Deadly Appearances (2000) (TV)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

George Bloomfield

Writers:

Gail Bowen (novel)
R.B. Carney (adaptation)

Release Date:

23 April 2000 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Joanne Kilbourn, ex-detective turned university lecturer, is still haunted by the unsolved murder of her politician husband...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Wendy Crewson	...	Joanne Kilbourn
Victor Garber	...	Inspector Philip Millard
Robert Hays	...	Andy Boychuk
Simon Callow	...	Rick Spencer
Domini Blythe	...	Eve Boychuk
Kevin Hicks	...	Soren Eames
Marc Cohen	...	Damon McGuire
Colombe Demers	...	Micka Kilbourn
Noah Shebib	...	Peter Kilbourn
Callahan Connor	...	Angus Kilbourn
Natasha La Force	...	Taylor Kilbourn
Ryan Kavanagh	...	Carey Boychuk
Katie Emme McIninch	...	Lori Evanson
Joyce Gordon	...	Marlene Morris
Jef Mallory	...	Male Student

Also Known As:

Criminal Instincts: Deadly Appearances (USA) (series title)
Le prix du silence (Canada: French title)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Canadian Television (CTV)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Andy's last name is spelled Boychuck on election campaign signs displayed in the movie. However, it is spelled Boychuk in the end credits.

Movie Connections:

References Peter Pan (1953)

Soundtrack:

Anything Is Possible

A political candidate is murdered, and his longtime friend hunts for the killer.

"Deadly Appearances" was Gail Bowen's first novel, in what is now a 7 book series, featuring amateur detective, Joanne Kilbourn. Bowen mixes the problems of a single woman raising her family and Canadian provincial politics into a realistic setting for unusual murders. They are well crafted and contain fully realized characters. This is a movie of her title.

OK, so the actress is physically wrong for Joanne, I could live with that. However, one assumes that if the book was worth buying for film, you might film the plot--but no. Drop those minor characters, like the murderer, and change the plot (gay lovers! in Canada! Can't have that!), lose the motive, and the point--oh, and lose the whole Canadian thing. Poly Sci professor, naaah--make her a former cop, and throw in a love hate thing with her old partner who doesn't exist in the book. You have now made a great murder mystery with a fresh setting and unique sleuth into a run of the mill C movie that will fill 2 hrs on TV.

Give this a pass. Read the books.