User reviews

The suspense of playing along with this mystery series is as much a part of the movie as the excellent cast. I have enjoyed each "Mystery Woman" installment and I have really enjoyed the way the roles have developed and moved towards a mutual understanding of each other. As each movie comes out it is good to see Chief Conners while still as stoic as ever, has a slight soft side towards Samantha. The scenes with Cassie becoming addicted to a video game reminds me of my "Myst" days. I liked the added touch. I only wish Kellie Martin would get the respect she is so long overdue. I have enjoyed watching her develop from the "Father Murphy" days until now. With the loss of her sister and then to give up a role on "ER", although quite understandable, and return to Yale to finish only shows what the term character really means.As long as this cast stays together and Mystery Woman is produced, I will be a faithful follower.

This entry into the Mystery Woman series had a lot more energy than some of its predecessors. The show seems to be moving a little faster as the characters are further developed.

"Game Time" featured a familiar face, William Katt, as an eccentric mystery writer who is murdered. The plot was interesting, concerning a video game, an old high school friend of Samantha's and his partner in the game venture. I still think the show is directed too pedantically, with way too many shots of the Mystery Woman store exterior, but perhaps there were a few less.

I agree with a previous comment about Kellie Martin. I am a long-time fan, and she is indeed an unusual woman. She was unforgettable as Lucy on "E.R." I'm glad to see her have her own series.

All of these Hallmark shows seem to be targeted towards baby boomers and older, those who were fans of the "Perry Mason" movies and series. The stories are clean, the regulars familiar, and the guest stars are people we're happy to see again. I for one say keep 'em coming.

The plot is basically a mystery surrounding a murder.

Samantha is visiting a reclusive author (one who doesn't do book signings). Samantha seeing a 'hustling' game designer in action decides to approach the author herself, only to find a fight between the author and a woman inside the house. A young man who seems to be hanging around identifies the people as his parents.

She is able to persuade the author to attend her book signing, and he leaves early.

Samantha discovers a dead body with someone standing over the body. The rest of the story seems to parallel the video game which she and her DA friend, Cassie had tried to get through the night before.

And now for my comment about a problem:

The mortician who is speaking with a person in the hotel lobby is: Bill Thomas. The tiny, squeezed to the side listing of the credits at the end of the show, doesn't seem to include a Bill or William Thomas. Just thought people would like to know. (I went to school with him. He has credits for Star Trek also.)

I'm going to be watching more of these: The prior ones and all new ones that will be coming out.

Craig

As Levinson TV movies go, this is definitely above average. I've not seen any of the others in this series but based on this I would certainly want to. Kellie Martin's Samantha is a sort of cross between Miss Marple and Buffy Summmers, and there is more than a passing resemblance to SMG in Martin's performance.

The plot may be a bit silly and the script lacks imagination but the characters are well portrayed and likable. The story won't have you on the edge of your seat, but there's sufficient intrigue to keep the viewer interested.

This is a good honest film with no delusions of grandeur. It does what is says on the tin and does it quite well. For Martin's charismatic and well-rounded performance alone, this is worth viewing.

7/10 - always great to have Samantha Kinsey on the case

Famous mystery writer William Katt has moved to Kellie Martin's town and she's having a hard time in getting in touch with him to do a book signing at her mystery book store. That is until Jamie Elfman, complete stranger offers to help. He knows Katt from back in the day and if he gets Katt then can she help sell a mystery video game he has designed. Seems like a bargain.

Looks good too until Katt abruptly leaves the signing and is found dead with Elfman standing over him. Somehow and some way Martin just believes he didn't do it. Of course her rival and nemesis Chief Casey Sander believes Elfman is as guilty as sin.

One of the two weaknesses of this otherwise enjoyable TV movie is that there really is no reason for her to believe in Elfman. He's exposed time and again as a liar and conman. Martin should have walked away from him.

Of course there are other suspects including Sheree Wilson, Katt's estranged wife and their son A.J. Trauth. She's looking to make a big divorce settlement and is frustrated. Katt was not the most faithful of spouses.

Secondly though as it turns out Katt did invent the game as a sort of mind exercise. I'm not any kind of knowledgeable on this, but it would seem that if Katt invented it he would know all the possible outcomes and how would that be a mind exercise. A conundrum I could never quite grasp.

But for those two anomalies I would have rated this Mystery Woman film higher.

Samantha Kinsey is trying to organise a book signing for notoriously difficult mystery writer Donald Frisk and just about convinces him to do it, despite walking in on a major bust up between him and his ex-wife and manager Jody. Meanwhile an old school acquaintance of Sam's (Randy) turns up at the bookshop trying to get her to sell his new mystery computer game in her store (a trial of it sees Cassie hooked!). The signing goes ahead no thanks to Randy's supposed connections with Donald, but a mention of the video game and some poorly balanced food trays bring it to an end. The next day Sam goes to see Donald at his home but finds him dead with Randy standing over the body. She sticks up for him as he claims he just found him as well, but soon lies and mystery abound.

A slightly older entry in the Mystery Woman series of films but we still find that Samantha is struggling with the gypsy curse that sees her bringing death to any new people she meets. In this case it is an old classmate and the family of author Donald Frisk, who is dead quicker than you can say "recognisable guest star". Perhaps it is the modern hook of having a video game (albeit a dated one) as one of the plot devices but this seems to be slightly less pedestrian film from this series and, dare I say, it was actually a little more enjoyable than normal? This is not to say that it is pacey or that strong as a film but it does the job for the those that find the series more or less OK, although it is still not good enough to bring in new viewers. The music is the same terrible mood music that is trying to be atmospheric but ends up just being like the wallpaper music they play in elevators. The direction is a bit better as Cass seems to want to move the camera around a little bit and have fewer boring, well-lit static shots (although this isn't Scorsese). Martin is lively as normal but her performance is still very much of a muchness. Siemaszko is again handed a thankless supporting character that doesn't fit and she adds little; just once I'd like to see her handed some comedy or mystery of her own to work with. Williams is stiff and lethargic, while Sander is yet again directed to act like a bear with a sore head and does only that. Katt is an OK guest star and reminds us that the target audience for this is viewers who watch Jane Doe, Perry Mason and so on. Elman, Mills, Wilson and others are all par for the course and do what the material deserves.

Overall then an enjoyable entry in the series but it does require you to like the Mystery Woman films because even a good one isn't much more than the average standard of Hallmark TV movies. Livelier than some of the weaker entries from MW recently though.

I really enjoy the Hallmark cozy mysteries, and this is one of them. However, the constant annoying background ... music, jingle, whatever you want to call it ... really detracts from the enjoyment of it. Sure, you need some background music at certain suspenseful moments, but not for the entire movie. After about 15 minutes you become so aware of it that the movie starts to become the background setting instead of your prime focus. Which is the reason I only rated it a 5.

Some of these stories are pretty enjoyable, but this isn't one of them. The actual story was so convoluted it was just silly. Most of the time, everyone was running around doing nothing, creating filler for the story, I guess, which got really boring after a while. It just dragged on and on, and every 5 minutes they added a new twist, a new suspect, until it was just tiresome. The biggest problem was that none of the characters were even remotely likable; everyone was horrible. I didn't care about the victim, or who killed him or any of the suspects, because they were all obnoxious. Oh, and I knew who the killer was very early on; it was pretty obvious.