Highly Overrated But Still Good

good back-story, and good acting

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie is interminable. Peter Horton plays a lawyer who is out to investigate the possible homicide of a young girl virtually nobody cares about, including anybody unfortunate enough to happen to watch this incredibly dull film.Helmed by TV director Mark Piznarski, you get the feeling this "based on a true story" script has LOTS of embellishments, and none of them are interesting. No real reason is given as to why Horton's character is sooooo obsessed with this case that he would jeopardize his career, his relationship with his son and everyone else in his life. He just is. What makes it even harder to believe is we're never really given much of a portrait of the murdered girl. I didn't find her case compelling in the slightest, yet here's Horton obsessed with it. Carrie Snodgrass as the killer had a chance to create an interesting character, but never even reaches the level of killer in a bad episode of "Law & Order".This film illustrates the real death benefit is that the dead can't be forced to watch this.

This movie was really good. It is a true case! Read the book, "Death Benefit" by David Heilbroner. There is another movie based on the same case but they changed some facts in the real story which I did not like. In the second movie, they implied the murdered girl had learning disabilities which was confusing and don't understand why they did that. The girl in the real story was mildly retarded. This movie was very accurate to the real story. People want to know THE REAL STORY! And all the details. This movie was very good. Loved the actor that played the lawyer!

I'm confused. Is this a movie called `Death Benefit' that's about building a case in a homicide investigation, or is it a movie called `Family Neglect' about a professional man's responsibility to his family and his firm. Instead of staying focused on the true story, literally Every Other Scene is about how the protagonist is neglecting his insipid wife, his annoying son, his irritating secretary, or his stupid boss. All of these cardboard characters continually detract from what could have been a solid drama between two strong characters. Also, the director/editor keeps using quick-cut flashbacks in what I guess they think adds intensity, but the montage is so artlessly assembled, these only look like a student filmmaker's attempt to be arty.

Most of this tale was hard to swallow: first you have a attorney who cares, then you have a case which appears to be totally unprovable, and finally, a woman who keeps pulling murders for insurance payoffs and getting away with it. Hard to believe this really took place. Good drama.