessing until the end, and when the murderer was identified, I was shocked, did not see that one coming.

No love interest so I cannot comment on chemistry.

My advice; Good movie for the mystery loving family.

I do kind of like this Hallmark genre of the amateur woman sleuth who often interferes in police work, gets chastised for it, but end up being the hero in the end anyway. It's just more Hallmark formula, but I'm OK with it.

What I'm not OK with is ruining these movies with the face of Nancy Grace. I find this person to be absolutely repugnant in every sense of the word and it is noted in this particular movie that her acting skills are not the greatest. I wonder how she wormed her way into this. In summary, while Nancy Grace had a highly successful record in terms of securing convictions as a prosecutor, concerns have been raised regarding her methods and adherence to ethical standards by appellate courts and others in the legal field.

She was reprimanded by the Supreme Court of Georgia for withholding evidence and making improper statements in a 1997 case, but unfortunately this did not lead to disbarment. She was previously a prosecutor in the Atlanta-Fulton County District Attorney's office.

Anyway, I like this movie, I like the character and I like the cast. Production values are pretty good.

Hallmark started yet another series with an amateur women detective in this film A Hailey Dean Mystery: Murder With Love. She's a former prosecutor who has now become a psychotherapist. She's no stranger to police work and procedure. That still doesn't stop the police from being a tad resentful.

As a psychotherapist Kellie Martin as Dean has a plentiful supply of clients. In this case she's helping a young woman get over the death of her mother who was a noted surgeon. At that point she loses her father in a fiery autocrash. Two parents in two separate incidents barely a week apart make the police and Kellie Martin quite curious.

I have to say that Martin in her interpretation of Dean has made this an appealing character. But for the mystery I had it figured almost from the beginning.

The second Dean film and there've been only two was much better than the first one.

Over-familiar plots and mis-en-scenes drawn straight out of TV series like Diagnosis Murder and Murder She Wrote (shadowed profiles of killers with gloves presenting a syringes to the camera). Attractive actors (notably all in the 30-40age range) and backgrounds but stereotyped villains (eg., hostile, egotistical and hysterical CEOs and doctors) that are supposed to present red herrings for the viewer. Plethora of poorly-drawn primary and secondary characters that are all trawled serially for "motive" by the protagonist (which of course turn out to be other "secrets" they are concealing. Use your 90mins elsewhere.

7/10 - Kellie Martin is back! And as good as ever!