A Christmas Mystery

I am most of the time able to find some positive things to say about a film but regarding this "mystery" the only thing i can think of, and then i were forced to think both hard and long, were and is the great Christmas decorations in houses, shops, boats and on people ( the great knitted Christmas sweaters......in L.A ). The story is blend, colorless and flat. When it comes to the acting it is totally one dimensional, absolutely zero depth in the characters. And that actually makes me sad when the actors personality actually shines thru so much and the seem like very nice people, so i can imagine the set must have been just a delight and a wonderful time for all. To bad that the director did not have the skill to use that dynamic. It was like looking at the nicest of people, trying the best they possibly could with a script made for a middle school nativity play and directions given a prison chain gang.

Did I miss something?? The hero (and sometimes, the heroine) carries small dog, Murray I think, with him everywhere for maybe 45 minutes of the film. Then the 2 humans leave the bed and breakfast to pursue leads. The night before, the guy slept in car, dog stayed with her due to suspicious landlord and apparent break-in. But when they leave, no mention of dog he always keeps with him. They left little Murray with a dwindling bag of dry dog food in the place that had been broken into? Did Murray demand a bigger salary? Did actors, producer, director, even dog's real owner, forget the little guy? But whew. At the 'tail' end, they're all together celebrating Christmas. Murray is quietly sitting on the sofa. Did he hitchhike back?? We just don't know. Signed, Friend of Murray

I sat down to watch this on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I love mystery movies & this one was pretty good. But I must warn you though...The lead actress (Esme Bianco) is suppose to be a career driven single attractive woman, but she looks like an unattractive frumpy middle aged married mother of 3. I did not care for her at all...not to mention she cannot act to save her life. Whoever gave this lady a job and called her an "actress" needs a reality check. The "mystery" part of the movie was pretty good, it kept me glued to the tv! I know most of these types of movies are considered cheesy & it kinda is but it was still good. It was streaming under the name "Secret Past".

Agree with the reviews who say Esme did a very poor job of acting. If you turn off the sound and just look at her expressions she has awful body language, her speech is forced and her facial expressions look like she is perpetually annoyed. I think being British she just could not pull off the North American accent so it ruined her acting even more. The actor who played the PI was much more believable and acted like a normal guy. Unfortunately these Hallmark-esque movies always look Hallmark-esque and amateurish. Maybe it's the music and the script. I always hope for the best but am sorely disappointed.

This story is convoluted and implausible. The acting is appallingly bad- especially the lead actress, who has some kind of weird accent that's explained away by her having been sent to school in England. She confuses petulant rudeness with hard nosed interviewing and is utterly clueless for a supposedly brilliant investigative journalist. The writers clearly know nothing about newspapers, law enforcement, the law or logic because the story is lacking in credibility and clunky dialogue.

The lead male is slightly better at acting, but the attempts to channel Sherlock Holmes observational brilliance is cringe worthy and utterly implausible.

The older guy they hunt has a most irritating speech impediment - probably caused by dentures that don't fit well.

The dog is cute, but the writers are so lazy they have a cocker spaniel (hair, not fur) causing someone to have an allergic reaction that would only happen in real life if the person had buried his face into the dog's body. I know this because I am allergic to fur dogs and sneeze around them, but my own cocker spaniel and other hair dogs (the ones that need to go to the groomer frequently) do not bothered at all.

Lazy writing, clunky acting, poor direction.