The Interrogation of Michael Crowe

Cheryl (Ally Sheedy) and Stephen Crowe (Michael Riley) are loving parents to Michael, Shannon, and Stephanie in Escondido, California. One night, someone stabs Stephanie to death. The police is puzzled by the lack of evidence of a break-in and suspicion immediately falls on the family. Detective Baker interviews transient Richard Tuite for an unconnected issue and doesn't even consider him for the case. They isolate the surviving kids from their parents. With relentless interrogation and trickery, they gain false confessions from Michael, his friends Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser.

Based on the real murder in 1998, this TV movie is at a lower level. It doesn't have the production value to be truly compelling or intense. It would be melodramatic if there isn't a real story behind it. The interrogations are tough to watch due to their inherit unbalanced dynamics. They also drag on for too long. In a way, the audience is stuck inside the room along with Michael and that has some benefits. It shows how a confession could be coerced. It's an uncomfortable watch. The legal wrangling after that in the second half works well enough.

This movie seriously has some of the best acting I've seen especially by the child-Michael Crowe character. In fact very good acting all around except by the mother character. Her acting skills in my opinion are overly dramatic at times. But aside from that, the movie is a good conversion from the real life events. It is a sad event in real life but the story is movie quality. Again, Good movie GREAT acting. I highly suggest this to all types of movie lovers.

This movie was absolutely stunning. I was shocked at how well it was done. Although Michael Riley's performance as Stephen Crow was a little dull, the rest of it was fabulous. Mark Rendall, who played Michael Crow, was unbelievable. He left me in tears. His performance was superb. And Ally Sheedy, who played Cheryl Crow, was excellant, as usual. The real murder took place VERY close to my home, and the accuracy was unbelievable. This was the one of the most accurate murder cases I've ever seen. Overall, I give this movie 9/10.

Firstly what a great, emotional performance from the young man playing Michael.

I would love to say I'm shocked by this story, but having looked into so many myself, it isn't that surprising at all.

Certainly reminders of the Jon Benet Ramsay case, but with vast differences in wealth and how the family were treated immediately.

Scary and thought provoking!

This film recently aired on Court TV and it's a grim true story of how California police used intimidation to attain a false confession from an innocent 14-year-old whose sister was killed. This family, the Crowes, was victimized twice, once by the killer, and then by the police who destroyed their lives. This film shows the interrogation filmed in very stark lighting where you can't even see the actors eyes. Ally Sheedy portrays the mother. A warning: this is a VERY depressing film, as the police brand Michael guilty based on the evidence that he likes to play Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. For anyone who's ever been falsely accused this is a must see. And it's interestingly relevant as the Central Park jogger case just released 5 innocent kids after 10 years in jail. How many innocent people sit in prison now falsely convicted? We'll never know the true statistics of our injustice system.