Was this made for tv or something? Like maybe a Lifetime movie, or an afterschool special? Because I thought it was like a real movie and it's not. It's pretty lame.
The story: Claudia (Haylie Duff) works as a nanny for a wealthy family. Her brother is a screw up alos in trouble with the law whom she constantly has to bail out and she is sick of it. He comes to her needing money. She refuses. Then her employer's house gets robbed and the grandfather of the house is shot and killed. Everything points to an inside job and Claudia realizes that it must be someone close to her. Now she must uncover who the killer is while trying to protect her brother.
So was it good? No. Like I said it was made-for-tv bad. And let's be clear: all the blame goes on the director, Douglas Jackson. who seems to have directed 20 of these made ofr tv movies and I'm guessing is burned out. I mean just nothing works here. Now I don't like to rip on tv directors. It's a tough job -- you have to work fast and be efficient, there isn't usually time for reshoots or rehersing like in features, you often aren't dealing with the top actors, and you don't have the money to do all the clever shots people do in features. But still...when nothing works and the movie doesn't live up to the script you have to blame the director. The script is a decent-bu-tnot-special little thriller. Claudia is caught between the robbery and trying to protect her brother, which throws suspicion on her and get her kicked out of her job/house. Then she suspects the people around her. But there's no tension to any of it. Even the robby didn't have any tension. The shots, the atmosphere, the editing -- it is all as bland as can be and a movie like this lives by tension. AND even on a small budget, tension should be something the director can provide. You don't need fancy lighting or special effects, and here the director just failed.
*** AVOID (keeping flipping that channel) ***
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