Reviews

Good-girl knocks-out bad-boy but DOESN'T take his gun which, naturally, the bad-guy who wasn't knocked-out (shock/horror !) then retrieves the gun - bad-guy goes to shoot good-girl but she goes down shot BEFORE the gun is fired (again - shock/horror !) . Then, for some unfathomable reason, the bad-guy decides to STRANGLE the good-girl - DESPITE having a perfectly good, working gun to the side of him ??!!.

Yet another movie where the movie-makers utter contempt for the viewing public is very obvious !

Yet another entrant in the 'Dumbest/lamest ending' category for Lifetime-movies - good-girl knocks down ARMED bad-giirl with a healthy crack over her head with a car starting-handle (who-the-hell has these things nowadays ??). Does the good-girl do what any sane, semi-intelligent person would do and pick up the bad-girl's gun and use it to contain her there until the cops arrive ?? Nah, of course not, she completely ignores the gun to pick up the little girl and go running away over an open, deep, sandy-beach - giving the bad-girl plenty of time to recover, not fogetting also giving the bad-girl an extremely easy target !

Aaaaaargh !!

I caught the pilot of this series and was instantly hooked .................. but episode-by-episode my interest was just wiped-out - by episode 6 ! The main reason for this was Peter Krause - apparently, playing the part of an irresistable, suave, con-man - I don't think I've ever seen such an apalling mis-cast !. He looked more like he should've been playing a butler or someone's favourite uncle - the idea that someone like him could make Alice, a leading private-investigator, just completely drop all her morals (and knickers) and professional ethics for a man with a face like a washed-out St.Bernard was just too much to take ! Pity, I liked all the other characters, especially the beautiful Rose Rollins, but also Sonya Walger/Shivani Ghai are a delight to the eye !. But I really couldn't stomach the thought of watching it get more and more ridiculous as you can tell that Alice WILL end-up with Ben/Pater Krause !

.............. just WHERE do the people who make these 'films' find so many incredibly dumb but rich people who finance them ??. There's just so much wrong with this 'film' I really don't have the strength to type out all the apallingly bad points but I'll go with the ending as it really is worst of the worst about it all !. Bad-guy knocks out crazy woman with gun but DOESN'T dis-arm her her or even tie her up - surprise, surprise, it takes more than an iron-shovel to really knock-out crazy-woman who then goes on to shoot bad-guy. Then Mummy creeps up behind crazy-woman who has the gun pointed at the dumb, love-struck daughter - does Mummy use her advantage of surprise ?. Of course not, Mummy goes on to scream her dumb, lovestruck daughter's name which, unsurprisingly, lets crazy-woman with the gun KNOW that Mummy's behind her and so she turns and points the gun at Mummy who's armed with an oh-so-obvious RUBBER iron-poker !. But the dumb, lovestruck daughter begs crazy-woman with gun not to shoot Mummy and so naturally, given the previous standards of this 'film', crazy-woman with gun totaly concedes her advantage and turns around to tell the dumb, lovestruck daughter to shut-up - giving Mummy the chance to bring this farce finally and painfully to an end !

........ this 'film' is just unbelieveably bad !.I only watched it because Kayla Ewell is in it and I just hope this 'film/thing' hasn't damaged her career ! How the script/story was deemed fit for acceptable viewing is a complete mystery to me ! There's just so much that's awful about this 'film' but the ending scene is just the icing on he cake ! 2 girls have just jumped into a car to escape the murderer - a shot ignites the petrol-tank but all of a sudden one girl's seat-belt has somehow or other jammed so she just gives up and tells her friend to save herself then sits back and calmly accepts her flaming death ??. I'd really love to know how much the script-writers got paid for this and also where do I apply for a job alongside them !

Overall I enjoyed this film, a nice happy Christmas, easy-to-watch experience. Though I feel the script-writers coud've shown Samantha in a more understanding role, she came across a tad self-centred when trying to keep the 'No wedding' secret from everyone, especially when she basically grabbed Simon's phone from him when he was struggling to think of a decent cover/lie to tell his parents ! The casting of Claire & Bill was excellent as the parents who, ok they'd drifted apart, but very obviously still had a lot of love for each other - my slight 'beef' with their situation is, although to me it's obvious a reconciliation's on the cards for them, it would've been perfect if they'd actually gone ahead with it in the film but maybe the writers thought that was too 'perfect' ??

Good special-effects but oh dear god, the script - example - the mother (Gugino) couldn't deal with dad's (Johnson) inabilty to talk about the loss of their daughter so she dumps him, drops her panties for another man, bringing her daugher along with her (to hold the camera ??) - Johnson then goes on to nearly kill himself trying to save HER life and then he gets the line saying that HE'S 'sorry for how it ended-up between us ??. Would've been far better without any script !

I'm with 'lmgannon2on' on this one - Imho - it's the first Hallmark Christmas-film I've seen (hopefully the only one !) featuring a mother who, rather than go Christmas-shopping with her children, prefers to 'stay over' at her boyfriend's ??. She doesn't even attempt to hide the fact from them (AND her husband !) that she's sleeping with the boyfriend , doesn't matter that she's still married !. Then we're meant to accept the hypocrisy of the wife, who originally threw her husband out because he was 'never there for me and the children' due to him working long hours - yet SHE needs to hire a nanny because SHE'S out working long hours (and no doubt, the 'stay over's !) and rarely spends time with the poor kids ? . Plus, a husband (meant to be a cop on the streets of New York) , who spends the entire film teary-eyed, proclaiming his never-ending love for his wife but never shows any sign of emotion/anger over his wife's lifestyle ??.

Poorly written and how it gets a 'U' certificate ('Suitable for all) is beyond me !