True Justice: Family Ties

I was about to give up on this movie about 20 minutes into it. Luckily the Liam character joined and provided a much need lift to the cast.

The lead actress and actor who played Casey and Eli were so bad in the opening of the movie that I couldn't take it. No emotion, inappropriate smirking and unbelievably bad delivery of lines. How did they even get the roles?

The rest of the cast was okay, but the movie would have benefited from more screen time from the Hallmark veteran actors.

Like I said, once the actor who played Liam came on screen I enjoyed the movie more. However the plot was weak and the killer of the woman found in the alley was totally unbelievable.

Part of the reason I enjoyed such popular series as Garage Sale Mysteries and the Aurora Teagarden mysteries is because they starred known actresses.

This series lack any actor that is familiar (to me).

One reviewer referred to them as a group of teens, when clearly they are in their late 20s and early 30s (guess they took off some time between college and law school).

The lead actress (Katherine McNamara) looks kind of haggard. I noticed that she is one of many actors who of late has had their year of births removed from their IMDB profile. This seems unusual for an actress who is only 28.

The story wasn't as good as any on the two series I mentioned. I suspect Hallmark isn't going to, but I wish they would bring back Garage Sale Mysteries (with Lori Loughlin) and Aurora Teagarden (with Candace Cameron Burre), the latter being especially unlikely with her departure for another network.

True Justice: Family Ties was a little different for Hallmark. It's still a murder mystery but with a larger cast working to prove that the brother of the lead actress is innocent. This movie takes you into the criminal justice system. The cast is made up of newcomers to Hallmark along with two of my favorite regulars - Nikki DeLoach and Benjamin Ayres. DeLoach and her writing partner, Megan McNulty, did a good job with a script that provide twists and turns to keep you guessing. I liked the fact that the writers didn't throw in a gay couple that didn't fit in with the story as Hallmark has had a tendency to do. Hopefully, True Justice will become a regular series.

You know, I understand that Hallmark Mystery Movies aren't exactly realistic. I mean seriously, how often does a librarian, an English professor or an antiques dealer really solve homicides before a seasoned detective? LOL Not often & I'm okay with that, however, True Justice took unrealistic past improbable & made it laughable!

There are so many factual errors on court proceeding & evidence handling here, there are simply too many to name. The writers should really do a little research on court trials, sentencing etc... It's obvious they have no idea how a trial is arranged & regulated.

Also, any evidence Casey or her friends touched would be (at best) viewed with extreme suspicion & would not be readily accepted as fact. Or, & this is the most likely scenario, all the evidence gathered would be deemed tainted due to her relationship to the defendant & ruled inadmissible.

The whole scenario was ridiculous & the acting by most of the cast was sorely lacking. I enjoyed Benjamin Ayres as DA Quinn & Nikki De Loach as Professor Ambrose, but their roles were too small to save this movie.

I wish Hallmark would rethink its decision to get rid of entertaining series like Mystery 101 in favor of a sub-par series like True Justice. I don't like to bash, but i can promise you the ratings will show the audience's dissatisfaction soon enough. In fact, if you look at the reviews & ratings, they are already speaking it loud & clear.

And this one is no different. It's rubbish from start to ... er, well, I was going to say, finish, but since I gave up watching this nonsense about 30 minutes in, I shall never know what the actual finish is. I can only assume that the brother, who is probably still sobbing right now, the cry baby, is exonerated and he and his sister spend a joyous time celebrating how they beat the system. I couldn't care less. The acting was atrocious, there were far too many characters. They kept popping up like flies. Also, the dialog was so slick, it was barely comprehensible. I even paused after 15 minutes to put my hearing aids in AND I had subtitles enabled. I have never watched any of these rubbish Mystery movies all the way through. I can't believe how Hallmark manages to sell so much utter trash to TV companies.