Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers

I was really looking forward to this but after 15 minutes realized it was a mess on every level. The main character is completely unbelievable as a "detective" and she slogs through her dialogue. Most of the characters are wooden and going through the motions. Reactions to events are shockingly unrealistic (a guy falls to his death and our MC doesn't even blink or act startled. She jaunts over to the body and asks "Mr Goddard?" as blood pours from his head)

In another instance a man is lying on the floor, clearly having been knocked out but it takes our genius MC hours to notice a bump on his head and she's very proud of herself for figuring out he was attacked along with the murder victim. Ummm... wouldn't the guy know if he was hit over the head?? Just ask him!

As others have mentioned, the class system of the era is completely ignored. It seems Hallmark has period costumes on hand so they think that makes for a good period movie.

This mess proves that it doesn't.

I confess that, yes, I usually like Hallmark movies. And I like period pieces. So this movie is a terrible disappointment.

I just finished watching season 2 of The Gilded Age so I hope I didn't grade this movie further down in comparison but these are the thoughts that came to mind while viewing:

It has second rate acting.

It has third rate plot and dialogue.

It has fourth rate directing. Over directing.

(Third rate on average.)

The endless and all too frequent quick cuts during conversations were nauseating. And the puzzling way some of the actors uttered their lines had me blaming the director too.

Whew this one was rough. And I love a hallmark mystery. I also love a period piece.

The main actress was rough. Her inability to finish conversations with people. Her 2024 vibes in this era... nope. Her actual acting. 0 stars.

Also, she's kissing and almost betrothed to one guy but very easily flirting with another. Not for me.

How many times was she going to almost die in this movie? The worst one I've seen in a LONG time.

Script -1 out of 10 Plot- 2 out of 10 Acting- 2 out of 10 Set design- 7 out of 10 Level of annoying- 10 out of 10

If you're looking for a hallmark mystery that's good- go for mystery 101 or A Flowershop Mystery.

Kept trying to like it, but the acting was so bad. For a period piece, only a couple of the characters portrayed it well. The others characters were like JR high students merely just reading lines for a play. I like the lead in Firefly Lane, so I expected a much better performance from her.

I was excited for a new mystery series on Hallmark, so I hope if they do more if these, they improve the acting. I enjoy most of the Hallmark mysteries and he really find the acting and stories to be decent. I managed to finished it but only because I really hoped it would get better, but it didn't but at least I know who did it.

Hallmark did a wonderful job with A Biltmore Christmas, filming on location at the Biltmore in NC. I was sad to find out watching this movie, they did not even bothered to film it at the Breakers. Such a magnificent site to see in person. That would have been a saving grace for this bland and slow paced movie. Instead they filmed at the well played out castle in Canada. Aka Lex Luther's house in Smallville and a bunch of other shows.

I saw this series of books at the gift shops at those famous Newport mansion and they are on my list to read. Definitely so now after reading the other reviews that mention how good the books are compared to this movie.