Murdaugh Murders: The Movie

My goodness - the accents are the first sign that this movie was going to be absolute garbage. They aren't talking like South Carolinians from the 21st century, they're talking like Virginians from the 1700s in the opening party. And the accents don't really improve.

Next, the acting is atrocious... what is Bill Pullman doing? He is playing a caricature of Alex Murdaugh... but it just comes across as a stage play. You know... where all of the actors are clearly "acting." There is no immersion... it's just... high school quality.

Next, there are many inaccuracies - from little things like where they set the law firm to big things like the complete absence of Morgan Doughty in the boat accident scene. Apart from Mallory Beach and Paul Murdaugh there was Connor Cook and his girlfriend Miley Altman, Anthony Cook (who was dating Mallory), and then Morgan Doughty (Paul's on & off again girlfriend).

This isn't a documentary, but his abuse of Morgan during that boat ride was a large factor in Paul crashing. Which leads me to my next point...

The writers of this clearly want to portray Alex Murdaugh and his father as the villains of this whole thing... but as somebody that's watched and read everything there is about this family and the events around them - and as someone who has personal connections with people who have close relationship with members of the Murdaugh family and their associates... portraying Maggie Murdaugh like a loving, caring person that is oblivious to the things her sons and husband were involved in (and not responsible for any of the events) is wildly inaccurate.

She bullied and tried to manipulate parents at the accident site to protect Paul, she likely covered up Paul assaulting the maid who later died because of her injuries... she wasn't an innocent angel as portrayed.

So, overall from the factual things we know (and in all honesty there is a lot of unknowns that will never be answered) this show is inaccurate, poorly acted, overly long, and MORE THAN ANYTHING distasteful to the many victims of the Murdaugh's.

The Murdough murders is a compelling story on its on but the production of the movie is a little slow. However Pullman's performance makes the show. I was surprised at how good he was! If you've watched true crime stories you should check this out. It's not the best movie but it's not the worst. The Murdough story is pretty interesting on its own but just watching Pullman slowly descend into a train wreck is fun to watch. Honestly he should win an Emmy for this one. Honestly I don't have much more to say about this show but I do need a few more words to meet the required characters. Check it out. I hope to see more from Pullman.

The movies covered all the important bits but my lord the accents of the actors is so far from acceptable. Especially the man that played ALEC. The accent is so far from realistic. Maybe it's because I grew up 20 min from where this took place but it's so forced that it ruins the whole movie. Makes it sound cheaply made. They didn't even pronounce Beaufort correctly. I cringed through the whole thing just because of how awful the accents were. Next time you should probably have someone from the area instead of using a forced stereotype of how people from the south supposedly sound.

Do better next time.

I have followed this case from almost the beginning starting with the boat crash. I live in Ga & so there was coverage about the boat crash....don't think it was national news at that point. Then came the murders & it became national news & then I really became intrigued. If you really want a thorough, deep dive into this case....go listen to The Murdaugh Murder podcast episodes.

Maybe I was spoiled by that podcast, and I realize this was basically a 3 1/2 hour movie but it glossed over important elements. And as much as I like Bill Pullium, he didn't really capture the man. And I got distracted by no one pronouncing Murdaugh correctly. As I said, it was just average & opportunity was missed to make a much better movie.

I first watched the Netflix series and followed this case and I think lifetime did a great job on this series. More specifically, Bill Pullman stole the show! If you've seen as much footage as I have on Alec Murdaugh you'll notice that Bill Pullman has all his mannerisms down to a Tee! Right down to the way Alec would rock back-and-forth when he was being questioned, to his accent, etc. Knowing all the details of this case, it is nice to see it portrayed so well. The actor that played his son Paul did a really great job too, as well as his wife Maggie. I like the way the series pulls all the information you learn about Alec through the court cases and puts it all together. There's so many crazy details in this story that it almost seems too crazy to be true, but it is. If you haven't watched anything on this family tragedy yet I suggest first watching the Netflix series.