Une ombre sur le mariage

I love Erica Durance; the other cast members were good and believable. However, the script was the worst. I see others came to the same conclusion. I, unfortunately, cannot suspend enough (belief, logic, you name it) to enjoy this movie as a murder mystery. I finally figured out the only way to enjoy it was as a comedy. And that worked. It's amazing that Hallmark airs this because most of their murder mysteries, in addition to having good production values, are fairly well written. This is a major bump in the road from that angle.

Note that I absolutely believe there are people out there who are dumb enough to act this way. But no one should make a movie about them! It just gets viewers upset over nothing.

Erica Durance is extraordinarily beautiful, talented, charming, and very watchable. And Andrew Walker has long been one of the best male Hallmark leads. But this "mystery" makes no sense.

First, why is she worried early on about losing money from a wedding that she already planned? The most basic contract would have required pre-payment. No one gets a refund when a wedding gets canceled on the day of the wedding. If anything, given that they were apparently going forward on a different day, which would have required additional work, she would have been entitled to more compensation.

Hallmark movies often ignore legal and business realities, but this one is frustratingly bad in that regard.

Erica's character would have had no time to play amateur sleuth and frankly no need to do so. And the insane threats that supposedly drive her to "clear her name" because she's a "suspect in a murder investigation" and potentially "implicated" in a convoluted "embezzlement and tax evasion" scheme?? WTF???

What possible motive could she have to kill a bridesmaid? And where's the supposed proof that she's an embezzler?

And in what alternate universe would a wedding planner have ANY civil or criminal liability for serving champagne at a wedding? The bridesmaid was barely over the legal limit and left early and unexpectedly. The detective was an idiot and truly lousy at his job.

And the reporter's threats about implicating her in some alleged embezzlement between the bride's father and/or uncle?? Complete and utter nonsense.

And sneaking around and trying to get past security to "warn" someone? Did everyone lose their phones?

And the Perry response to alleged "financial irregularities"? If I see one more Hallmark movie where a character is pressured to make a legal decision or sign a big contract or waiver without talking to a lawyer I'm going to scream.

The rest was just a bunch of lazy plot lines to create a drama that never made sense.

And talking about love and marriage before a first kiss? Seriously?

I love Hallmark movies, but if this didn't have Erica Durance, I would have given it a 1 out of 10.

This movie had a great cast. I liked most of the actors in their respective roles but the script was terrible. The situations were contrived. Most of the conclusion that the main character drew were based on faulty reasoning. The decisions they made to solve problems or get out of dangerous situations were always based on bad decision making. I found myself constantly saying aloud: "No one would do that." More than once, someone was accused of a crime based on ridiculous logic. This was a Murder Mystery; a formula that calls for a certain amount of logic and deduction. I found both sorely missing. I really liked Erica Durance in the lead. I really hated the lines they obviously forced her to say. As Hallmark Movies go this was the most disappointing one I have ever watch. Disappointing because it had all the elements to be enjoyable. If, when you suspend belief while watching this, you also suspend logic and reasoning, you may still be able to enjoy this movie.

A bridesmaid dies in a suspicious car accident after leaving a wedding party in a fit. The wedding planner (Erica Durance) is apparently in danger of being blamed for supplying alcohol at the party. Legally, I might add, so I don't see what the crime was but okay that's what gets this off the ground. Anyway, Erica investigates the case to find out if the girl was murdered and gets herself in deeper and deeper trouble.

This is from a series of books I'm unfamiliar with so I can't make any comparisons between the two. One of the things the movie does that I really didn't like was an irritating book-style narration. I assume this was to tie in with the books somehow but I found it annoying. I watched this for Erica Durance and she's great in it. She's lovely as ever and has the most charisma of anybody in this. In the movie's most adorable scene, she investigates wearing cat makeup. Chelan Simmons, of Final Destination 3 fame, is the bride-to-be whose wedding Erica is planning. The rest of the cast is made up of very forgettable and bland Canadians. The worst is Gabrielle Rose who hams it up with glee, no doubt influenced by the ridiculous wig they had her wear. The reporter love interest for Erica is underwhelming. The two have a friendly banter but I didn't see any sparks. It also appears all of the actors were responsible for their own makeup.

About the time Erica's brakes went out in her van I realized this wasn't going to be breaking any new ground. It was very easy to spot who the bad guys are. They're the ones acting shady and suspicious, doing everything but twirling their mustaches and saying "Muah-ha-ha!" One of the bigger selling points for this is also one of its drawbacks. I'm speaking of the comedy. The movie has a lighthearted tone, despite being a murder mystery. The problem with that is that due to the comedy, which shows up at inappropriate times, it's hard to build any suspense or ever feel our heroine or her friends are in real danger. Someone locks her in a room by gunpoint and there's some kind of Laurel & Hardy music playing. It's too silly to be taken seriously. It's not terribly fresh or suspenseful but it's very watchable. Honestly, it felt less like a movie and more like a TV pilot. Perhaps that's because they intended this to be the first in a series of TV movies based on this character. Fans of Erica Durance will enjoy it just for seeing her. If nothing else, she proves here she could knock it out of the park with better material.

Erica Durance plays wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid. She seems to be cool under pressure, but that will really be tested as she has two weddings in the same wealthy family within two weeks. A big strain is placed on the festivities and the planning as one of the cousins is murdered during the reception of the first wedding. Will Carnegie be able to keep the account that her business so desperately needs and will she be able to remove herself from the suspicion of Detective Bordon. Will she be able to keep the plucky investigative reporter Aaron Gold at bay...and off the front page? And who is this handsome lawyer Holt Walker of the amazing eyes, who seems to be trying to seduce Carnegie?

Being from Seattle I did enjoy the houseboat setting and I like how skilled the wedding planner is and how persistent the reporter is. The mystery was decent and the cast was really good. I think mystery fans will enjoy this one.