It's Just Movies

— by WILLIAM STERR —

The story opens on the set of a TV show, “Real Crime.” Host Dale Jones (Brian Krause – “Charmed”) is interviewing former district attorney Holly Powell (Kelly Sullivan – “The Producers”). Jones is implying that Powell’s conviction of wife killer Judge Halstead (Billy Miller) was motivated by her ambition rather than real evidence.

It is this possibility of a miscarriage of justice years before that motivates all that follows. Sadly, the “real crime” here is the film itself, and “deadly justice” would be a quick closure and relegation to permanent solitary confinement for this disappointing flick.

Aside from the characters of Jones and a romantic red herring, Theo (Corin Nemec – “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose”), the acting is abysmal. This is especially true of principal characters Holly and her father James (Marco St. John). These poor performances are perhaps not so much a lack of talent in the actors, especially Kelly Sullivan, as it is poor direction by first time director Karyn Klein.

The basic premise is that someone is out to destroy the reputation, career and, ultimately, the life of a lawyer responsible for convicting a man who is either a cold-blooded killer or the victim of her ambition. The script by Nemec falls far short of fulfilling that premise with too many holes, inane dialogue and unrealistic reactions to situations such as the staged suicide of one cop, the incessant garbled overlapping dialogue of James and his daughter, and the strange failure to bring the real police into the murderous situations as they develop. This is supposed to be Biloxi, MS, not Mayberry, NC.

Then there is the “musical” track running behind most of the scenes. It is most reminiscent of the repetitious nonsense one hears in the background of mediocre daytime soap operas. Based primarily on meandering piano passages with occasional strings, it is far more irritating than tension building, which I presume was its intended function.

I had hopes for this one, even if they were dashed early on. However, the hour and a half I found myself serving while watching this is time I’ll never recover, especially since I wasn’t the guilty one here. Take my advice: go straight before you end up with the same sentence.

Note: A catchy country song, “You’re Still (My Hometown),” plays over the opening and closing credits. It’s performed by Pistol Black, who appears to be Dale Jone’s AD in the scenes that take place at the TV studio. The credits identify the actor as Chase Waters – who looks just like Pistol Black.

Credits
Director: Karyn Klein
Writer: Corin Nemec
Producers: Ben Easterday, Brad Jay, Corin Nemec
Cinematographer: James Mathis
Editor: James Mathis
Music: Sanya Mateyas

Runtime: One hour, 24 minutes
Availability: VOD

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