Customer Reviews

Mary Higgins Clark's Loves Music, Loves To Dance

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Loves Music, Loves to Dance is a suspenseful little mystery, slightly reminiscent of 2001's Valentine, but much better at delivering thrills. Mary Higgins Clarke, America's Queen of Suspense, has crafted a terrific tale of murder, full of twists and turns which lead to an edge-of-the-seat and surprisingly non-violent finale.

While the low budget does hurt the film (the stock footage of NY is painfully horrible), and Patsy Kensit tends to overact quite a bit, the real winner here is the story, a twisted tale which takes a stab at the dangerous side of the world of online dating. The film does get cheesy at parts, especially when we see the 'killer' alone in his studio, talking to himself and dancing with the corpses of the women he has killed. These scenes could have been handled a lot more maturely and have had a creepy feel to them had they been done right, but it comes across as B-movie bad in this. However, that is a small part to a top-notch mystery and its unexpected ending. This is definitely the best of six Lions Gate DVD releases of the Mary Higgins Clarke Made-For-PAX-TV mystery movies.

It's impossible to LOVE this film adaptation of the Mary Higgins Clark novel, but it's not without its charms. Add the word "campy" to any movie others find offensive, and you have entertainment that's truly enjoyable and whimsical. Let's face it; our killer is hilarious as he slides around in his tuxedo with the dead girls in two different shoes.

What's more hilarious is that, though I like Patsy Kensit, she doesn't look all that great in this movie, and her American accent is inconsistent throughout. You can hear her British accent hiss out like air in a damaged inflatable raft. Still, the costumes and setting are quite funny, not to mention the terrible acting of the killer. My personal advice (for those of you over 21!): adult beverages definitely enhance the viewing pleasure.

i dont care what anybody says mary higgins clark is the best author around and her movies are just brillient. i read the reviews on this movie and was very upset about what some people said about the movie. the only reason i bought this movie was because i say the first 10minutes before i had to leave so i decided to buy it. not knowing that it was a mary higgins clark movie. but i loved it anyway. its a great movie for anybody. today im purchasing the complete boxed set and im positive that i will not be dissapointed. b**u**y i**t

If you liked this book, the movie will leave you feeling bereft and irritated. And that stinks for me, because I really like Justin Louis, who plays Det. DeSilva. Wait a minute, you say, there was no Det. DeSilva in the book. THAT'S RIGHT, BECAUSE THE PRODUCERS DECIDED THAT DARCY NEEDED A COP LOVE INTEREST. THEY MADE CHRIS SHERIDAN A CREEPY MAMA'S BOY WITH FEELINGS FOR HIS DEAD TWIN THAT MAKE OTHER PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE.

The acting is awful. There are arbritrary changes to the plot that make no sense. And suspense is taken completely out because the villian is consistently obvious from the first frame.

Just read the book again. Trust me.

While this movie is not an atrocious mess like another Mary Higgins Clark movie I have previously viewed(A Cry in the Night), it still had much to be desired. The choice of actors and actress were rather pathetic as the acting skills they displayed were minimal, at best. The emotions were not present. The elements that were used in the novel were not present in the movie where they could have been used quite spendidly and the plot was too rush. Also, the relationship between the main character and her best friend was not expounded on enough so the viewers could not really understand the extent of her grief when she was murdered. I believe the only good actresses were used in a part too small to characterize them properly. All in all, it is an enjoyable movie but not a memorable one.

Mary Higgins Clark might write to a formula but she does it very skillfully to maximize suspense. This film retains the formula but provides weak character development and an overly familiar plot line. The best (girl) friend of a TV producer is murdered while on assignment from the producer. Against professional advice, the producer sets out to follow the path of the murdered woman in order to find the killer.
The film is no worse than the average crime show, the acting is no better than average and the suspense is predictable. If available inexpensively it will fill your time adequately if unexcitinglyly.

Adaptations of Mary Higgins Clark's books range from the cheesy to the chilling, and sadly the adaptation of "Loves Music, Loves to Dance" is closer to the "cheesy" end of the spectrum. There's a good mystery buried somewhere in this, but the murderer is hilariously over-the-top and doll-faced Patsy Kensit just flails around ineffectually with her mouth open.

TV producer Darcy Scott (Kensit) persuades her buddy Erin to help her with a TV special on people who put out romantic personal ads. But then Erin is found murdered, with a heeled dancing shoe on one foot -- and the guilt-wracked Darcy is determined to figure out who killed her buddy. The police detective (Frank Pellegrino) assigned to the case thinks this is just one of a string of similar deaths.

But Darcy is determined to help nab the killer herself, so she starts going on dates with the various creepy weirdos that Erin vetted... and she thinks she's got the killer when she encounters one creep who seems to have rage issues. Of course it isn't that easy, particularly since serial killers aren't really about the spontaneous bursts of rage.

"Loves Music, Loves to Dance" is a wonderfully creepy book, even if it's one of Mary Higgins Clark's weaker mysteries. Too bad you won't find any of that in this TV adaptation -- when it's not tedious enough to make your eyes bleed, it's hilariously silly enough to make you kick your dancing shoes on the floor. The worst part is, it's not trying to be either.

Most of the plot oozes by with some red herrings and the occasional clue, and the police investigations are overshadowed by Darcy bumbling around on dates with dangerous, creepy men. If those dates weren't enough to make you want to tear your eyes out, then I direct you to any scenes with the killer in "creepy mode." It's bad enough when he's slow-dancing with corpses, but then he swoops around in a wig and makes all sorts of dramatic statements like "... maybe we'll SHARE A DANCE."

The most unforgivable aspect of the story: Darcy is completely superfluous. Unnecessary. Unneeded. She contributes absolutely nothing to the investigation that eventually figures out the killer, and the police manage to figure it out without her. She actually HAMPERED their investigation by her efforts, rather than helping it.

As if Darcy weren't enough of an annoyance, Patsy Kensit plays her as a fluttery wide-eyed blonde who doesn't have the faintest idea what she's doing, and can only solve the mystery because the murderer slipped up. Pellegrino does a remarkably good job as an iron-fisted cop who inexplicably seems to find this dunce attractive, and who actually has good detecting skills. And Yannick Bisson looks vaguely embarrassed to be there.

"Mary Higgins Clark's Loves Music, Loves To Dance" won't exactly make you dance... more like crawl behind the sofa. Bad acting, a limp plot and wretchedly cheesy direction all combine.

If you like Mary Higgins Clark and you have not seen this film it is a must see. This is one of my favorites of hers. Excellent storyline, suspense, keeps you on the edge of your seat. Watchable from start to finish. Patsy Kensit plays a woman that talks her best friend into joining a dating service so she can play the results to her dates on a television talk show. When her best friend comes up murdered, she feels responsible for her murder. She then goes undercover to trace all her friends final steps to solve her murder. She discovers that it is not just a killer that she is after but it turns out to be a serial killer as she puts her life on the line for justice to her best friends murder. Several suspects but only one killer as she dates the same men her friend did through the dating service before she died. She knows one of them killed her friend but which; one is the likely suspect? Excellent movie. You will not be disappointed in it.

A serial killer has gone unnoticed for many years in New York City till the disappearance of a TV journalist working on Internet dating. He is suspected then to have killed seven women and the bodies disappeared and apparently the profiling of the murders that all had some important common points did not bring them together and attract the attention of the police. Then the story is well executed and designed and the final identity of the killer is not a total surprise but it is quite logically introduced in the film, the way he is introduced from the very start. But of course that kind of antagonistic presentation of the killer as the most innocent person possible, actually friendly and helpful, is naïve because it has been used hundreds of times. But this film, even if it is not the detective story of the century that is going to get ten Oscars, is decent enough entertainment to be watched with some enjoyment.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Patsy Kensit ('Lethal Weapon 2,' `Hell's Gate') is yet another British `import' that has always found it more alluring to fake an American accent to win a role ...The movie is dull, horribly tangled in red herrings (some even blatantly `fake' red herrings, if you know what I mean) and worst of all, I can't recall a noteworthy performance by any one member of the cast !