Cruel Doubt

i've seen this movie just the other day on cable tv (in israel it has different connotations) and i was shocked to find out that

1) gwyneth paltrow (20 years old then) appeared there

2) "Dungeons and Dragons" was depicted as a monstrous twisted game, as opposed to the after school yawn social activity i use to attend. i'll get to that later.

the basic plot: the serene life of a wealthy suburban family interrupted when the father's body is discovered. the clues lead the local police to believe that it was a family member who's responsible, and the immediate suspect is his frigid doughter who seems greedy, vendictive and worst of all: blonde.

the plot thickens a bit later on and without elaborating too much I'll note that Dungeons and Dragons, a harmless game in which its participants adopt a bogous character and use its powers to overcome some dragons that are conviniently located inside you guessed it: Dungeons is depicted as a cult demonic ritual. I can compare this film to a film about a killer who goes out for its prey after watching the re-run of "who's the boss" the second thing that i noticed was that gwuneth is not much more that the movies she plays in, which means she can't save a bad film (i do believe that the film title related to her acting aspirations) let's sum up: the movie was standard when it was made back in 1992 and its certainly havan't gone better with age. if you get to see it, mock gwyneth for a while (it's fun, believe me) than move on Grade: 6, on my FilmOmeter.

I've seen this movie half a dozen times on Lifetime--I can't help it. The acting is really superb. Matt McGrath, whom I don't believe I've seen elsewhere (but whose IMDb listing is substantial) gives a chilling performance of a messed up kid who aspires to be nothing more. Blythe Danner is fantastic as mother and victim Bonnie von Stein. And she elevates any project she's in. Terrific performance. Daughter Gwyneth Paltrow was good, too, I thought, although others may not agree (see earlier post). I also enjoy seeing Dennis Farina--he's awesome and perfectly cast as a tough FBI trained investigator turned PI. Other great performances by Miguel Ferrer and Ed Asner. I think this movie is terrific and I'll watch anything and everything with a body count. I'd have to give it somewhere between 8 or 9 stars out of 10.

This is one mini series that follows the book very closely. The problem is that they are both full of stuff and nonsense. In his book "Cruel Doubt" Joe Mcginnis invents a connection between the D&D training scenario "Your First Game" and the murder of Leith Von Stein. The training game was, according to Mcginnis, used a blueprint for murder. He even uses a synopsis of the training game and compares it item by item to the crime. The problem is that it is all made up. The training game has only one point in common with his description of it, the name of a single character. The mini series takes this even further by fabricating photographic evidence. The mini series displays a photograph that is supposed to resemble the murderer in the act and represents it as being a page from the AD&D PLAYERS HANDBOOK. The picture does not exist in that book at all. Mcginnis says in a foreward that he took up the commission to write the book in part to help Bonnie Von Stein get some answers to the troubling events surrounding the attack on her and Leith that left her husband dead and her seriously wounded. Any careful study of the D&D materials and the claims made in this book and movie will demonstrate that the "connection" between D&D and this crime was limited to the simple fact that the conspirators met at college because they had a common interest in the AD&D game and nothing more. Simple greed was the motive for this horrendous crime. Whatever doubts Bonnie Von Stein has cruel or otherwise must remain. This movie could have told a better story if it had told the truth. As pure fiction "Cruel Doubt" has some merit. It can be moderately entertaining if taken with a generous helping of salt.

This movie is not that bad, not that good. It is the typical murder of the week, made for TV movie.

However, to all reviewers who are making comments about the Dungeons and Dragons aspect of the movie, I say "Read The Book".

The writers of the movie didn't pick this theme out of thin air. It was an important part of the actual crime. No one picked role playing games as a scapegoat.

Except maybe the actual perpetrator...

Dungeons and Dragons is not a game to be taken lightly. Apparently some would feel that this movie is a joke. The mind is not a simple thing. Anyone who decries the possibility that this story is fact is fooling themselves.

Witness: fellow reviewers seem to believe that games that men concoct can never go too far. What they do or do not believe does not influence the truth.

Drugs certainly had a significant influence on the events. But the game certainly made it a little more feasible to those involved.

There are many more things out there than we will ever find out.

The acting was all very well done. McGrath and Danner helped to bring the emotions in this story to life. Asner and Ferrer also contributed interesting dimensions to the characters.