Genres

Visitors Review

edwagreen 2012-05-20 14:16:04

Polygamy Could Lead to Murder: No, This Picture is Murder 1/2*

What was Matt Czuchry thinking when he made this awful film? By theway, how is the last name of this wonderful actor from "The Good Wife"pronounced?The picture is so bad that various sects would take umbrage for viewingit and associating it with them. In other words, Mormons and othergroups practicing polygamy should be outraged.The use of flashbacks here makes for more confusion. Bringing BrighamYoung into the milieu is insulting and certainly not rewarding.Who really cares about 19 wives, their book and their way out beliefs?This was certainly not exactly all in the family.

2012-05-20 01:30:12

dark

This review is from: The 19th Wife (DVD) the subject matter is a little dark but it gives another view of poligomy and how it affects some peoples lives forever.

2012-05-17 06:55:53

FEEL GOOD ANTI-POLYGAMY MOVIE

The story centers on polygamy as practiced illegally today in small towns in Utah. A man is killed and wife #19 is blamed as all the evidence points against her. Her estranged son returns to the town and attempts to solve the murder, which his mother claims she did not commit. He is helped by Queenie, a female friend he knew until he was banished for touching her arm. Queenie is married to the town cop. There is also Sarah #5, a fifteen year old run away whose mother was one of the many wives of the victim. She ran away the day of the murder. The movie is set up as a who-dun-it but doesn't give you a lot of suspects. Queenie has in her possession a banned book from the 19th century called "The 19the Wife" a story on how polygamy and religion imprisons women. As she reads from the book we get a glimpse of early Mormon life. The movie has a made for TV after school feel, down to where you would put the commercial breaks. The acting was good, the ending was not exactly what I expected. Kudos.

2012-05-16 23:08:14

A Bit Stilted and One-Sided

This movie gets its "based on real life" story across, but is rather amateurishly produced. The characters sometimes seem to be coming onstage from the wings to recite their lines, as if they were performing in a high school play. A lot of the story is told through successive visits that the characters make to the prison where the devout Mormon woman accused of killing her husband is being held. This device adds a further static, staged quality to the proceedings.Most of the characters are also presented as stock types, incapable of any gradation of feeling. They are either all right - or all wrong. The head of this branch sect of Mormonism is a thorough-going bad guy, virtually a comic book villain.Most of the males in this sect are represented simply as "lecherous old men intent on accumulating as many young wives as possible." That may in fact be what some fanatically fundamentalist religious cults come down to. But many such groups at least start out with a vision of communalism, with a sense that "it takes a village" to raise children and to carry on the necessary work of family life. There's no suggestion of any such positive intention here. Only the darkest abuses of the polygamous lifestyle are seen.The current action is intercut with flashbacks from the life of one of Brigham Young's wives. Just as that earlier victim of polygamy saw escape as her only option - escape seems as if it might have to be the only option for the heroine in this modern Mormon sect.The question of who committed the murder almost takes second place to this question of whether the heroine will make the break or not, and if so, whether she'll make it safely out of the clutches of the threatening sect elders.Although I was certainly rooting for the heroine, I couldn't help but feel just a mote of uncertainty about the kind of freedom that would lie ahead of her. She'd be exchanging the presumed constraints of the long, uniform pioneer-style dresses that women in the sect had to wear - for the presumed breeziness of mini-skirts and make-up. But would that actually be exchanging an obligation to exclusively please one man for the larger obligation to please all men in passing? This movie doesn't entertain any such subtleties of doubt.

j-sampiro 2012-05-13 17:52:37

Not even worth a dollar at the Redbox

The acting isn't terrible and that's about the only thing you can say.If you read the book, you'll hate this movie as they've gutted it (andnot just the "heterosexualization" of Jordan). If you liked BIG LOVE,pass this one by- it's nothing like it. If by some odd chance you readAnn Eliza Young's book (or Irving Wallace's about her) you'll hate thismovie as it not only gets everything wrong but takes less than 10minutes and that in blips. Most of the scenes in the movie last onaverage about 30 seconds each and there are many plot holes, some fromthe book and some that the movie cooked up.Just to correct a couple of historical errors: Ann Eliza Webb was NOTan adult when her father brought home his first plural wife but a babyso young she grew up in a polygamous family and had no memory of a lifebefore it. She and Brigham Young had no children together- she had twosons with a first husband (omitted from the movie) and he had a fewdozen with other women. Dramatic as it may seem, she did not flee froman angry mob- she checked into a hotel, gave constant interviews, andwhen she left town it was on a train and she sued him for a ton ofalimony (unsuccessfully as their marriage was not legally recognized).That's an impressive number of errors considering the Ann Eliza storylasted all of about 5 minutes in this movie and could/should have beendropped altogether. (Her melodramatic ghost written tell-none is farfrom likely to inspire anybody in the modern era; even Ebershoffcompletely rewrote it and making her family far less interesting as hedid so). This movie is basically a waste. I hope that most of the moneywent to Patricia Wettig's salary as she was by far the best thing init. I read and did not like the book (too much purple prose and toomuch historical inaccuracy and too much clearly vanity driveninclusions with the murder mystery, which should have been the focus,taking up maybe 5% of the book's text). Compared to the movie, the bookis a masterpiece. Not good, not so-bad-it's-good, just all aroundmediocre with a heaping side dish of "yeah right", followed by a yawn.

lurpak 2012-05-12 20:34:29

Excellent..best film for TV I Have ever seen.

I make a point of avoiding these "made for TV" films as this oneclearly is. But every now and again I pander to the wife's (singular;)) film taste. This one had a good rating on here, so I thought Iwould give it a go. I'm so pleased I did, one of the better films Ihave seen lately. So despite other reviews that complain about thelocation "Hello, 99.99% of people viewing this will not be experts onwhere these communities thrive in the US" and care not if there may beone too many trees for this to be feasible to you (I don't recallnoticing a tree at all, I was busy watching the film). The first thingI noticed was this strange hairdo all the women seemed to don, whichgave a sense of submission to a controlling ethics, so far fromdetracting or being weird actually added to the essence of thesituation...what are these people moaning about ??? too many trees,strange hair...come on people! Anyway, The story is compelling I foundmyself getting really annoyed that these people really exists and thesepoor women accept that treatment from men and furthermore from a"Prophet". The Acting was superb from all concerned, thedirection/editing was sufficient so that You knew exactly who was who,and carried the story along at a comfortable pace, although the endingdid seem a little pow! there you go ! jobs done after a very pleasingunwinding development of all other aspects, maybe it could have beenmore stretched as to "getting just done to the right person, it allseemed a bit easy, and quick, I would have liked to have built up realhatred or sympathy to the person one way or another (you'll know what Imean when you see it). other than that, a huge pat on the back for allconcerned.

2012-05-05 23:44:45

Interesting characters; intriguing story.

I would suggest watching the movie before buying it; as the plot can feel a bit stiff at times. However, the characters have a depth I don't usually see in made-for-TV movies, which I appreciate. Check it out if you are interested in interpersonal relationships, murder mysteries, and how different types of characters struggle against their culture/brainwashing.

erin1013 2012-05-05 16:47:25

Bad Editing, but worth it if you like Matt Czuchry

Having not read the book, I watched this to see Matt Czuchry from TheGood Wife. Unfortunately, he doesn't play a man with many wives but onewho was exiled as a teenager from the polygamist sect. He returns tothe town he hated because his mother is on trial for his father'smurder and to see his lost love Queenie, who is now married to someoneelse. Apparently in the book, his character is gay, but the only thingthis movie has going for it is the romance/chemistry of the two leads,so I can see why it was changed. The worst part of this movie is by far the editing, the hair stylist(why does it have to be PUFFY???), the location scout (ARIZONA???). Butif you want an excuse to watch "Cary Agos" wear a leather jacket, drivea truck, get beaten up and give lots of smoldering glances, it isdefinitely worth your two hours.

christinew8 2012-05-02 14:49:01

Good acting but holes in plot

The acting was surprisingly good except for the character Five. She wasso obnoxious and her character was unbelievable that she portrayed agirl raised in a sheltered society. The story itself was interestingand entertaining but here are some problems I had with it:-It showed Queenie serving their Prophet tea in one of the scenes.Trivial I know but if you know anything about Mormon culture includingMormon breakaway cults like this one it is against their religion todrink tea.-Along those same lines I found it unrealistic that the character Fivewould work in a coffee shop one month after she ran away from thesheltered cult because again it is against their religion to drinkcoffee.-I found it strange that the members of the cult were dressed so plainand "old time" you might say and their prophet was all decked out anddrove a fancy car and had body guards. I found this unrealistic that hewould portray himself to appear so "worldly".-It was definitely not filmed in Utah. Anyone who has been to Utahknows that Utah is not that green. And most of the polygamous cults inUtah live in the more desert areas so they can be away from society.-Also I found it odd that they never explained why Beckylyn had bloodon her shirt in the opening scenes when she wasn't the one who did it.-I also found the love interest between Queenie and Jordan strangebecause they made it seem like their might be a connection their butthen nothing ever panned out. I just wonder why they included that atall if there were going to leave it completely unresolved. Especiallyconsidering since in the book Jordan is portrayed as a homosexual. Ialso found it unrealistic that Queenie and Jordan would be soaffectionate towards one another (in one scene she is kind of snugglingwith him by a river) and that she would be so free to spend time withhim in a extremely conservative and controlling cult. -I also found it strange that the code from the Dad's journal thatcontained all these references to cult terms could be deciphered by anon cult member mistress.-The ending was unrealistic to me as well. I do not think that it wouldbe safe for Beckylyn to return to the cult considering everything thathappened throughout the movie. Especially since it appears she isreturning to her sister wives where in the movie the Prophet says hewill marry all of the sister wives who were widowed by the murder. Theprophet appears very dangerous and made murderous threats throughoutthe movie so why would it be safe for Beckylyn to go back to thatcommunity and possibly be his wife? Especially when you consider herrole and knowledge throughout the movie.

Debbie Jordan 2012-05-01 21:24:28

A revealing fictional account of life in extreme polygamous communities

A reviewer claimed details were invented for dramatic effect. Actually,abuse and terror are common in the most secretive clans.Self-proclaimed "prophets" assign who will marry, reassign"disobedient" men's wives and children to others, and claim dead men'swives and children. The threat of eternal and earthly retribution fordisobedience was recorded by Joseph Smith in Section 132 of Doctrineand Covenants when he acknowledged "plural marriage," the bigamy he andhis elders had secretly practiced for years. Even Ann Eliza Young'shistory is accurate.With 30,000 to 50,000 polygamists scattered throughout the westernU.S., many live in picturesque settings. St. George, UT, boastsresorts, agriculture, and mountain forests.Jordan's sexual orientation wasn't changed for politics, as indicatedby an article. Parameters are looser for novels than movies. Jordan'slifestyle would demand time to explain FLDS disapproval of gays andlesbians isn't about morality but the belief that men need at leastthree wives and numerous children to reach the highest level of heaven.Viewers can learn about strict polygamous communities from "The 19thWife."

carolyn-140 2012-04-30 11:12:58

follow up to reviews complaining about location/hairstyles

Just a follow up to some of the other reviews. Location: there is asect here in Canada and as others have said, the location/surroundingsare incidental to the plot. The sect in Canada has been the subject ofrepeated investigations and even prosecutions, not to mention a coup.Hairstyles: the stylist got it spot on, that is exactly how the wivesare required to wear their hair. The clothing was also correct. I amguessing the reviewers complaining about the hairstyles are notfamiliar with this religion. Where I live there are other religionsthat also have similar dress requirements though they are notpolygamous, Amish, Mennonite.

2012-04-30 05:12:31

A Literary Adaptation Of A Provocative Polygamist Bestseller--This TV Movie Struggles To Stand On Its Own

In the world of Lifetime movies, a genre populated by "based on real incidents" docudramas, women in peril thrillers, and prurient "ripped from the headline" scandals or crime stories, they occasionally break the mold to adapt a popular fiction. In my mind, some of their more successful ventures have been these literary adaptations--"The Tenth Circle" and "The Memory Keeper's Daughter," for example, worked as stand alone movies even if fans of the books were disappointed by the oversimplification of the presentations. I think those who were intrigued by David Ebershoff's bestseller "The 19th Wife" will likewise be displeased by this by-the-numbers accounting--but more problematic, the film may also fail to appeal to newbies with no connection to the source material. This seemed a can't miss entertainment combining murder and polygamy, but the story is stretched too thin and the principle characters tend to be completely unbelievable. The novel's hook is that it paralleled a modern murder investigation with a historical examination of one of Brigham Young's more rebellious wives. "The 19th Wife" benefits tremendously with the casting of Patricia Wettig (Thirtysomething) as a compound wife charged with murdering her husband. Unfortunately the film actually centers around Chyler Leigh (Grey's Anatomy), a young progressive who sets out to prove Wettig's innocence. Enlisting her childhood friend and Wettig's son, Matt Czuchry (The Good Wife, Gilmore Girls), the two start to unravel the truths of the case and deal with unresolved feelings of betrayal and resentment. Wettig does well, as you might expect, and Czuchry is appropriately bitter having been cast out as a boy--but they are, by far, the best things about the movie. Leigh is the single most unbelievable representative of a polygamist sect ever put on film. Raised on the principle, she is so extraordinarily modern and free--at home to openly disregard any aspect of the lifestyle that inconveniences the plot. Oh, it made my head hurt! By itself, though, it's an interesting enough story even if the final revelations lack a bit of conviction. But the film also tries to incorporate the Brigham Young aspect into the plot by having Leigh read the elicit diary of a woman ahead of her time. At about 95 minutes, it is really just too little time to represent either story very effectively. This is where fans of the novel are likely to be up-in-arms, the story really becomes a skeleton of the complexities you might have admired about the book! Surprisingly, I'm still going to give this a nominal recommendation only for Wettig's fans--we don't see her often enough and she can't be held guilty for the sins of this unremarkable TV movie. KGHarris, 2/11.