The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango

Hallmark Mysteries and Movies might have a new series - The Dancing Detective starring Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp.

In Chabert's latest iteration, she is Detective Constance Bailey who goes undercover to find out who murdered the head of a corporation. This corporation is kind of like the old Arthur Murray Dance Studios - they own these ballroom dance places everywhere. This is their annual get together where the execs participate in a dance competition.

So the premise is ridiculous. Despite this, no expense was spared. It was filmed in beautiful Malta. I will say Lacey's gowns were hideous, very matronly.

I thought Will Kemp's first scene as a dance teacher was wonderful.

Unfortunately there just wasn't much of a script. The other thing is, people are too familiar with Dancing With the Stars and know Lacey couldn't learn those dances with a couple of rehearsals.

I don't know if this will be a series. Typical Hallmark fare though with better scripts this could have potential.

Lacey Chabert has been a favorite of mine since she starred in Party of Five many years ago. I've thoroughly enjoyed many of her Hallmark movies, and The Crossword Mysteries are absolutely amazing! So, naturally I was really excited to see this new movie... Wow, was I disappointed. The script was stale, boring & just plain unimaginative.

I mean, I know these mystery movies pretty much stick to a formula, but the script for this one was so horribly predictable I had it solved almost immediately. Crossword Mysteries, Garage Sale Mysteries, Mystery 101... ALL of these are far superior to this one.

The only thing that *was* inspiring is the location. Now that was beautiful, but I don't have to lose hours of my valuable time to view the breathtaking images of Malta/Italy... I can simply look up images on my computer & save myself the disappointment of watching this movie.

Hallmark seems insistent on inexplicably killing all of its successful mystery series and replacing them with mediocre replacements. This latest iteration features Lacey Chabert playing a police detective and Will Kemp playing a dance teacher/actor. They fake being married to solve a murder case in Malta.

First off, the production value of this movie was terrific. It's also nice to see new faces both in front of and behind the camera. I love that both Lacey and Will were EPs on this because it felt like a true partnership in solving the mystery and both characters were equally important. Oftentimes these mysteries only have the female lead as the EP and the story tends to be focused on her with the male lead as supporting. That was not the case here. Lacey and Will also have great chemistry and I liked all the Easter eggs of mentioning other tv detectives. And Will finally gets to use his own accent.

The mystery itself was not very interesting or well developed and I figured out who the murderer was in the first 10 minutes. Also, nobody in 2023 has a paper copy of a boarding pass just lying around before going to the airport. I'd watch more of these jetsetting dancing mysteries but preferably with a different writer. Probably the best of these new mystery series.

I had been looking forward to this movie and sadly my wait wasn't worthwhile. Great leads, good chemistry and acting, beautiful scenery, however none of this could save a dreadful script. Weak from the first minute.

You take someone who supposedly is not a dancer and without any real lessons or hours of practicing turns into a top-notch dancer. Really? As for the ridiculous car/scooter chase around the streets of Malta, words truly do fail me.

As a longtime fan of Hallmark and your Mysteries this one is a real BIG loser and I sincerely hope you are not planning on making this into a series. Put you time, effort and money into something with a lot more substance that this. Thank you.

Constance Bailey (Lacey Chabert) is a no-nonsense detective who prefers to work alone. When a high-profile CEO is murdered on the eve of his company's corporate event in Malta - a high stakes ballroom competition between senior executives - Detective Bailey is sent undercover as one of the contestants. The only problem? She can't dance. To convincingly compete, she must team up with charismatic and free-spirited performer Sebastian Moore( Will Kemp). But with a killer on the loose and a growing list of suspects, it's going to take more than a little fancy footwork to solve this case.

The mystery elements are simplistic, a little lacking in intrigue and you are likely to work out who the culprit is, however I found this quite fun to watch, mainly due to the Malta location, Lacey Chabert-charming as ever - and her chemistry with Will Kemp, and the old time classic film feel. It could have been stronger with the mystery and the characterisation, but it's enjoyable and the combination of Ballroom and mystery is a good idea.