La libreria del mistero: Foto di compleanno

I watched this movie on a cold, snowy Saturday afternoon. Despite what some people expect from a movie, there are sometimes you just want to kill a couple of hours. That's what I did with this movie. The acting wasn't bad although it was fairly predictable. Kari Wuhrer is just as bad as when she was on MTV. Whoever told this woman she should be an actress wasn't very intelligent.

The twist at the end with "Uncle Charlie" was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the plot at all. Why did they even throw it in the movie?? If you want to kill a couple of hours, this isn't a bad movie to do it with, just don't expect to be wowed.

This entry into Hallmark's rotating mystery series is fairly dull. One wonders where that extremely high rating - and no comments - comes from.

Mystery Woman lacks the colorfulness of the McBride series. Kellie Martin is darling, but this show dragged. It's always great to see old-timer Clarence Williams III. However, he is so laid back in this, he makes the late Perry Como seem manic.

The lack of energy is probably due to the poor direction. One more establishing shot of the "Mystery Woman Bookstore" and I was ready to do an Elvis and shoot the television. The whole thing was done in a very pedantic style.

I have been reading cozy mysteries so I figured that since there is so much horrible TV now, I'd switch to something harmless and boring to just have on to pass the time. My biggest disappointment? Clarence Williams III, of Mod Squad fame. This is a 2005 film. The poor man is walking through this part and barely moving around. And this was 15 years ago! Oh well. Still harmless and mindless entertainment.

The entrance of the main storyline here ("I could see he was upset in the pictures I took!") is comical in it's stupidity. There are so many flaws with the storyline and as mentioned before, the actors are really just phoning it in to get a paycheck and keep their SAG memberships active. This was the first "Mystery Woman" I was bored with.

However...who can fault Kellie Martin and her choice of some seriously short skirts for this entry? Clarence Williams III does a fine job as always, but Nina Siemaszko is still finding her way as the D.A./best friend Cassie. She doesn't seem like much of a best friend here. And what's with her hair being up almost all the time? The look gets old fast and it is a shame because Ms. Siemaszko is a very beautiful lady.

I for one liked the "Uncle Charlie" storyline and wish it had been the main one.

A rich local businessman crashes his Bentley and dies. The man's sister (Barbara Summers) is in Samantha's book group and asks her to come along to the will reading for moral support. When the man's wife and daughter inherit the imaginatively titled Summer Corp, Barbara informs lawyer Robert Benson that she owned half and Avery half – however Benson is adamant that Barbara had signed away her half of the company when a previous venture was tied up. Samantha doesn't know quite what to believe when Barbara then starts throwing out conspiracy theories about Avery's last few hours but supports her anyway. When Barbara is then murdered, Sam decides to pick up on the mystery and work out what happened behind the two deaths.

The Mystery Woman series is a bit of an acquired taste and does require its target audience to be those used to the standards of tvm mystery series. A Hallmark presentation, this film does the basics as well as the series, which is to say that it isn't much cop but might just about do the job for those happy to settle for less on a lazy afternoon. The plot is interesting enough but it is delivered without much effort, undermining the mystery. It is hard to really pin this on one thing but clunky dialogue scenes that explain things for the viewer are one peeve while the constant "tinkly" music is annoying and reduces any tension in the telling. Director Brown does little to mark himself out and delivers the look and feel of the series – ie generic and safe.

The cast struggle with the unnatural dialogue and thus can't convince in the mystery as real people. Martin is cool but her lines are mostly heavy while the material also asks her to take illogical actions. Williams is stuck in a weird subplot regarding "Uncle Charlie" and has little to do other than float around the edges being all mysterious and ex-CIA or whatever. Siemaszko is constantly going somewhere with a latte in her hand and that is pretty much all her character is about. She is so-so but does little. The support cast is all very "red-herring" with a weird turn from Janasz as Charlie, a hyper McCormack as Barbara and Burke, Lively, Greenquist and others all drift round being secretive and slightly sinister.

Overall then a basic mystery film with basic tvm direction, a solid plot, clunky dialogue and so-so performances. Will just about do the business for those used to the standards of daytime tvm mystery films but your average viewer will probably give it up as a bad job within an hour. Fans of the series will be "pleased" to see the thread about the Mystery Woman book store's plumbing starting here to later be picked up in "Redemption" in 2006.