Squeaky Clean Mysteries: Hazardous Duty

Watched Jan 19, 2024

Beautifulkiller's review published on Letterboxd: This Squeaky Clean mystery is based on a series of very popular books. Those who have read them have no idea how this thing got on the air.

I haven't read them, but I don't know how it got on the air either.

Gabby (Jessica Blackmore) is a crime scene cleaner hired to clean a politician's house after his wife is murdered. Her partner leaves and then a tremendous fire breaks out.

The alleged murderer is in prison, and her partner is jailed for setting the fire.

There are so many inaccuracies, they take you right out of the movie. It's learned Gabby's partner has an old felony conviction. It doesn't matter how old it is, he cannot become a crime scene cleaner. Also, why does a cleaner have her hair down? So it can get into the blood?

Then there's the fire box with a key in it - a gun inside, missed by the cops!

The character of Gabby is boring and annoying. She interferes with police work like crazy, practically acting like one of the force. And she doesn't give her info to the cops right away.

The man who moves down the hall from Gabby becomes a sort of love interest but also is supposed to be a suspicious character. He looked too much like Donny Osmond for me to take seriously.

By the way, this is a Christian mystery. It doesn't come off as Christian; it comes off as bad Hallmark. Hallmark mysteries are aimed at a conservative population; some of them have likable characters, cozy atmospheres, and an actual mystery.

This was a mystery, all right, but of a different kind.

The reviewers who are wedded to the books must not realize that movies change details, some DRASTICALLY, all the time. (I can just hear them if any of them had actually read the original Perry Mason books before they watched the Perry Mason TV series--they'd be in an uproar even worse than they were here.) Just because they finally found a movie that apparently insulted their unique pet book series is no cause for besmirching a movie that was entertaining on its own merits. Was it a great film? No, but it was good. Jessica Blackmore was quite entertaining in my book, and I'd jump on the chance to see her in another one of these stories. Folks, if you are a movie watcher who just might not be a reader of the books this film was apparently based on--I never read them and don't plan to--but would like to watch a cute mystery/romance, then watching this one will NOT be a waste of your time, despite what the book purists are crying about.

I don't know about the book series because I have not read any of them. But from what I observed watching this TV movie, I found the characters extremely cheesy and mostly stupid.

The detective was totally clueless, and miraculously an ordinary crime scene cleaner happened to be an excellent amateur sleuth, and her neighbor/romantic interest happened to be a lawyer who suddenly became her Batman's Robin.

Oh yes before I forget, the neighbor/romantic interest Mr. Riley Icringe crringe) was absolutely annoying. I don't know if it is his natural personality in real life also, but I have seen in another TV Lifetime Movie where he plays a fireman who also in that movie creeps into the protagonist's life.

Anyway this was one of the worst if not the worst whodunnit TV movies I have ever seen!

The books are great - funny, intense, well written, and the characters have depth. This movie has absolutely none of the humor, and the characters have no personality at all. The producers of the movie removed everything interesting that made the books enjoyable. If you want an enjoyable and quirky mystery, read the books or do the audio book, but don't waste your time on this very terrible adaptation. I hope they paid the author well to completely screw up her book and make people think the book will be just as stupid as the movie. They did a disservice to the author of the original books because anyone who saw the movie first would bother with the books, and there's a whole series of "squeaky clean" suspense novels with great characters and decent plots.

Why on earth would you use the title and characters from a great book series and not make any of it like the book except the names?? The movie Gabby is nothing like the book character. Gabby has curly, wild red hair, loves kooky tees and flip flops are a main stay in her wardrobe. Sierra has a hippy vibe and hello!, she's supposed to be Asian! Also, there is no humor in this movie. Humor is a big part of the books - characters and situations make you laugh along with the seriousness of investigating murders. And lastly - where's the faith factor?? Riley and Gabby are both Christians. They are imperfect and sometimes struggle with their faith, especially Gabby. Faith isn't something banged repeatedly over one's head in the books, but is definitely included. In this movie -- non-existent. The chemistry between these characters - also non-existent. The writers and director managed to take a great, fun book story and turn it into plain pudding. Not even vanilla - just plain boring nothingness. I can't believe author Christy Barritt signed off on this. Yes, it's great to have your novel made into a movie but at least make sure it's a decent one.

I know I'm very opinionated on this, but I've read the entire Squeaky Clean book series avs loved it and the characters. This movie is a joke.