When I put this disc into the machine, I saw something that made my blood run cold: Lifetime.So I have no excuse. I knew what I was in for.The film is based on a novel by Patricia Cornwall, a very good and popular mystery novelist. She, like Mary Higgins Clark, had her books, or at least this one, sold to a cheesy production company. I'll never understand how some authors get top film productions and others are relegated to bad TV movies."The Front" concerns a detective (Daniel Sunjata) in Boston who is assigned by the randy female DA to an old murder case, similar to that committed by the Boston Strangler. Complications follow.The acting ranges from fair to pathetic, with some good people wasted -- Diahann Carroll and Daniel Sunjata, specifically. Andie MacDowell as a DA was a mistake.This is one of those unfortunate cases where you didn't care what happened to anyone, except maybe the Sunjata character.

Unfortunately one is not permitted to vote with a zero or even a minus figure. I think this film has to rate as the worst I have ever seen. Slow. Poor pacing, bad acting, utterly ludicrous script. Why a supposedly intelligent, professional woman such as DA Lamont would have anything to do with the incredibly creepy Cal the student is beyond me. The guy apart from being sleazy and creepy, clearly has a major screw loose. No woman would give him access to anything. I was so disappointed, I've been reading Patricia Cornwell for years. This was a serious let down. The only actor who comes out of this mess with his dignity intact is Daniel Sunjata. You are left with the feeling he could have done a fantastic job, but does his best with the join the dots, painting by numbers script he has been given. Andie MacDowell is a disaster. It defies credulity that she would ever have achieved the post that she has. No one in their right mind would vote for her.

This is a terrible made for TV film and does not do the author Patricia Cornwell justice. I love murder mystery films but watching this was a complete waste of two hours. The acting was really poor and the plot, although it may have worked in the book definitely did not translate well to the screen. The characters were weak and quite unbelievable. I was left feeling I didn't quite get something, but actually there wasn't anything to get. I didn't care about the characters or what happened to them. The plot centres around a police officers investigation of an old case. This is brought into the current by a similar crime occurring. The police officer is an OK actor but Andie McDowell is very poor as the DA and you really do not care what happens to her. All in all not a good choice. Do not waste an evening watching this film you will be disappointed!

As in her other novel, there is just too much going on here. Suddenly, Andie MacDowell is much more aggressive and really bitchy here. She is also quite a tramp. She is carrying on with the governor who came in when the old governor literally checked out.The plot here is easily lost. We see a story that's questioning whether the Boston strangler is at it again. This seemingly good plot is soon lost when one of the assistants decides that to be able to solve crimes, you have to start doing them. Thereby, the bodies begin to pile up and our Barack Obama-Harold Ford look alike is almost framed for one of them.We finally find out why Diahann Carroll acted in the way she did with the scene with the dogs. She placed a curse on the guy who was hurting them. While she took her nephew away, his parents succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. This should have been explained in the previous chapter.Miss Carroll is as weird as ever and is always being threatened.Ms. Cornwell should keep her plot direct and not have it all tie in within the last 5 minutes or so.