‘SMOKE SCREEN’: A FAST PACE LIFETIME SANDRA BROWN MYSTERY
Older mystery films that likely went directly to VOD can either be really good. Or mediocre. This one tends to fall in the latter camp, but if you don’t mind that, Smoke Screen is still a decent watch.
Smoke Screen (2010) TV Film Review
Tenacious in her work as a TV reporter and known by all in her small market, Brit Shelley (Jaime Presley) awakens to something she doesn’t remember. She wakes next to Jay (Martin Cummings), a detective she used as a source years ago for the story that broke her career. Only now, after meeting him for drinks the night before, the following morning not only can she not remember what happened, but Jay is also dead.
Brit quickly becomes a suspect in this high profile murder of a cop heralded as a hero, and then, after she’s let go from the police station, she’s kidnapped in the dead of night. Her kidnapper turns out to be Raylan Gannon (Graham Currie), a former fireman whose career was ruined in the same way Jay’s was elevated. He too woke up next to a dead body five years ago without a memory and begins to wonder if he and Brit have something in common they don’t realize.
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‘SMOKE SCREEN’: A FAST PACE LIFETIME SANDRA BROWN MYSTERY #TVMOVIE #LIFETIMEMOVIE #MYSTERYMOVIE #MYSTERY Share on XBased on a novel by popular best-selling author Sandra Brown, this is the second adaptation I’ve seen by her. The first was from Hallmark and called White Hot. The Hallmark adaptation is far better. Smoke Screen doesn’t set anything up, and instead throws us immediately into the “what is going on” phase of the story. We do learn pretty quick, but it can also be somewhat distracting as a result.
The cast is pretty good. It’s funny to see Martin Cummings in a role where he’s more unrecognizable (based on his roles with Hallmark), and Jaime Presley is pretty good. The plot goes in a direction some won’t like. However if you’ve seen the TV mystery Abducted from 2007 (with Incendo), this is a similar vibe and plotting. There’s similar threads and the overall characterization is similar, in key ways.
Not great in a feature kind of way, Smoke Screen is entertaining if there’s nothing interesting to watch.
Content: there are two scenes of people lying in bed together. Both times sheets cover anything inappropriate (the film opens with one of the scenes). There’s other suggestive comments or remarks about sex or innuendo. People assume things about Brit, and one scene shows a couple starting to undress; he kisses her on bare skin before the scene cuts away. The film is PG-13.
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