Jane Doe: The Wrong Face

I've never been a fan of Leah Thompson, although she's good at comedy, I've never thought her capable of great drama. My opinion is borne out by her Jane Doe series. This installment is little different from the others I've seen.

She's a wife, mother, secret agent. As with other secret agent/housewife vehicles (Mr. & Mr. Smith, etc.), she runs herself slightly ragged hiding her *other* job from her husband and children. The premise is that she works for a puzzle game company, but the puzzles she actually solves have to do with high-level crimes.

As an agent of the fictional "CSA," Jane Doe outwits her boss, played by Joe Penny, every time. Which, of course, only makes her more valuable with every new film.

Billy Moses plays her husband, and he's as sweet and supportive as can be. Almost too much so, as if my partner were running around at all hours and disappearing, I'd want to know why. Jane Doe's family is just *too* perfect, with no terrible issues that embroil the rest of humanity.

I enjoy these movies, and "The Wrong Face" is one of them. They're a nice, uncomplicated way to spend a couple of hours when the chores are done, and there's nothing else you'd rather do.

Just a note to the other commenter: Jane Doe and "Mystery Woman" are two different series, not the same one. You've gotten yourself confused.

5/10 - a bland plot and only okay acting makes for a not very memorable mystery

Greatly enjoyed these Jane Doe TV series, with Lea Thompson,(Kathy Davis/Jane Doe); Lea Thompson, is a cute looking gal and a nice body, but her acting was rather weak and she seemed to be struggling with her lines or it was the fact that the story became over powered with too many actors and all kinds of suspects. The "Mystery Women's Bookstore" was a nice setting and it seemed to get broken into quite often for no apparent reason. I found the acting horrible and the entire TV film was long and boring, after a while I gave up on trying to figure out who the killer could possibly be and got lost in the entire story. I hope other Jane Doe films are better than this one turned out to be.

I commented about an earlier episode that the switcheroo/disappearing plots were used in earlier shows from the 60's and 70's. Now that I've watched four of them I see that it will be the theme of all the plots.

This one was just a bit weaker than the previous offerings, but still entertaining. The car chase in the hills was a little ho-hum since we all knew Cathy/Jane would come out of it in one piece, given there was still over half an hour left in the show. What ruined that particular scene was the fact that her car was completely spotless when the met Frank right after the chase. But...that's about the only thing I would really complain about, so it didn't spoil the episode.

Nice to see Bryn Thayer again, having really liked her during her three year stint on "Matlock". She has aged a bit of course, but still very attractive.

Overall, I like the shows in this series. The plots are interesting, the acting is decent, and the characters are likable. However, there are problems that could be easily fixed. First, we need less family. I get the juxtaposition of the soccer mom with her normal family life and the spy working for the government, but the family is annoying. The kids are too cutesy, and the constant "affection" between Jane and her husband is way overdone. Maybe I'm just cynical, but no one I know who's been married 20 years, is that touchy feely and constantly kissing each other. Second is the music. The constant background music is intrusive and makes it difficult to concentrate on the show. The music is too loud, it's just...weird sounding, and it doesn't go along with what's happening on the screen. Same with the background noise; there's constant noise of people talking, kids screaming, traffic, all sorts of noise, that again, doesn't go along with what's actually happening. Aside from that, the shows are entertaining.