La femme du juge

source: Ricochet

This mystery opens at a trial of a man on a vehicular manslaughter charge. Detective Duncan Hatcher blows his top when the charged man is cleared so easily with a snap verdict of mistrial. He immediately crosses swords with the judge over what he sees as a hasty decision. Sometime later the judge's wife is questioned over the shooting dead of a small time criminal in her room. Even though the shot in the dark scene is shown three times we are never allowed to fully see what's going on. So the judge's wife Elise becomes the main character of mystery. Compromised by suspicion and desire in equal measure Hatcher (John Corbett) can't keep his eyes off her. We are tugged this way and that over what sort of character Elise really is and what motivates her. John Corbett is good as the cocksure and hotheaded detective. You're going to have to pay attention carefully while offscreen characters are being mentioned so often to keep aware of where the plot is heading. This is a fair TV mystery with a bit of a shocker at the end but this not really a movie for repeat viewing enjoyment I would say.

In spite of its low ratings, I thought this was an excellent film. John Corbett made the movie good and his sweet partner helped a great deal. Definitely check this one out .

First rule of crime movies, keep it REALISTIC! When the judge let a potential MURDERER just go free because of a mistrial, I knew this was going to be hard to watch! Even Forrest Gump KNOWS that does NOT happen! They try them again!!

Yes, it's lightweight, and it's a shame to waste John Corbett on a movie like this, but it's sit-on-the-couch-and-wait-out-COVID-19 time, so I watched the whole thing. Formulaic, yes. But at least there's no conflicted romance between the two detectives. The plot got kind of hard to follow - too many characters dropping in and out, and one that was already dead and never dropped in at all. There was menace, but it too was lightweight, though it rose to a crescendo at the end. Corbett's character, soured on romance, is self-protective; reassuringly, he has a warm work relationship with his partner. I like Corbett (check out Elvis has left the Building and My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Gary Cole's subdued his role, Julie Benz was adequate, and I'd like to see more of Kelly Overton when we're no longer watching semi-soothing movies

The story actually had some potential, but the acting from John Corbett was horrendous. Some of the worst I've ever seen. Julie Benz did well. If anything, she carried the movie. I honestly wouldn't recommend, unless you're the type of movie watcher who can look past terrible acting and enjoy the story.

This movie tried so hard to be that suspenseful mystery of a thriller but it stopped with the plot, the acting or lack there of. I continued to watch hoping it would redeem itself. John Corbett as tall and commanding as he appears. Should have been good as a detective. But when he spoke it was like listening to a high school play. His partner, when upset over not meeting a baseball star, it was so bad, I think we the audience thought is she being funny or was is this real? Who directed this movie? If I see a TNT production again, I won't watch. These are pretend mysteries with B actors and directors missing in action l!

Julie Benz is always eye candy...loved her in Dexter and she worked there. This is a made for TV movie from start to finish but cannot even compete with network TV, so TNT or Hallmark or... The lead actor is horrible. All these actors are familiar faces as supporting cast. This movie lets us all know how good leads actors are and why they get paid the big bucks. You get a star actor and run with that person as far as you can because there are not many of them around! This is just bad...plays like an early 2000s drama before they perfected TV. Skip it unless Julie Benz is worth your time for a pretty face...

I normally hate any review I ever see with a score of 1/10, No film is that bad, BUT this is so bad its a disaster. The Lead character (Hatcher) is terrible! All over the place, with some of the worst acting you are likely to see. A chubby guy acting half tough bad man, half lady love machine. Just so bad!! And don't start with his partner. Even worse. The Film is the sort of CSI feel you see on TV every night. The way two detectives hound and disrespect a judge is ridiculous. The story is also way off anything nearly believable. By all means watch this 89 minute Cop flick but it is a howler and I m pretty sure you will agree.

I started watching this with high expectations. However it became very clear that the lead character (Detective Hatcher)was pretty arrogant, unlikeable and was a law unto himself. I actually wanted to like the film as I had a cold and wanted to watch something good. The premise was good - judges wife shooting an intruder - was it a simple burglary or something more sinister. But too much time was given to the lead characters, particularly Hatcher, and the judge's wife. Little time was used to develop the other characters especially the villains. So much so that I started to route for the bad guys. When Hatcher started acting like the normal run of the mill rouge cop that always knows better, especially irritating because he was decorated which would suggest that he played by the rules. It then got pretty ridiculous with a phantom death and a sting that, you may not have seen coming, but knew it was heading in that direction. I especially thought the climax where Hatcher slept with the victim and then how he extracted confessions - by shooting at the ground around the villain and then holding a gun to his head saying he was going to kill him, was completely unbelievable and way over the top. Such confessions would be completely thrown out by any decent judge and sleeping with a victim/witness and conspiring with the victim to 'entrap' the villains would not be allowed. What I can't understand is that while Hatcher kept everything from his partner all the way through the movie, his partner followed his instructions without question at the end to entrap the villains. I thought the two leads were miscast and Hatcher acted like an arrogant top dog rather than a detective sergeant whereas the lead lady was very wooden The judge and the main baddie were actually better actors. The judge actually showed come passion and I could believe a little more in that character. 3 out of 10 although I think that is high.