Ships in the Night: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery

In this third instalment of this mystery series I was really hoping it would improve. But sadly, it did not, and the acting was even more stilted and unrealistic. Jesse, as Jeff, is easy on the eyes but just does not do justice to the Jeff character of the wonderful Phillip Craig series. Sarah, as Zee, is just too superficial to lend any credence to the story. She is a doctor but did not spend one minute in a hospital. The chemistry (which sizzles in the books) is just not there at all between Jeff and Zee. And the great character of Joe Begay is not part of the movies. He would be a good addition and provide some diversity. The best part of the movie was the scenery, much of which I have seen in person. If you have not read the books you might enjoy this movie. For those of us that have, it is an insult to the characters and stories portrayed.

Jeff and Zee confront the deaths of two community members on the eve of a fundraising regatta. Eli (Fred Keating), a doctor and Zee's mentor, gets chucked out the window by someone who appears to want a portable dialysis machine that he's been tinkering with. Across town, Bernie (Kehli O'Byrne), manager of the Winchester Art Gallery, is clubbed with a sailboat sculpture. It's unclear if and how the incidents are connected. In any case, two deaths might be one too many because no one picks up on poor Eli's demise until deep into the second act.

There's something relaxing about this mystery, perhaps it's the beach and the chilled atmosphere, but it's quite nice. The acting is adequate, Sarah Lind is very pretty, the investigation is standard but diverting. It's an adequately made TV mystery.

Decent story is ruined by 1. Terrible screenplay dialog, 2. Lousy acting, and 3. Fake locations pretending to be Martha's Vineyard.

Filmed in the Vancouver area and featuring mostly Canadian actors, this series of films totally fails to capture the Vineyard vibe or the local color and accents. The leading lady (Sarah Lind) is especially annoying since she's supposed to be a hospital doctor but all she does is traipse about with Jack (Jesse Metcalfe) the ex-Boston cop.

They live on an island but they don't seem to know anybody and never heard of them. Art galley? Rich people with ocean-front homes? Nope. Never heard of them. Lind's daddy is the local police chief (Eric Keenleyside), but he's also totally unaware of local residents and companies.

Also annoying is that they seem to be on an island off the coast of Boston. There's never a mention of Cape Cod even though the major ferry services come out of Falmouth, Hyannis, Woods Hole, etc. ... not Boston.

While there are fly-over shots of Boston and the Vineyard (the same one in each movie). there is no local film shooting.

Metcalfe is not bad, but Lind is terrible. Keenleyside and the other regulars are amateurish and serve little purpose. There's a coffee guy , a reporter, and a woman who either owns or manages an inn. They are just background.

The women swan about in high-fashion clothing and high heels, and all the clothing looks like it's freshly new, giving the whole series that soap opera look.

The lack of depth is hilarious. My favorite scene has Metcalfe and Lind discovering the dead gallery owner lying in a bucket's worth of blood around her smashed-in head. Lind the doctor kneels down and feels for a pulse. "She's dead!" she says, staring up at him. DUH.

The realism extends to the constant mentioning of lobsters and clams and sometimes crabs, since of course that's all island people eat. DUH.

There's a murder. Jeff and Zee are back to solving the case. Jeff is rethinking the incident which put the bullet in his back. It's the third movie in this Hallmark mystery series.

Sarah Lind loosens up a little. That's a good thing but the relationship still needs work. They didn't start the series with a meet-cute and their banter is not that good. I guess they're not going to accept my suggestion to insert a love triangle. I'm still hoping for flashbacks to their childhood. In fact, they should do a mystery which centers around their younger selves. The mysteries are not doing it for me. Jeff's bullet in his back is the more interesting case. I'm losing interest in this franchise.

4/10 - bad writing and worse-than-usual acting plague the newest installment in this Hallmark mystery series