Crimes of Fashion: Killer Clutch

Let's see: an American fashion psychologist with no detecting background, who does not speak a word of French, goes to Paris for the first time in her life and manages to solve a crime. Meanwhile the hirsute detective, supposedly in charge, ineptly bumbles around and allows her to meddle in in official police matters. Seems like the perfect plot for a novel Pink Panther movie. Unfortunately, this was intended as a serious film, not a farce.

First of all, what the heck is a fashion psychologist? Then, how can a total stranger, unable to speak the language, easily navigate through Paris, even its unseemly places, and effectively question all possible murder suspects?

And, why would all of them so easily oblige, when she has neither the authority, nor the language ability to do so? In addition, why would the policeman in charge allow such person, unknown to him, to do it and even share information with her? Or, why should the French police always be two steps behind such an unlikely sleuth?

Again, Inspector Clouseau comes to mind, which is not a compliment for French Police and the character viewers are supposed to admire as the charming hero of the production.

Gilles Marini in his role is made to look like an uncouth idiot and Lauren acts as a presumptuous brat. Personally, I saw no reason to enjoy their interaction, though I guess they were made for each other. Hallmark shows no mercy for the faithful viewers. The end of the production clearly indicates that sequels are planned.

Brooke D'Orsay stars as a fashion psychologist- whatever that is - in Crimes of Fashion: Killer Clutch.

Lauren Elliott goes to Paris for Fashion Week and in the midst of it, her friend is accused of murder.

Lauren teams up with a detective (Giles Marini) to prove her friend innocent.

I will address my pet peeve first. On another site, someone complained that the cops spoke English. No, the cops were speaking French. French people do not walk around Paris speaking English with French accents, nor do they speak English to one another. One assumes they are speaking French, just as we assume Romeo and Juliet are speaking Italian.

I loved the fashions, hated the rats.

Brooke D'Orsay is a pleasant actress. For the most part this is an okay entry ino Hallmark Mystery genre.

I love Hallmark Mysteries, I really do. I don't mind the cheesiness or predictability, but this one... OOOF! I couldn't even finish it. And then, I was so embarrassed it was in my Continue Watching queue, that I fast forwarded through it so no one would know I even tried watching it.

Brooke's job- what? That's not a thing!

The ridiculous French actors/accents made it hard to follow along.

The over the top acting... NOPE!

I wish that Hallmark would make more of The Gourmet Detective or Crossword Mysteries instead of this junk.

Overall, this isn't worth your time, alphabetized the cans in your pantry for a more useful way to spend 84 minutes.

Gilles Marini who played the French police detective Andre Dubreuil was wonderful as the leading man and the Hallmark regular Brooke D'Orsay who played the fashion psychologist Lauren Elliott was beautiful and a consummate professional as usual.

The mystery itself was decent, I liked that Lauren has a police detective father...and I thought she followed the clues well and asked the right questions. I didn't mind the Paris fashion week backdrop...but I really found the "fashion psychologist" profession odd and hard to believe. Don't get me wrong, I think many members of the fashion industry prevail themselves of members of the psychological profession...but?

Also poking fun of the monolingual American seems like a bit of a cheap shot in this day and age, and I didn't find it funny. Overall, if you can get over the poor sense of humor and the questionable profession, the mystery was good and I do think the two leads have chemistry. I would watch another, but it's not on my recommendation list just yet.

How do you say I can't understand a word you're saying in French?

That pretty much sums up this movie for me. To be perfectly fair, it may have been a good movie, but I got so lost in the heavy accents that following the plot became laborious. I usually do very well with understanding various accents, but there was something amiss with this particular movie.

This is a movie made for a mostly-American audience, and I've seen numerous others with the same opinion.

Gilles Marini has been perfectly understandable in several other shows, but even his accent made this difficult.

I also found the acting/chemistry to be lacking. Visually, it was lovely to see the clothes and Paris; but there is more to a movie than cinematography.

I was looking forward to this, but C'est la vie...