Une place au soleil

Upon seeing the first commercial for a rather aggressive ad campaign I decided to give Framed a try. Especially, after seeing Sam Neill, one of my favorite actors I resolved to set the date in my schedule. I must say that time spent watching Framed is well worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed this TV movie, which must not let fool you. Framed because of acting, story, production, and so on cannot be so easily considered just another TV movie and must be given respect. From the beginning till the end I was quite ecstatic and also thrilled to add another movie to my favorite's list. Consider it a winner, especially for Sam Neill who once again delivered up to my expectations and performed brilliantly as well as the other actors.

I`ve never been a subscriber to the the train of thought that Lynda La Plante is one of the greatest writers in the history of British television . Her success his mainly down down to other people especially to producers like Verity Lambert who has produced much of La Plante`s output . Don`t believe me ? Watch this version of FRAMED then

Being an American movie produced for television there`s criteria as to what can and cannot be shown , so out goes the grittiness ...ooopps sorry " grittiness " that La Plante is famed for so we`re just left with the bare bones of La Plante`s original teleplay and it doesn`t hold up to too much scrutiny . NYPD cop Mike Santini arrests international criminal mastermind Eddie Meyers who then turns prosecution witness ? Forgive me for asking but do cops get assinged to look after the same people they arrested on the witness protection program ? Am I alone in thinking Mike is the only cop assinged to looking after Meyers ? and how does Mike manage to afford a big house and swimming pool if he`s a mere detective ? The plot twists and turns which ends up making it not complex but somewhat contrived and there`s a bizarre scene where Sam Neill`s character ( And Neill plays Meyers in a totally camp way ) emulates a scene in a police car that another character played by Sam Neill did 25 years earlier in the movie SLEEPING DOGS .

The script is mainly to blame for this mediocre crime tale but it`s not really helped by Daniel Petrie`s directing or the usual TVM restraints on budget . No doubt La Plante afficianados can blame American TVM network regulations on its failure , but if that`s the case shouldn`t other people be getting the credit for La Plante`s British TV successes ?

After watching the commercials for this movie, I decided to watch it. To my surprise, I happened to enjoy it. Rob Lowe and Sam Neill connect, and this is much more than a good guy bad guy flick. The plot is very well done, and there's even some twists. They get along with each other at times, and even team up. I especially liked Sam Neill's character, because he's smooth and calm.

Nothing is as good as the 1992 version of Framed with Timothy Dalton and David Morrissey. Don't waste time on this one.

An entertaining film for a rainy day.

The plot is successful without being especially high budget and is carried by a few good scenes.However, the lead actor is noticeably wooden in his approach to the good cop position. The overall plot has a bundle of twists and turns but unfortunately still leaves an uneasy feeling about both characters morals towards the ending.

I can't tell if my expectations were too high or the overall feeling afterwards was especially low but this film wasn't as good watching it for the second time. If it's on TV it's probably worth a look otherwise don't go out of your way to see it.