Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers

Does Hallmark not hire professionals to write and direct their movies? I found the script to be typical and extremely lazy. The continuity of emotion was all over the place... it just didn't make sense at times and left me scratching my head and rolling my eyes... and it was obvious it was to create drama that just wasn't realistic at all. The main character's dialect was that of a high school teenager from Southern California in2024 while the accent of her main love interest was like he was a part of the British royal family itself.

Racism sucks and we all hate the way it was in the past, but for a historical piece it was just not realistic at all.

And finally why is the main character the ONLY ONE who does ANY investigating? It's like every one of the other investigators are completely incompetent.

I was so looking forward to this as I am a fan of Hallmark mysteries and have been very impressed with their period works like "Three Beds, Two Bathrooms and One Ghost" (with the incredible Madeline West) and "A Biltmore Christmas". But, this movie is a huge failure.

The entire cast (except for Nanny) is awful, with the lead actress sleepwalking her way through the role. The lead detective looks like a surfer dude and the third component of this "love triangle" is a complete bore. Add to that a story with horrible pacing and some unbelievably sophomoric detective work. I finally fast-forwarded to the last 10 minutes to find out whodunit because I couldn't take it anymore.

Hallmark, you've been warned. If this really is the first episode of a series, recast the main leads and for crying out loud, enough with the dopey curls!

Whew this one was rough. And I love a hallmark mystery. I also love a period piece.

The main actress was rough. Her inability to finish conversations with people. Her 2024 vibes in this era... nope. Her actual acting. 0 stars.

Also, she's kissing and almost betrothed to one guy but very easily flirting with another. Not for me.

How many times was she going to almost die in this movie? The worst one I've seen in a LONG time.

Script -1 out of 10 Plot- 2 out of 10 Acting- 2 out of 10 Set design- 7 out of 10 Level of annoying- 10 out of 10

If you're looking for a hallmark mystery that's good- go for mystery 101 or A Flowershop Mystery.

I confess that, yes, I usually like Hallmark movies. And I like period pieces. So this movie is a terrible disappointment.

I just finished watching season 2 of The Gilded Age so I hope I didn't grade this movie further down in comparison but these are the thoughts that came to mind while viewing:

It has second rate acting.

It has third rate plot and dialogue.

It has fourth rate directing. Over directing.

(Third rate on average.)

The endless and all too frequent quick cuts during conversations were nauseating. And the puzzling way some of the actors uttered their lines had me blaming the director too.

I was really looking forward to this but after 15 minutes realized it was a mess on every level. The main character is completely unbelievable as a "detective" and she slogs through her dialogue. Most of the characters are wooden and going through the motions. Reactions to events are shockingly unrealistic (a guy falls to his death and our MC doesn't even blink or act startled. She jaunts over to the body and asks "Mr Goddard?" as blood pours from his head)

In another instance a man is lying on the floor, clearly having been knocked out but it takes our genius MC hours to notice a bump on his head and she's very proud of herself for figuring out he was attacked along with the murder victim. Ummm... wouldn't the guy know if he was hit over the head?? Just ask him!

As others have mentioned, the class system of the era is completely ignored. It seems Hallmark has period costumes on hand so they think that makes for a good period movie.

This mess proves that it doesn't.