Vanished Without a Trace

However just that. Nor the act, neither the story wasn't anything special. But if you are a lonely housewife, tired of Mexican soap operas and wish to spent an afternoon watching TV this is the right film for you!

The movie was well done. I was especially impressed with the little boy Daniel Magder who played the youngest child. He showed a lot of emotion and poise. The story line seemed a little suspect. Many of the low lives, seemed to be living in a fairly classy area.

I just bought this on a cheapo DVD in France and was a little disappointed overall. Firstly, I guessed who the guilty party was very early on. Secondly, the first 49 minutes of the film are boring at times and the acting pretty hopeless. I was expecting something much more suspenseful, given the subject matter, along the lines of 'The Vanishing" with Sandra Bullock. The whole thing gets more lively from the 50th minute onwards but we are given little insight into why the killer acts in the way he/she does. Picture quality is excellent, that was at least to be expected since the film dates from 1999. A minor point, though it does count a little was that the actress who plays the mother didn't appear as someone very pleasant nor was she good-looking - for this reason it is difficult to sympathise with her ! With the disappearance for real of Estelle Mouzin in France over 3 years ago, the subject matter of the film is unfortunately all too real and had the acting been better this would have been a good film.

This true story type television film has a poor script but is highly charged to manipulate your emotions regarding perverts or child killers.

It wants to be a social issue movie but a television series like Quincy used to do things better.

Shelly Long is a loving mother whose mother disappears suddenly one day. We are presented with a city where danger lurks at every corner from the opening shot as she goes to pick her daughter up when she is out with her friends.

The film gives us a very obvious, leary villain so we can rule him out immediately but there is another more helpful suspect which turns out to be a person of interest later on.

It is a good job that Long's husband is a former policeman, because every time she rings up the police with any wide eyed theory, the police turn immediately even many months after her daughter's disappearance.

This is just a poor film with a horrible script.

Was checking this title and user comments here before I watched it on TV yesterday. All I can say that anyone that cares for at least a bit quality to a story should avoid it. It isn't worth the time. I stayed for long but even if the plot was developing towards the end it couldn't keep me interested - switched channel 10 minutes before the end.

Anyway, the plot brings you what you can read as a summary, presenting the movie. It do not surprise you at all, with a helluva US family that suddenly misses their teen daughter. Then it present some villains that obvious that you immedialtly can count them out as the guy they should look for. And the very caring mother (a boring act by Mrs. Long) seems to control the Police Dep of that town. Whenever she has some crazy idea about the case (that even been cold after several months) she calls up the police and an hour later they are all there with metal detectors, dragging a lake an so on...

And the real villain... ...it took me about half an hour to understand who he was (I'm not that bad that I tell you here - in case you do not follow my advice, the rest of you have no interest anyway).

In between you will have to listen to a lot of crap lines, amatuer philosophy about family life...

Play a record or watch the news instead.