Every now and then I'll try watching an interesting sounding TV movie drama. Usually they're nothing special or else I just stop in the middle, this movie was not one of those. It was clean, it was suspenseful yet not terrifying, was able to make me cry, and I'm no movie critic, but I thought that the acting was very good, too. I loved that Molly tried her absolute hardest to do the right thing. I loved how she tried to convince Warren of the truth. I also liked that there was sympathy for Sophie (even though she is obviously twisted). Anyway, I am certainly glad that I did not pass this movie up, it was definitely worth the two hours!

A film where the plot is extremely contrived. Anyone see some similarity to the 1950's Hitchcock thriller, "Strangers on A Train?" Obviously, it's not the same thing but the believed to be chance meeting of 2 strangers on a vehicle leading to plotting for murder can't be totally overlooked.In this case, the meeting takes place on the bus. Of course, it turns out that this was not as innocent as it first appears. When one of the people just casts the meeting off as being made up by some kind of nut job, things begin to happen as our second person is victimized and almost drawn into this plot by a really sick woman.

In a suburban California community, red-headed law student Brigid Brannagh (as Molly) meets cool blonde Allison Lange (as Sophie) on a bus. The attractive women talk over problems. Riding the bus because her rich daddy took the T-Bird away, Ms. Lange doesn't seem entirely sane; as it turns out, she's fresh out of a "Rolling Hills" mental institution. Seeming to be more even more distraught, Ms. Brannagh is troubled by her husband's first wife Rosa Blasi (as Heather), a crazed drug addict who causes embarrassing scenes for Brannagh, brawny hubby Brian Krause (as Jeff), and their cute 'n' cuddly daughter Charlie Stewart (as Gracie)...If you've seen Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" (1951), you can get off at the next stop. But, if you want to go along for the ride, it's "Next Stop Murder" as Lange decides she should kill the ex-wife troubling Brannagh in exchange for the latter killing daddy Joe Regalbuto (as Warren). Lange tells Brannagh, "We can help each other out of our nightmares." Naturally, things don't go according to plan…This is an average made-to-run-on-TV production. It's nice to see Lin Shaye turn up as the detective, and the scenes between Brannagh and little Miss Stewart are nicely done; the story does not take advantage of the fact that they look like mother and daughter (they could have made them aunt and niece). Unfortunately, this is a blatantly inferior version of Patricia Highsmith's original story, expertly filmed by Alfred Hitchcock (as the aforementioned "Strangers on a Train"). Although the leading characters have been changed to women, the same sex subtext (attraction) is missing; neither Highsmith nor Hitchcock would approve.**** Next Stop Murder (2010) John Murlowski ~ Brigid Brannagh, Allison Lange, Brian Krause, Joe Regalbuto

This Lifetime Movie Network movie is a blah sex-change variation of Alfred Hitchcock's classic STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, with psycho Allison Lange killing Brian Krause's psycho ex-wife to make things easier for his current wife, Brigid Brannagh -- the last an actress new to me, whom I like very much -- she could be a voice double for the late Suzanne Pleshette. The acting is decent, but by the time anything new showed up in the story, I had lost interest.There's little that's particularly wrong about this movie, but there is nothing in it that is actively engaging. Once you realize the model of the story, everything becomes very predictable except you wonder how they could have missed the things that made the original Hitchcock movie so good.The pacing is flat, the music is overwrought and the camera lighting is dark and broody, except for the scene where they are explaining to the little girl that mommy has been murdered: that shot is a very pretty one.In short, there is nothing in this sub-par time waster to attract anyone who has seen the Hitchcock original.