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Monday, January 15, 2024

Movie Review: Family Ties - A True Justice Movie

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Great cast and characters in an entertaining mystery
Cons: Small dose of low budget cheese
The Bottom Line:
Casey takes on case
To prove brother’s innocence
Great franchise debut




“We’ve Like the Marvel Universe of Law Students.”

After a couple of months off for Christmas movies, Hallmark is back to their normal programming now, and that means new mystery movies.  They are kicking off 2024 with the first movie in a potential new franchise.  And based on Family Ties, I’m hoping we see more movies in this new True Justice franchise.

The movie introduces us to Casey (Katherine McNamara), a law school student, who is getting a firsthand look at the justice system.  Her brother, Marcus (Sam Ashe Arnold) is standing trial for the murder of Casey’s friend, Deja.  When he is convicted, Casey enlists the help of her law school friends Sarah (Marisa McIntyre) and PJ (Sabrina Saudin) to clear him of a crime she doesn’t believe he committed.  She even reluctantly asks Eli (Markian Tarasiuk), Deja’s boyfriend, to help.  Together, this group has access to case details thanks to their internships.  But their only hope is figuring out what really happened.  Can they find the killer?

This movie jumps right in, and I’ll admit, I felt like I was trying to catch up for the first fifteen minutes or so.  But before the first commercial break, we have most of the backstory we need, and the characters, and us, can focus on solving the crime to clear Marcus.  Mind you, I’m not really complaining since I prefer to jump into the story rather than gets lots of backstory that slows things down at the beginning.  And it really wasn’t long before I felt like I understood the characters and their relationships.

The pace never lagged as they went from one suspect to another, trying to apply what they are learning in school to the case.  As a result, I found myself caught up in the story.  I did guess the killer early, although they made me doubt myself a couple of times before the climax.

This movie breaks the typical Hallmark Mystery mold in some ways.  We’ve got a larger cast of main characters, for one thing, and they are younger than the typical main characters have been.  Maybe it was this change or maybe it was the cast themselves, but I felt like this brought a new energy to the movie.  There was a younger vibe without feeling like it was trying to pander.  I really liked it.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t still a tad of low budget movie cheese to the movie.  But it was very minor.  If you like Hallmark’s mystery movies, you’ll enjoy this one.

And this isn’t a knock on the cast, who are all good.  Of the main cast, the only one I was familiar with was Katherine McNamara from her work in the CW show Arrow.  (And that made me laugh at her undercover name in this movie.)  It was fun to see her in something else.  There are a couple of Hallmark staples here, but in supporting mentor roles for the main characters.  Benjamin Ayres, who starred in The Chronicles Mysteries, plays a D.A.  Meanwhile, Nikki Deloach, who is starring as Goldy in the Curious Caterer Mysteries, plays the characters’ law professor.  Nikki is also one of the creators and writers for this movie.

Like most Hallmark mystery movies there is a hint of romance in this one.  Actually, two potential romances.  If we get more movies, it will be interesting to see how those develop.

With this large a cast of main characters, the potential for new stories is endless.  I think I’m more excited about the potential of the True Justice franchise than I’ve been any other that Hallmark has introduced in the last couple of years.  If you enjoy their mystery movies, you owe it to yourself to check out Family Ties.

1 comment:

  1. I figured out one piece of the puzzle, but not all of it. I liked it too. The ensemble cast was great! :)

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