Columbo: Murder with Too Many Notes

I am a HUGE Columbo fan.. My trusty Tivo has become my best friend, and I never miss an episode! I don't want to criticize a Columbo, for fear that Peter Falk will read the comments and decide it's time to put the old detective away..

But, I've gotta say - out of the long list of episodes I've seen, this is by far the most disappointing. Not only was it very unrealistic - the forensics (for a 2000 movie) were very out of date, but the plot [the ending specifically] left us dangling.

I didn't even realize it was over! When he confessed and joked about prison, we were like "huh?? what happened?? why would he confess??".. Columbo is a brilliant detective, and this one sold him short.

I know future episodes will make up for it.. [hint hint].. he's not ready to be put down.. I hope if the powers that be read this, they will realize that Columbo has a lot of life left in him, but I hope they also choose scripts that really are his traditional style: the Columbo style we've grown to love.

For this episode specifically, definitely not the best.. but if you're a Columbo junkie, definitely worth a watch - even a bad Columbo makes you smile. =)

Murder with too Many Notes(love the title) was a good episode, but it was too flawed to be considered great. Starting with the good points, it is strikingly filmed, the music is delightful, there is some nice scripting and the acting from Peter Falk(not his best mind you, some of the more humorous parts such as "guess the piece" fell slightly flat) and Billy Conolly(toned down but surprisingly effective) is good. However, the plot isn't as strong this time around, the forensics for example as said already is dated and the ending especially was far too abrupt and underdeveloped. The pacing was uneven here, some of it was okay, some of it was slow and other parts felt somewhat frantic. The direction is a tad lacking as well. So overall, it is good, with some good performances, music and title, but the ending and plot fell flat for me. 6/10 Bethany Cox

The decent assembling of Billy Connelly as the murderer and Patrick McGoohan behind the camera, merely compounds the disappointment of this largely unsatisfying, lukewarm 1999 Columbo TV movie, which sees Connelly play a highly-respected Hollywood composer who is forced to murder the dissatisfied understudy he has used to saved his flagging career.

Strongly enough plotted; a rather good platform is established in the early stages, but the momentum is barely maintained simply because the supporting clues are patchy in nature and moreover, the screen chemistry between Falk and Connelly is decidedly hit-and-miss; in fact Connelly's portrayal struggles to make an decent impact as he seems to be caught between a serious and a comedic interpretation of his character.

The finale is also on the bizarre side and is staged at the murder scene on top of a building: Columbo's evidence is not particularly overwhelming and Connelly's character more or less turns round and gives himself up. Also, in an odd error of fact, Columbo asks the deceased's partner to teach him to play Columbo's trademark song "this old man" on the piano, but he says that it is something that his wife hums; when we know that it is actually him who usually whistles the song.

A largely disappointing effort, which stands to date, as the penultimate Columbo adventure in its history and one that will not be recalled in a positive light.

Having seen almost all the Columbo movies I was disappointed by this latest offering. Peter Falk was trying hard to recreate his best form as the raincoat claden detective but sadly fell short.

The character interaction was predictable and with the likes of Patrick McGoohan directing (again) and the ever 'loud' and 'outrageous' Billy Connolly one would have hoped for a far better script to do justice to this great series of TV movies.

The murder plot is actually pretty ingenious, and the murderer, actor Billy Connoly, is quite interesting as Columbo's foil. But the writing is dreadful, as it leaves tons of stuff unexplained and puts in tons of stuff for no seeming purpose or connection to the plot. Early on, when Columbo drives the killer home in an endlessly long scene, it is obviously for some purpose, but that purpose is never explained. An extended focus on a certain aspect of the victim's clothing is likewise endlessly extended, but leaves it very unclear as to what Columbo is seeking to prove with it. Finally, in the final scene, he re-enacts the murder in a staged childlike manner, bringing up issues that seemingly have no connection to his proof, and offers a final "proof" that is one of the least convincing in Columbo history, yet the murderer smilingly gives up w/o any argument. And the final big clue is obtained after the medical examiner overlooked an obvious piece of evidence that would have cost any ME his job. What is most frustrating is that for long stretches of this movie, it is actually highly enjoyable, and with the fine acting of the murderer and the directing of the great Columbo contributor Patrick McGoohan, it could easily have been turned into a dandy episode, if only the writing was at more than a B-movie level.