Search - Thursday the 12th on DVD

Convoluted , Well-acted, and Disappointing

Donegal Dan | Southwest United States | 01/05/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This Ruth Rendell-ish mystery has an experienced cast, most of whom fans of BBC and British movies will be familiar with. Elizabeth McGovern, who is obviously American, was actually the one slight disappointment as far as the cast is concerned. Her portrayal of the devious sister-in-law was somewhat over the top but there were other problems, too. The storyline contained some twists and turns, especially at the end, but overall the plot wasn't dissimilar from many others in this day of psychiatric overload. All the characters seemed to be borne down with past trauma of one sort or another and they seemed particularly adept at aggravating each other's problems. The father (Cieran Hinds) was well acted and probably the least unlikable of the four main characters, who were, in addition to the sister-in-law, the surly teenage son and the frigid wife (played by Maria Doyle Kennedy, also seen in The Commitments and The General). The story of the interactions of these four characters, dredging up the past and wallowing in its lingering effects on them, moved along at a pace designed to hold your interest and culminated in the requisite dramatic denoument and mystery solver. Overall, it is a sufficiently involving saga as long as the viewer doesn't need to feel any real attraction to any of the central characters."