At Risk

I love Patricia Cornwell, and I'm grateful to the high heavens that this movie wasn't how I discovered her. I didn't like this movie. The novel which I have read for umpteenth times is way better.

This is one of two Patricia Cornwell novels to film, i.e. "At Risk" and "The Front" that feature Andie McDowell as a Boston district attorney and are appearing on one of our lesser cable channels here in New Zealand. I would agree 100% that this is one of the worst examples of plot, direction, acting, and last but not least the use of schmaltzy music. It runs throughout the entire film to punctuate almost every scene as a filler or to let you know - hey this is a love scene. No one as yet has mentioned that Cornwell has a cameo as a waitress. That must tell you something. She's not only in the movie business now, she's in the movie. God forbid. Obviously she's gathered a huge following through the years and hopes to cash in on it and I can't wait to miss the next one.

(I was a great fan in her early writing days mainly because she was living in my hometown of Richmond, Va. and used locales that I knew well. Since then I've come to prefer British authors of the genre who seem to write better and the TV series that are made from their works are first class.)

This movie seems like it'd have done better as a 1 hour TV flick. Cut out the gratuitous bits (the hunka-hunka-burning'love footage of the male lead, and other filler stuff, and it might have had some chance of making the viewer think "gee...who dunnit" instead of "gee...is it over yet?" The storyline isn't bad - the bringing back to life a cold case with unexpected results is a decent theme. But there's just too much stuff in between to create suspense, and none of it adds to either the story or the characters. Sorry - I actually do like Cornwell's books. This movie does nothing really to capture what's in them. I'm giving it the extra star for (yes, paraphrasing joe bob briggs) the shiny pennies fu and the exploding bad rasta fu.

As an older steady real leader I could almost understand this.. but pretending she's an attractive hooker type is ridiculous. She's so old she doesn't even have eyes..just wrinkled slits. Play her as a committed politician so we don't have to be dealing with this kind of stupid behavior in what COULD be a reasonably good story. Her sexual exploits or anyone else's just aren't realistic enough..not relative and have NO actual value to this show. Focus on the layout of the story which already suffers by having to be condensed into such a short format. Develop the sleuthing skills and leave the personal.sexual issues to play out behind the story.

In this Lifetime movie, Daniel Sunjata stars as a reluctant assistant DA assigned to cases he'd rather not explore. Andie MacDowell plays his boss, and while she orders him to reopen a cold case so she can look good when she decides to run for governor, she's soon the victim of an attempted murder, which heaps another case on Daniel's plate.

If you like detective stories about old gruesome murders, but you don't like them to be too gruesome, this Lifetime movie is for you. There's a sequel, The Front, broadcasted the same year with the same cast, so you can check that one out too if you want more of the same. Yes, it's very obvious that this is a tv-movie, but if that's what you're in the mood for, there's nothing wrong with that. There's a bit of slow-motion, blackouts at just the right time, and a script that's not cringeworthy but exactly top-notch. For the squeamish out there, there are some times you'll want to look away: a decomposing corpse is shown being eaten by maggots, a photograph shows a severed head, etc. But, believe me, this isn't nearly as grizzly as it could be. The photograph looks very clean, with no blood or battered flesh, and when Andie MacDowell is threatened with her life, she whimpers quietly while the dramatic music does the rest. If you like Andie in Cedar Cove or Daniel in Rescue Me, you'll probably like this pseudo-thriller.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting images, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. The opening credits use some camera zooms that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"