Northern Lights (2009)

Nate Burns accepts a job as chief of police in Lunacy, Alaska, hoping to to get away from the traumatic death of his partner back in Baltimore. He meets Meg, an independent bush pilot, whose father is found dead in a mountain cave.

Director:

Mike Robe

Writers:

Janet Brownell (teleplay), Nora Roberts (novel)

Stars:

LeAnn Rimes, Eddie Cibrian, Greg Lawson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
LeAnn Rimes	...	Meg Galligan
Eddie Cibrian	...	Nate Burns
Greg Lawson	...	Ed Woolcott
Rosanna Arquette	...	Charlene Galligan
Jayne Eastwood	...	Mayor Hopp
William MacDonald	...	Deputy Otto Gruber
Christianne Hirt	...	Carrie Hawbacker
Adrian Hough	...	John
Billy Merasty	...	Jacob
David Lawrence Brown	...	Max Hawbacker (as David Brown)
Marty Antonini	...	Bing
Justin Michael Carriere	...	Jim Mackie (as Justin Michael Carrier)
David Cowley	...	Bill Mackie
Alex Arsenault	...	Stephen Thompson (as Alexander Arsenault)
Rod Heatherington	...	Sgt. Coben

Storyline

Nate Burns, a former Baltimore city homicide detective, is the new police chief in sleepy Lunacy, Alaska. The job comes with a free room in the 'lodge', the town's multi-purpose inn, pub etcetera run by 'loose' flirter Charlene Galligan. Sole deputy Otto Gruber is among the failed local applicants. Shortly after Nate gets on sensual-bickering terms with Charlene's fickle, estranged daughter, pilot Meg, lost mountaineers find the frozen corps of Meg's dad Pat, missing for 15 years. State police sergeant Coben dubiously claims jurisdiction and flies out the body. Nate soon discovers nothing is as it seems after Lunatic newspaper editor Max Hawbacker is found shot, with a fake suicide PC note 'I killed Pat'. Uncovering more past secret proves dangerous for dogs, Nate and his job.

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Plot Keywords:

dog | theft | bear | knife | fight | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

It was on the set of Northern Lights Eddie Cibrian met his current wife, LeAnn Rimes.

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Goofs

This movie is suppose to take place in Alaska, but the tail numbers of all the aircraft seen begin with 'C', which is the international code for Canada, showing that the movie was filmed there.

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Connections

References Rush Hour (1998)

User Reviews

Beyond Awful

Someone should tell LeAnn Rimes that simply reading the lines with a bitchy attitude doesn't make you an actress. I was never a huge fan of Meg in the novel, but Rimes managed to suck what I did like right from the character.

I understand that an adaptation has to change things in the screen version, but is it necessary to strip all the good stuff? I made it through the first half hour of this mess and I had to turn it off. A complete disappointment with none of the atmosphere that sucked me in while reading the book. Eddie Cibrian was fine as Nate, but I missed the setup to the story that had been done in the novel -- with Nate settling in as sheriff that really made the book for me. It was a murder mystery sure, but there were more to it in the book and I missed that in this adaptation.

This is just like the 2007 collection that aired -- I could only get myself through one of out of the four movies more than once. They keep taking Nora Roberts and pairing her wonderful novels to barely anything at all. Why does a mediocre guy like Nicholas Sparks get all of his novels on the big screen and Nora gets no special treatment beyond stunt casting?

Details

Official Sites:

Lifetime TV

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 March 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nora Roberts' Northern Lights

Filming Locations:

Bragg Creek, Alberta, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stephanie Germain Productions, Mandalay Television, Alberta Film Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1