Is Judith Light the most underrated actor of her generation?
Well, no, because there's Alfre Woodard, but is Judith Light the SECOND most underrated actor of her generation?
A TV movie from 1996 suggests so.
Quick Plot: Irene and Ed McNair have been through some things: the death of their eldest son Joey, Ed's winding road to recovery from alcoholism, and now, the horror of Joey's living teenage twin Teddy's sudden outbursts.
Teddy is...needy. He demands his mother come with him for a sleepover at his dead grandmother's house then whines like Veruca Salt when he finds out she's planning on selling the empty home. Irene soon learns that Teddy was expelled from college for some scandalous artwork, fired from his job for decorating a department store window with BDSM-style mannequins, and has a closet wall covered in newspaper clippings detailing their small Connecticut's town shocking crimes.
See, a few young blonds are turning up dead. Ed's AA sponsor happens to be the head detective who has a full profile ready to share with his bestie: a young man, artistically frustrated, sexually confused, deep mother issues, previous tenure on Roseanne. You get the picture.
Murder At My Door is a very, very made-for-TV movie. The screenplay is credited to veteran Christopher Canaan and Patti Sullivan, whose scanter IMDB resume only lists this and Reading Rainbow. Perhaps most excitingly, the director is Eric Till, a perfect unicorn of a filmmaker responsible for both A Muppet Family Christmas and the Costas Mandylor/Jennie Garth joint Falling For You.
This one isn't quite as memorable as those incredibly diverse classics, but I had a good time. Between fog-framed flashbacks and a very dense score, Murder At My Door screams its 1996 CBS roots with such fury that even the most hardened live-in-the-now viewer can't help but feel nostalgic. I wish the screenplay offered more surprises or that Johnny Galecki found more layers into Teddy, but also, well, this is a 1996 made-for-TV drama. If I can give Zombie Night a good review, I have to pause and say my standards are inconsistent and unfair.
High Points
I really do mean it when I say that Judith Light is a national treasure. As Irene, she's mostly stuck playing an ill-defined (on the page) fraught mother, but by golly does Light seem fully present in every mournful stare. This is a woman who does not throw away a performance
Low Points
It's a strange day when you realize how made-for-shock-TV movies have, in some ways, made huge strides over the past 30 years. Sure, Lifetime rarely snags a lead as good as Judith Light, but Murder At My Door's biggest flaw is that it plays out exactly as you would have expected from the first beat. Had this been made today, we'd get a bonkers twist revealing (SPOILER ALERT TO WHAT WE DON'T ACTUALLY GET) that Teddy was troubled but innocent, and it's, say, his little Mikey-in-the-making brother who has actually been stabbing blonds
Lessons Learned
Mansplaining was just as bad in the '90s, particularly if you enjoyed CD shopping at the mall
If you're planning on murdering a woman, always take note of her earring count before and after (but also, don't murder women)
There's nothing you can do to go against the district supervisor
Special Exception
If you've ever spent more than 11 minutes drinking with me, you probably recall that I can't go 12 without ranting about one of my biggest movie credits pet peeves: "Special Appearance By". Movies are temporary, and a cameo (though rarely is it a singular appearance) should simply be an "And" or "With" credit, or a complete surprise without introduction. That being said, when you get the glorious Grace Zabriskie, it is indeed special
Rent/Bury/Buy
TV movie enthusiasts, particularly those with soft spots for the '90s, will certainly find Murder At My Door entertaining. I wish it had a little more bite in the end, but can I REALLY complain when I get to see Judith Light cry and Grace Zabriskie scream?