“Where Did You Get Your Badge? A Happy Meal?”
At this point, I watch all the Hallmark mystery movies. However, I was excited when I started hearing about Cut, Color, Murder, the first in what will hopefully be a new franchise. Why? Because it stars Julie Gonzalo and Ryan McPartlin, actors I’ve enjoyed in other things for years. The movie premiered this last Sunday, and I’m happy to say I enjoyed it.
The town of Golden Peak is gearing up for the annual Miss Golden Peak Pageant. That means that the local salon run by Ali Reed (Julie Gonzalo) is busier than normal. As a former Miss Golden Peak Pageant winner herself, Ali understands the pressure, and does her best to make sure all the contestants are looking their best.
However, before the contestant can even take the stage, Mitzi Stuart (Rebecca Staab), who has run the pageant for years, is found dead in her office. The new detective in town, Kyle Crawford (Ryan McPartlin), seems to think that people Ali know are legitimate suspects. Can Ali figure out what really happened?
This movie does a great job of setting up characters and motives, and there are plenty of them to keep us guessing. I hadn’t figured out what was going on before Ali did, yet it all made perfect sense when she pieced it together.
In addition to running the salon, which turns into a local gossip site, Ali is hyper observant. This makes her an asset the police regularly use for some of their smaller cases. Don’t worry, they do try to get her to stay out of this one because of the danger. And this isn’t to say that the police aren’t competent, something I always appreciate. Kyle is a strong character and a good detective in his own right.
A trope of these movies (and the books I read) is that the police suspect someone close to the main character, and the character get angry with the police. We get those scenes here, but I felt they were a little over the top. This is a minor complaint.
Of course, being a Hallmark mystery movie, there is a certain amount of cheese, but fans of these movies bake that in to their expectations. I certainly did. As long as you know to expect it, you’ll be fine.
While there is nothing official yet about a sequel, this movie definitely set some plot threads in motion that will play out in future movies. I hope we get those future movies, but I also hope they resolve those threads quickly instead of letting the franchise be cancelled without ever resolving an ongoing storyline (Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries, I’m looking right at you.)
It’s nice to have Hallmark mysteries movies back for another year. Sit back and be prepared to be entertained by Cut, Color, Murder.
They cancelled Martha's Vineyard Mysteries?? I've missed that and I really enjoyed that one! This does sound good and I have enjoyed other movies the actors have been in. I'll definitely have to watch this one.
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