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Reviews
Eaux troubles du crime (2007)
Completely without merit as a "true crime" show
While this show belongs under the true crime rubric, it is quite possibly the single worst true-crime TV series of all time, and that's saying something given all of the abysmal shows in this genre. Other than interviews with cops (who knows if they're real?), there is absolutely nothing in this show that connects it to reality. Everything, and I mean everything, is dramatized, recreated, and it's all immensely repetitive. There's no photograph of the victim, there's no crime-scene footage or photographs or newspaper articles; there's not even a photograph of the criminal. To whom could this possibly be of interest? Certainly not true-crime enthusiasts, who prefer to hear and see as much detail and actual documentary material as is possible. This program is the polar opposite of that ideal. People who want fiction watch the CSIs and Law and Orders of the television world. It boggles the mind that this unwatchable trash actually lasted 7 seasons. No one involved in this production should ever work in TV or film again.
The First 48 (2004)
Tedious
I am a bona fide fan of the true crime genre, but this show is not satisfying to me at all, and I thus stopped watching it some time ago.
Every episode, every segment is almost invariably the same thing: a drug deal gone wrong resulting in some not-so-innocent guy shot in an inner-city parking lot. Cops investigate, put pressure on "homies" of the dead dude, and come up with the name of the shooter. Yawn. After the umpteenth time rehashing the same scenario, I have had it. Not to mention that I have never liked the voice of the narrator or the editing between segments that purposely leaves the viewer hanging. I have also never found that the "48-hour" gimmick adds any tension to the proceedings. It's merely an irritating intrusion.
Lesser Evil (2006)
Utter garbage
This almost worthless tripe is what everyone who derides TV movies has in mind. Awful, sometimes mannered, acting from an ensemble of plastic centerfolds, a ridiculous story, and in what other post-'60s movie has such obvious back projection been used for car-interior driving scenes? How laughably cut-rate for 2006! Otherwise, the direction is the only adequate thing about the entire enterprise. The movie is about a woman who seeks justice for a vile rape, but the script drags in all kinds of extraneous nonsense involving terrorists, corrupt, power-mad federal agents, a failing fashion business, and (deep sigh) a budding romance with the stiffest of cops. On the surface, the movie doesn't appear, overtly at least, all that bad, but there's just something a little off and phony about every single scene, to the extent that there isn't an authentic, original, or interesting moment in the entire movie.