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Joan Collins in 'The Bitch': Sex tale based on younger sister Jackie Collins' novel. Author Jackie Collins dead at 77: Surprisingly few film and TV adaptations of her bestselling novels Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives of the rich and famous and for being the younger sister of film and TV star Joan Collins, died of breast cancer on Sept. 19, '15, in Los Angeles. The London-born (Oct. 4, 1937) Collins was 77. Collins' tawdry, female-centered novels – much like those of Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz – were/are immensely popular. According to her website, they have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. And if the increasingly tabloidy BBC is to be believed (nowadays, Wikipedia has become a key source, apparently), every single one of them – 32 in all – appeared on the New York Times' bestseller list. (Collins' own site claims that a mere 30 were included.) Sex...

10 p.m.-midnight

Sunday, April 13

TNT

Think of a jigsaw puzzle missing a few pieces or a scenic ride down a bumpy road, and you begin to capture the experience of watching "Framed", an entertaining if improbable thriller with a plot that has more holes than one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.

Rob Lowe plays Mike Santini, a New York police detective who, while on a family vacation in the Bahamas, catches sight of Eddie Meyers (Sam Neill). Meyers was to be the key witness in an international money laundering trial but slipped away four years earlier. Pausing only long enough for a few arguments with his wife, Lucy (Alicia Coppola), Santini manages to capture the much-sought-after Meyers.

Then a number of things occur, all of them unlikely but crucial to the story. Meyers insists that Santini be the interrogator. He also insists that he be put in a posh house where he can indulge his taste for fine cuisine and maintain his excellent wardrobe. In this movie, whatever Meyers wants, Meyers gets.

The heart and soul of the film is the interplay between the straight-laced Santini and the sophisticated Meyers. Neill plays Meyers as a slippery but endearing con man, giving the character enough texture and appeal to be practically irresistible. Lowe, on the other hand, makes Santini even more of a laid-back Boy Scout than Sam Seaborn, his character on "The West Wing". While this is supposed to be a cat-and-mouse game between the noble Santini and the hedonistic Meyers, there's really no contest. For all his criminal activity, Meyers is both fascinating and the film's biggest draw.

In other developments, Santini's wife and kids are relocated for their protection to a remote house, which becomes the scene of infidelity. And there's also the issue of how Santini was tarred five years earlier when his partner was found guilty of bribery. Neither story gets properly developed, and both are more or less distractions.

Also, if you're wondering where the title for this movie fits in, be patient. You have to get through more than two-thirds of the story before there's any talk of anyone framing anyone else.

Director-writer Daniel Petrie Jr. takes good advantage of the Bahamas scenery and proves adept at finding interesting angles from which to capture the interplay between Santini and Meyers. He also displays a smooth hand during the action sequences, though these seem to end almost as quickly as they begin.

FRAMED

TNT

A Turner Netrwork Television Original Film

Credits:

Executive producers: David Brown, Kit Golden, Thomas J. Mangan IV, Mark Amin, Lynda La Plante

Line producer: Kim Todd

Director-writer: Daniel Petrie Jr.

Based on the book by: Lynda La Plante

Director of photography: Laszio George

Production designer: Peter Cosco

Editor: Paul Dixon

Music: Joe Kraemer

Art director: Deanne Rohde

Set decorator: Mark Steel

Casting: Iris Grossman, Robin D Cook

Cast:

Mike Santini: Rob Lowe

Eddie Meyers: Sam Neill

Lucy Santini: Alicia Coppola

MacNamara: Peter MacNeill

George Adams: Dorian Harewood

Joan Thomas: Janet Wright

A. Daniel Cole: Stewart Bick...