Murder on Spec
Murder on Spec
| 27 August 2006 (USA)
Murder on Spec Trailers

A murderous blackmailer threatens to frame a wealthy widow (Brooke Burns) for her estranged husband's death on a yacht.

Reviews
StunnaKrypto

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

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InformationRap

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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Murphy Howard

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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Roy Hart

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

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doycesub

I think that the negative reviews are very accurate and the others are watching a different movie than I am. I'm 38 minutes into it and can't believe the lack of investigation abilities that the "police" in this one have. I don't think they could catch a cold much less a criminal. Why is the person that admitted to the murder able to move about like a ghost and nobody seems to notice him? Why is the Kate Graham character doing her own investigation while the DA (dumb a**) police can follow her but no one else. I hope I make it to the end.the review does not contain enough lines so: I think that the negative reviews are very accurate and the others are watching a different movie than I am. I'm 38 minutes into it and can't believe the lack of investigation abilities that the "police" in this one have. I don't think they could catch a cold much less a criminal. Why is the person that admitted to the murder able to move about like a ghost and nobody seems to notice him? Why is the Kate Graham character doing her own investigation while the DA (dumb a**) police can follow her but no one else. I hope I make it to the end.

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canuckteach

We watched it - it was a passable time-waster built around a very charming leading lady, Brooke Burns (film a.k.a. 'Trophy Wife').She won't challenge Meryl Streep for acting honors, but this was a low-budget vehicle built around the familiar device of a pretty, but determined, main character under attack by a sinister guy (a hacker, an extortionist, a serial killer, a combo - you choose). She will have to resolve to defeat him herself - there's no 'buddy' waiting to bail her out. In this case, the bad guy extorts money from women who have lost rich, but unpleasant, husbands in 'untimely deaths' - deaths he caused, 'on spec' - that is, on 'speculation' that the women will gladly pay a commission to be rid of the villainous 'ex'. It's not an entirely new idea - Alfred Hitchcock used a similar twist in his old TV mystery show.The difference here is that the villain claims to be able to implicate poor Brooke in the murder-for-hire. That part is stretchy. Nonetheless, the camera work is nifty (reminding me of a Director using tribute-type camera angles to echo the genre), and the gadgetry makes for interesting - if implausible - entertainment.It took me a while to realize that the 'killer' had his victims 'over a barrel' - they paid, instead of going to the Police. No wonder they don't want to talk to Brooke when she starts investigating these cases herself: these 'victims' are complicit in a crime. It's an intriguing kind of 'con' - you can't go to the Police with your story, after you pay. hmmmmmmmmmmmm.While the computer and technical abilities of the perpetrator are strictly sci-fi, we saw a similar device used in a big-budget British mini-series with John Hannah entitled 'Amnesia'. The bad guy's ability to produce phony tech data was essential to moving the plot forward, and building the suspense to a surprising climax. The device isn't as well orchestrated in 'Trophy Wife', but it serves the same purpose: it keeps our hero fighting to get her story believed.Finally: life has a way of imitating art.. as silly as the plot might seem, there are fraud, and murder-for-profit cases in the true-life crime annals that seem stranger than anything we've read in fiction.So, I gave the film a 7 - for the 'heroine-battles-super-bad-guy-B-movie-suspense' genre.

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JaneDoe6147

I thought this was a good film for the LMN channel. It had me guessing throughout.Like HOW did this guy get to listen to all the transmissions? How did he get to hook into all the surveillance cameras? How was he able to leave work at free will while being on the payroll? Was his motivation merely money? I loved the ending when there was retribution, and really wanted to smack his face when he broke into the prison's computer system to make phone calls. (And WHY was he able to merely roam about the prison like that?) I gave it a "9" because it did have me wanting to see more. And I really liked it.

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Fernseher

The basic premise is interesting. A convoluted frame up where the killer seems to have thought of everything. There's a pointless unused side plot where all closed circuit cameras in the world are at his disposal. This is never used for any purpose but to annoy the heroine. Then there are completely unbelievable scenes of the victims not trying to fight back or even call for help while the bad guy incongruously tells them his weak motivation. But then in the second half she easily traces where the villain lives, picking the lock, and calls 911. Their slow response gives us one last shootout, but so what. I was hoping for perhaps some reasonable answer, like the bad guy had gotten help from someone she blabbed to, but no. There was absolutely no resolution whatever, the only suspect did it and she just knew where to find him. I love the actress. She's now got a decent part in a new TV show "Miss Guided", and looks better in dark hair and deep necklines.

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