Pros: Strong characters; lots of fun
Cons: Sub-plots over shadow mystery; data dumps
The Bottom Line:
A grand theft court case
Is our chance to meet this cast
Fun franchise starts here
“I Guess You Can Call Us the Isle of the Misfit Attorneys.”
When Hallmark Movies and Mysteries started advertising Darrow & Darrow, the first in a new mystery
franchise, I immediately knew I’d be turning in. I really knew nothing about it other than the
stars and the fact that it involved lawyers, so we’d get some courtroom
drama. The result was a lot of fun, not
that I expected anything less.
Claire Darrow (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is living in her
childhood home and running the law firm founded by her late father. Despite having several employees, the firm
isn’t doing well. It’s not that she
doesn’t win cases; in fact, she wins enough to have caught the eye of the
assistant district attorney, Miles (Tom Cavanagh). However, she takes on cases that don’t turn
out to be that profitable. Her mother,
Joanna (Wendie Malick), has recently returned to town after a scandal cost her
a job in New York. Joanna has all kinds
of ways to fix the firm and improve Claire’s life, advice Claire isn’t
necessarily interested in hearing.
And soon Claire has a new case. Dave (Kirby Morrow), the owner of the local
donut shop is accused of robbing the neighborhood jewel store, an accusation
that, given his background, isn’t completely out of the picture. Dave insists he is innocent and Claire
believes him. It’s another case that
won’t earn her a lot of money, but Claire believes taking on the case is the
right things to do even if it pits her against Miles in court. But the police have a good case. Can Claire find a way to get Dave off? Is he really innocent?
Yes, we really do have a mystery case involving grand theft
instead of murder, something I truly enjoyed. With Dave’s freedom on the line, I felt the
stakes were significantly high to make for a compelling mystery. In fact, it was nice to take a break from
murder. The mystery could have been
stronger over all, but I did love the ending.
I wasn’t surprised when, near the end, they teased us the
next Darrow & Darrow movie, coming in 2018.
This had the feelings of a TV pilot, complete with data dumps and a
sub-plot or two that was more about setting up character relationships for
future movies. In fact, at times they
greatly overshadowed the mystery. That
is my biggest complaint with the story.
Having said that, I enjoyed these plots. Claire and Miles spend some time flirting,
and watching them do that is a blast.
While they do attempt to round out Joanna, she comes across too strong,
and I can understand Claire’s issues with her.
I’m hoping this gets toned down in future movies as they work out their
relationship. Claire is a single mother,
and the potential stories with Louise (Lilah Fitzgerald) are interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens
with her in future movies.
The Hallmark cheese was turned down for this movie. I felt the cast did well. There are a lot of characters, so I suspect
it will be a few movies before I have them all straight. My biggest issue with the writing was the
data dumps. We need the information, but
it was a little too obvious that we were being fed the information.
Issues aside, Darrow & Darrow launches another promising movie franchise from Hallmark. I’ll be tuning back in for their next case.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for stopping by. In order to combat spam, I moderate most comments. I'll get to your comment as soon as I can.