Trophy Wife (TV 2006)
"Murder on Spec" (original title)

Kate Graham believed to have a perfect marriage, but after not touching her for months her husband Duke Fairbanks, who had an affair with her friend Diana Coles, demands a divorce. She ... See full summary »

Director:

Harvey Kahn

Writer:

Pablo F. Fenjves

Stars:

Brooke Burns, Royston Innes, Kyle Cassie

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brooke Burns	...	Kate Graham
Royston Innes	...	Mathis
Kyle Cassie	...	Jim McMorrow
Peter Benson	...	Detective Paul Tannon
Jay Brazeau	...	Harry
Barclay Hope	...	Duke Fairbanks
Gina Holden	...	Diana Coles
Barry Bowman	...	Lawyer
Blaine Lopes	...	Sam
John Gibb	...	Guard
Dean McKenzie	...	Shaw (as Dean Monroe Mckenzie)
Colin Chapin	...	Waiter
Chiara Zanni	...	Chelsea Fordham
David Pearson	...	George Fordham (as David Allan Pearson)
Arnie Walters	...	Judge Abramson

Storyline

Kate Graham believed to have a perfect marriage, but after not touching her for months her husband Duke Fairbanks, who had an affair with her friend Diana Coles, demands a divorce. She waves the prenuptial-fixed sum of nearly a million dollars, so he lets her have the house temporarily while he lives on the yacht; his corpse is found there shortly after. An unknown man who claims he killed Duke 'for her' demands 10% of his vast inheritance. When her gay friend is arrested, without bail, she asks her lawyer to defend him. The killer orders her to have dinner, shakes the Seattle PD detective Paul Tannon, proves he knows her preferences, explains how he set Jim up and doubles his tariff to 20% now she has two lives to pay off. The unknown killer is actually a tax official called Mathis...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 August 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Trophy Wife

Filming Locations:

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Front Street Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

OK - it's a 'B' movie.. but had some nifty elements..

We watched it - it was a passable time-waster built around a very charming leading lady, Brooke Burns (film a.k.a. 'Trophy Wife').

She won't challenge Meryl Streep for acting honors, but this was a low-budget vehicle built around the familiar device of a pretty, but determined, main character under attack by a sinister guy (a hacker, an extortionist, a serial killer, a combo - you choose). She will have to resolve to defeat him herself - there's no 'buddy' waiting to bail her out. In this case, the bad guy extorts money from women who have lost rich, but unpleasant, husbands in 'untimely deaths' - deaths he caused, 'on spec' - that is, on 'speculation' that the women will gladly pay a commission to be rid of the villainous 'ex'. It's not an entirely new idea - Alfred Hitchcock used a similar twist in his old TV mystery show.

The difference here is that the villain claims to be able to implicate poor Brooke in the murder-for-hire. That part is stretchy. Nonetheless, the camera work is nifty (reminding me of a Director using tribute-type camera angles to echo the genre), and the gadgetry makes for interesting - if implausible - entertainment.

It took me a while to realize that the 'killer' had his victims 'over a barrel' - they paid, instead of going to the Police. No wonder they don't want to talk to Brooke when she starts investigating these cases herself: these 'victims' are complicit in a crime. It's an intriguing kind of 'con' - you can't go to the Police with your story, after you pay. hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

While the computer and technical abilities of the perpetrator are strictly sci-fi, we saw a similar device used in a big-budget British mini-series with John Hannah entitled 'Amnesia'. The bad guy's ability to produce phony tech data was essential to moving the plot forward, and building the suspense to a surprising climax. The device isn't as well orchestrated in 'Trophy Wife', but it serves the same purpose: it keeps our hero fighting to get her story believed.

Finally: life has a way of imitating art.. as silly as the plot might seem, there are fraud, and murder-for-profit cases in the true-life crime annals that seem stranger than anything we've read in fiction.

So, I gave the film a 7 - for the 'heroine-battles-super-bad-guy-B-movie-suspense' genre.