Citizen Jane

This is a by the numbers murder mystery courtesy of the Hallmark Channel. It stars Ally Sheedy as Jane, whose Aunt Gertrude was viciously murdered. Tom, played by Sean Patrick Flannery, plays her boyfriend and after a period of time, way before the film is half over, we find he is the prime suspect. Detective Jack Morris, played by rocker Meat Loaf, takes on what was a cold case. He is by far the best thing about this film, as he plays the role simply but with a quiet determination. He should do more acting, he is good at it. The film is nothing special but it is definitely watchable. Nia Peeples is kind of underutilized as Jane's best friend, but the movie is really about Jane and Jack anyway. If it replays and you like murder mysteries, its worth watching.

Kind of unbelievable but then believable story of human treachery and resilience .

This movie, based upon real-life events, starts off slowly, with some lovely switches, as bad guys turn into good guys and good guys into bad. Interestingly enough, the only character that is more than sketched in by the end of the movie is that of the killer. Although all the performances are fine, particularly Meat Loaf as the investigating detective -- much to my surprise -- a story line that turns into a rather straightforward "How to Prove It" in the second half stops this from being more than a well-turned variant of a police procedural as executed by an amateur.

In terms of construction, it is just as well that this has the advantage -- or perhaps excuse -- of being based on reality. The whole issue is fixed by a piece of last-minute evidence that is submitted in court: life, unlike fiction, need not, I suppose, obey rules.

The murder seems unsolvable. An old lady is brutally murdered, bludgeoned, knifed and strangled, and she had no enemies. As she opened the door for her visitor, she must have known him and known him well. There are no clues at all, no murder weapons, no fingerprints, no hairs or anything, and still detective Morse takes on the case and starts finding clues. Even so, the case seems hopeless as there is nothing but circumstantial evidence, and, as the prosecutor says, it is like playing chess with only pawns. The niece of the murdered lady is shocked at first, but gradually she grows with the dawning of the true story, as the circumstantial evidence keeps amassing, and it is vital to observe, that no criminal ever commits a crime without leaving at least the tiniest shred of a hint at some evidence, from which the truth generally always can be reconstructed and examined in detail. This is an amazing story and a true story at that, and for the niece it became just a beginning for her to start a comprehensive movement to bring justice to relatives of victims to heinous crimes.

I was pleasantly surprised with Citizen Jane. It contained a reasonably good story to keep you tuned in from start to finish and some decent performances. Ally Sheedy and Meat Loaf are quite solid in their performances and convincing. I was shocked to learn this was actually based on a true story. It sounded like a piece of fiction taken straight off the shelves with your standard con man story. But sadly, the real Jane Alexander was very gullible and fell for this. She gave away all of her financial freedom. I know a lot of couples who never just give this away. But alas, I'm glad they found the bad guy in the end.