She Says She's Innocent (TV Movie 1991) Poster

(1991 TV Movie)

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6/10
Why can't it just be me and not her!
sol121826 November 2005
(Some Spoilers) Surprisingly effective made-for-TV murder mystery that keeps it's audience in the dark as to who the killer is until the last ten minutes or so of the movie. Even though it seems obvious to who the killer is almost from the start.

Young Justine Essex, Charlotte Ross, is being influenced by stories her friend, or former best friend,Ashley, Amy Moore, is telling Justine about her boyfriend Ryan, David Lasher. David is having an affair with her now best friend Vicky, Kimberly Hopper. The three girls having a showdown, over Vicky's betrayal of Justine with her divorced mom Susan ,Katey Sagal, out on a date with her old high-school flame Eric ,Jamerson Parker,ends up with Vicky falling to her death in the woods.

It's obvious from the start that it was both Justine and Ashley who were responsible for Vicky's death chasing her out of Justin's home to the place where she was later found dead. As the movie goes on there are things that seemed to have been overlooked by the police and the audience that shows that Vicky's death was a lot stranger and far more sinister then you would of at first thought.

Making a pact with each other Ahsley and Justine swear to keep what happened the night that Vicky was killed to themselves and stick to their story that they were never there with Vicky in both Justine's home and in the the woods. The police slowly start to pick their story apart and Justine ends up, due to the overwhelming evidence against her, being indited for Vicky's murder. It's then when we start to realize there was a lot more going on with Vicky's love life then we were at first thought to believe.

It's found out after the autopsy that Vicky was three months pregnant and that she kept a daily journal that kept referring to her boyfriend, and future father of her baby, simply as the letter "R"? Was that to mean Ryan Justine's boyfriend? Ryan confronted by Justine about his supposed affair with Vicky denies that he had nothing more to do with Vicky then just give her a kiss much less have a relationship with her that resulted in Vicky becoming pregnant. Were also told that this mysterious Mister "R" wanted Vicky to have an abortion but she refused; could that have been the reason for her murder?

Ryan had gotten a full scholarship to college and if it were reveled that he got a girl pregnant it would have had it revoked.Could that have been the reason that he, if he did , murder Vicky? With all the evidence of Vicky's murder pointing to Justine it seems to be an open and shut case for the local District Attorney to convict. It then comes out that Justine's mom Susan is involved romantically with the police detective on the case Eric Reilly,Jamerson Parker, and the case is thrown out of court. Still the the suspicion that Justine murdered Vicky is still fresh in the minds of the people of Clovis especially Vicky's parents Dr. Gilmore and his wife Elaine, Linda Pierce. Getting together with Ryan Justine goes out to the murder scene in the woods and finds a numbers of items that were overlooked by the police; both Justine & Ryan find Vicky's car keys and that her body was moved some five miles from where she supposedly fell to her death.

The evidence leads both Ryan and Justine to this empty cabin that was earlier discovered but somehow the evidence there overlooked by Justine and her mom Susan Essex where an audio tape was found purporting to be that of Ryan dedicating love songs to Vicky. Can it be the same Ryan that's Justine's boyfriend and who's with her alone In the woods and very possibly Vicky's murderer?

While all this is happening Justine's mom Susan Essex unknowingly comes across the real murderer of Vicky back in town which not only puts her life in danger but exposes the real and sick motive for Vicky's murder which is about as shocking a revelation as any good script writer could have dreamed up; a real stunner.
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5/10
Who killed Vicky Gilmore?
krorie7 October 2006
A fairly decent script with a suspenseful, surprise ending is spoiled by weak acting from a cast pruned from TVLand, directed by a TV alumnus, Charles Correll, son of legendary Charles J. Correll, aka Andy Brown (of radio's "Amos and Andy"). The producer also had problems finding a suitable title. The one now used, "Violation of Trust," while still weak, is much better than the original moniker of "She Says She's Innocent." Talk about nondescript!

The plot centers on a divorced, pregnant mother, Susan Essex (Katey Sagal), who trusts her daughter, Justine (Charlotte Ross), explicitly when she swears she knows nothing about the murder of her new friend, Vicky Gilmore (Kimberly Hooper), amid accusations that Vicky and Justine had a violent confrontation at Justine's house the night of the homicide. Deeply involved also is one of Justine's old buds, Ashley (Amy Moore Davis), a straight-A student whom Justine's mom thinks is a positive influence on her daughter but who in reality hated Vicky and attempted to stir up trouble between Justine and Vicky over a common thread boyfriend, Ryan (David Lascher). To complicate the issue, Vicky was two-months pregnant when killed. Was it Ryan's baby?

To prove her daughter's innocence, Susan conducts her own investigation but muddies the waters when she begins dating the law officer in charge of the case. Slowly the evidence uncovered begins to make sense when suddenly Vicky finds herself in a deadly encounter with the killer.

If the viewer can ignore the amateurish acting, the pedestrian direction, and the intrusive subplot concerning Susan and her ex-husband, then he/she should enjoy the above-average script and story.
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6/10
mom good stepdad bad
petersjoelen15 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Instead of writing a good realistic story about jealousy , envy and a murder the writers choose for the easy way to blame the stepdad and make him the bad guy .

The plot twist in this story is also badly writen and his so called motives are not very believable.

Too bad, the beginning was so promissing.
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5/10
More A Mother Love Story Than A Murder Story . . . .
sundayatdusk-9785922 March 2024
This film was watchable, but not memorable, except for the twist at the end. Mother Susan is pregnant, but getting a divorce from her cheating husband. Daughter Justine is having friend and boyfriend trouble. One night, after fighting with friend Vicky about her boyfriend Ryan, the fight spills out into the night, where Vicky is killed. Justine and her best friend Ashley apparently are the only ones who know what happened, and swear to each other never to tell.

There are some very unrealistic parts to the movie, such as the local newspaper prints stories that Justine is charged with the murder, yet there's only one unfriendly encounter with other students at her school, where she continues to go. (Yes, this was before the internet!) In addition, while one of the detectives on the case is a high school friend of Susan's and is seeing her, he is not taken off the case, even though he says he has to take himself off the case.

While this is a murder story, it's more like a mother story. It's a story about unconditional mother love. That began to really irritate me, too. Susan ignores proof Justine was involved in the crime. She seems to conveniently forget Justine came home the next morning after the murder with blood on her face, due to an earring being ripped out of her ear. In addition, she ponders what she should do with evidence that proved Vicky was at her house the night of the murder.

Is it right and moral for a mother to cover up for her daughter, even if it becomes apparent her daughter is involved in a murder? Does unconditional mother love ace everything else in the world, including justice for a murder victim? How would she feel if her daughter was killed and another mother was behaving as she was behaving? Should a mother keep telling her daughter she totally believes her even when she does not? This film does make the viewer think a little, but only a little.

P. S Note the twist at the end really has nothing to do with anything the movie is focusing on. It obviously only exists to make the crime hard for the viewer to solve.
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2/10
A star for Sagal and a star for not being entirely predictable
tlharrison-5954615 August 2022
The main girl in this could not be more unlikable. She was written to be so awful! Sagal's character was also frustrating, making so many poor decisions, it was hard to watch.

I didn't pay complete attention to this movie, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it seeming to turn in another direction. However, the direction it leaned into quickly became very predictable.

Not worth watching.
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8/10
Unpredictable
phd_travel29 December 2019
Katy Sagal is watchable as mom who stands by her daughter accused of murder who seems to have done it. The explanation is quite good so stay tuned.
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10/10
This movie was great!!!
sweetness_12394 April 2004
Warning: Spoilers
This was a really good movie to be a TV movie!At first it wasn't that

good, but it got better and better as the movie went on!I could not believe the ending her own stepdad! I would've never thought that, it was a suprising turn! Overall, it was a great movie. Especially great for a TV movie! I think it had enough potentioal to be a movie in the theaters. Mostly, it was a great Drama! The kind of movie you would

watch on lifetime. I would recommend this movie to women because I don't think most men would like this movie. It is more of like a

chick-flick/thriller.But maybe I am wrong so you boys watch it too but I think it would be more appealing to women.GREAT MOVIE!
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10/10
Great movie! Wish my Grandma was given credit in the cast!
onealkn6 April 2020
I finally had the time to watch this and it was a great movie! I only know the movie because my grandmother was the female paramedic with the curly hair. I wish she was given credit under the cast. She was a paramedic in real life which is how she landed the part and she has saved many lives. She deserves to be mentioned!
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10/10
Another great NBC tele-movie!
joodles7713 October 1999
It's been almost 9 years since this movie was on NBC, but it was a memorable one. Charlotte Ross (ex-Eve, Days of Our Lives), Katey Sagal (Peg, Married With Children), and David Lascher (Ted, Hey Dude) were a great combination of talent that really brought this movie together. I have requested that NBC re-release this movie and/or sell rights to Lifetime - I would love to see it again!
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10/10
Very special movie for many reasons
Awesome8SimpleRules1 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This movie has lots of suspense and drama.The actors and actresses in this movie show another side of their acting capabilities,Showing the pain and hurt that can come from false accusations and also shows how it brings a mother and daughter closer together.This movie is also a little more precious for any Katey Sagal fans out there who know that in this movie she was pregnant with her baby Ruby Alexandra who was born stillborn when this movie was released in America. Overall this movie is a very good drama and even though i have it on DVD i would love for it to come on television in the UK so other people can watch it and maybe get different experiences and feelings from this movie.
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10/10
A very good movie shown on NBC
Mattswife9721 May 2002
Boy how I wish they would show this movie again. I only got to see this movie once and that was a very long time

ago. I love how beautiful Charolette Ross was. People will do anything to help protect their children. To bad it's not good when the kid's parent's who actually did the crime tries to blame it on the innocent. I would love to see this movie again. Maybe someday I will get lucky. 10.
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9/10
A Movie Very Similar To Killer Among Friends
ecspringer201016 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This film is basically about two high school girls who killed a friend over a boyfriend, even though the two young ladies didn't exactly set out to kill, but due to a struggling fight that leads to death...a film like this, even though it's from 1991 should be viewed with teenagers, I found this film free on Tubi, it's storyline is very relevant in this day in age. It's very well acted, a very good cast of actors and it's currently free on Tubi, as I mentioned...this must have been a Lifetime movie, it has all the same qualities of a Lifetime movie.
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10/10
In this day and age it's important to be transparent
eqarmen28 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is about a subject, that is somehow minimized on a regular basis in Hollywood. But because of Hollywood's horrific false accusation of a beloved music icon, the real Hollywood has been revealed. Sinister is putting it kindly. Having said that, this movie is an excellent murder mystery, with a strongly written script, and great performances led by the intense and super actress Charlotte Ross. If you're wondering what this movie is about, and why Hollywood truly outed itself in an irreversible way, by never using the word, that described the sinister Central subject matter of this movie, the movie is about pedophilia.
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8/10
Another indictment
henryvic-3845617 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Another indictment of the justice system. The movie is full of surprises but in the end, the real killer has to confess and protest, in order to get arrested. It states that the justice system is unfair to women. And that a certain demographic has a get out of jail free card. Charlotte Ross leads the cast, as she has the it factor when it comes to acting skills. Good script and decent mystery factor.
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