Midnight Bayou

Young college student from Boston, Jerry O'Connell out on some hijinks with friends in New Orleans comes across an old deserted mansion and sees the ghost of a woman there. He feels a real connection to her and the house. Years later, now an attorney, O'Connell moves to the area to start a law practice aimed at making insurance companies cough up what they owe flood victims. But it's more than business that Jerry's got on his mind.

He buys the old mansion and has plans to renovate and move in. But he sees some startling visions of the past around the turn of the last century. He makes a connection with Lauren Stamile who also has a connection to the house. She's the great great granddaughter of the woman that Jerry finds out was murdered.

Midnight Bayou is based on a Nora Roberts romance novel of the same name, though its characters could have been taken from the works of Tennessee Williams. Faye Dunaway plays the grandmother of Stamile who raised her and she's fine in the part. The really evil one is the prostitute/junkie of a mother Marcelle Baer to Stamile. She is a bad person in the past and present.

The film is a cut above most of the Lifetime network productions and recommended for devotees of Nora Roberts.

Attempted to watch but found ourselves mostly fast-forwarding this Nora Roberts 'thriller' that we videoed for our Dad. It was a Channel 5 Saturday night premiere and we'd been burned once already with Willed to Kill. Plus, we'd seen a Nora Roberts movie before so should have been more wary. This was more of the same. Jerry O'Connell, that goofy, odd-looking guy plays the lead looking perpetually surprised – perhaps by the script which has Faye Dunaway (still pretty fine) calling him 'a beautiful young man' but I would say it's a fair guess that this line was not written with him in mind because he is not by a fair stretch of the imagination that beautiful or young. Young in comparison to Ms Dunaway maybe. And I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'll say no more. If you're ready to accept this though, you might also allow yourself to believe the daft storyline, which involves ghosts, reincarnation and visions of the past all muddled together randomly in a crazy, clashing potpourri. Beyond silly. There's a signposted-a-state-away love storyline that doesn't ring true for a second. A cameo from the gorgeous Alejandro Rose-Garcia as the intriguingly evil brother Julien is enjoyable but we see too little of him. New Orleans is the other draw – I'd never been interested in going there but this has changed my mind – it looks stunning. Unfortunately, neither is enough to warrant your wasting your time on this movie. Scarily unscary.

Midnight Bayou

The most annoying aspect to reincarnation is switching over all of your identification.

Unfortunately, the returning soul in this made-for-TV-movie has to change more than just his name.

Despite his Eastern education, Boston lawyer Declan (Jerry O'Connell) is drawn to New Orleans and purchases a plantation to renovate.

Around town he meets a local, Lena (Lauren Stamile), whom he is inexplicably attracted to.

As the renovations continue, the mansion's history unravels its self to Declan via vivid flashbacks of a former female resident's murder.

Desperate for answers, he seeks the wisdom of Lena's grandmother (Faye Dunaway), a voodoo priestess with past life experience.

However, the spiritual truth that Declan seeks will change his life forever.

A more mystical love story than what Nora Roberts is known for, this adaptation of her novel muddles in mediocre acting but surprises in the shock-ending department.

Incidentally, when you're reincarnated in Louisiana, 9 times out of 10 you come back as a crayfish.

Yellow Light

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To anyone who read the book, you will not like this movie...to those who saw the movie without reading the book will not want to read it!! The characters were not well developed, Declan's background was limited to one past relationship & there was hardly anything about his family up north. Lina's character was limited as well and didn't show how she achieved in her life from such difficulties. The relationship between Declan & Lina did not seem genuine or believable.

Faye Dunaway was spectacular as always, but sadly not used to her full potential.

I'm sorry I watched it since I read the book. I'm not sure if I would have liked it any better if I hadn't read it.

When will movie makers understand that people people from New Orleans do not speak with that generic Gone With The Wind southern accent? Most people in Louisiana do not sound like that these days. And referring to a "loaf" of cornbread, seriously? If you're going to throw in details based on where the story is set, do better research. I realize that's kind of nitpicky, but it seems like too many movies and television shows get details about Louisiana and New Orleans wrong. Don't even get me started on True Blood. Love the show, but there's something in almost every episode that makes me shake my head.

Other than those problems, it was a fairly decent adaptation. Better than some of the other Nora Roberts movies.