“I Think You Play to Win.” “Always Have.”
Hallmark seems to have gone all in on their Mystery Island franchise. Which is funny since it seems to me like a franchise with much more limited storylines than some of their others. But we just got Play for Keeps, the third movie, with a fourth coming in September.
If you’ve missed these movies, they are set at an island that plays host to weekend murder mysteries. Fictional murder mysteries, that is. Emilia (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Jason (Charlie Weber) plot out the mysteries, while Jane (Kezia Burrows) actually owns the company that runs the island.
This particular weekend, Emilia’s ex-fiancé, Franklin (Kris Mochrie) is a guest along with his new wife, Ainsley (Emily Eaton-Plowright). Emilia would love to be far away from the island, but one of the conditions of them coming was that Emilia play host.
The first day things are a little awkward, but the big surprise is Ainsley solves the mystery in record time. A story that should have taken a full weekend is finished in just a couple of hours. Emilia is certain she cheated somehow. But before Emilia can figure out how, Ainsley is murdered, and Emilia herself comes a suspect. Can the trio figure out what is really going on?
This movie is the first time we actually got to see one of their fictional mystery games from start to finish. While it did keep the murder from happening sooner in the movie, I didn’t mind since it was showing us character and setting up the suspects. And, it really didn’t take any longer than it needed to. Yes, you could argue that it shorted the climax, leaving us with an overly talky explanation of what had been going on. But I feel like we’ve gotten that in previous movies in the franchise anyway.
Overall, the real mystery our characters have to solve is just okay. The suspects were good, but the plotting could have been better. I feel like they were trying to cram too much into the movie. Surely, there was some other way they could have introduced some of what was going on before the climax.
While I do like the main trio, they are the only characters who are back in any meaningful way. Their relationships are fun. The rest of the cast get a few moments that allow us to get to know them, but they aren’t the strongest characters.
Unfortunately, this franchise seems to come with a larger than normal dose of low budget cheese in both the writing and the acting. A few times, I did cringe. Most of it worked for me, however.
I’ll be interested to see just how long Hallmark milks this franchise. For those looking for a mildly entertaining mystery movie, Mystery Island – Play for Keeps will keep you engaged. But it isn’t one of Hallmark’s better mystery movies.
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