Pros: Twists and turns to the mystery, fun characters
Cons: A Hallmark movie, but light on the usual cheese
The Bottom Line:
Campus mystery
Filled with twists, clues, red herrings
Lots of fun to watch
“You and I Are Used to Mysteries That Live on the Page. This is Different.”
Of the two new Hallmark mystery movies in January, I was
looking forward to Mystery 101
more. The premise of the movie – a
college professor who is an expert in fictional mysteries getting involved in a
case – intrigued me. Then I found out
that Lee Goldberg co-wrote the script, and I was sold since I’ve enjoyed his
books for years. I was not disappointed.
Amy Winslow (Jill Wagner) teaches English, but her favorite
class is the one that focuses on mysteries.
One of her star students this semester is Lacey, but on this particular Monday,
she isn’t able to focus. Her boyfriend, Rex,
has been missing all weekend. Amy is
concerned, but when Lacey then also goes missing, Amy begins to try to track
the students down.
Unfortunately, Detective Travis Burke (Kristoffer Polaha)
doesn’t seem too interested in the case until Amy uncovers a threat made to Rex. Will the two be able to figure out what
happened before tragedy strikes? Or are
they already too late?
The mystery is twisty, with plenty of suspects and motives
to go around. In fact, there are so many
events, clues, and red herrings that they kept making me forget my
theories. It took Amy to explain how
everything that happened fit together, and things did tie up neatly.
Amy loves mysteries.
It helps that her father, Graham, writes a bestselling series. As a result, we get occasional references to
some of the classics of the genre. I
thought the movie might have more references than it did, but it really didn’t
need them. They were sprinkled
throughout in a fun way without overshadowing the current case. And we don’t need anything taking away from
the case Amy and Travis are investigating.
Trust me, the film needed all that time for the plot to unfold. Travis isn’t a fan of mystery novels, so any
references people might not get are explained in a natural way (which I
appreciated a time or two). This
difference of opinion over mystery novels also adds even more to his
relationship with Amy.
And their relationship was a fun element in the movie. Amy claims to have no interest in Travis, but
the rest of us can see the sparks flying.
I want to see more of them together, but all the characters are charming
and I hope we get to visit all of them again soon.
This is the spot where I typically enter my Hallmark cheese
warning. To be honest, it was kept to a
rock bottom minimum this time around.
The writing was sharp and the acting good. There were still a few moments, but this is
definitely on the light side.
So if you’ve missed the movie, now is the time to enroll in Mystery 101. Personally, this is one class I hope is in
session for years to come.
I have this recorded and like you this was the one I was most excited about. Glad to see it lived up to expectations. I'm really looking forward to watching it!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis. Jill and Kris made the movie so interesting to watch. The story was well written. It was not easy to guess the perpetrator that made it interesting. Hallmark must make this movie a series.
ReplyDeleteI love Jill and Kris and their characters, certainly not the usual character types. I do hope this will be a regular series, as the script was so well-written.
ReplyDeleteMy first time watching this, and I'm intrigued. It kept my interest through the entire movie
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