Alicia Witt and Matthew Settle in "Blue Smoke"
courtesy of Lifetime
"Nora Roberts' Blue Smoke" (Lifetime)

In the presentation of Nora Roberts' novels as original movies on the Lifetime Channel, the first movie was okay, the second was better, and the third is worse. Yes the original movie made from Roberts' book BLUE SMOKE is the worst in the series so far. This is a surprise since BLUE SMOKE was one of Roberts' best novels,

The book had a sprawling cast of characters, a study of family life and relationships, and an intelligent and beautiful heroine who faced a tragic life. In the movie version of "Blue Smoke" the family is seen only in an abbreviated version, the story is only a murder mystery, and the heroine is attractive but not overly pretty or seemingly overly bright. Maybe if they recast it and made it into a mini-series it would retain some of the flavor of the book.

Reena Hale (Alicia Witt) is the focus of the film. She is an arson investigator along with her partner John Minger (Scott Bakula). Reena has always had a fascination with fires and their origins. It began when her family's restaurant was burned to the ground by an arsonist. 

Along with that tragedy in her life, Reena also lost her fist serious boyfriend in an apartment fire. Reena always felt he was murdered but John tries to convince her otherwise. But when someone else close to her dies in another fire she is convinced she is being targeted by the arsonist.

Eventually the arsonist does make his move against Reena and it looks like fire will be the means by which she dies. That is the climax of the story and the end of the film. The way it is presented contains very little suspense.

Witt is definitely miscast as Reena. She doesn't have the beauty to be believable as someone who can make someone fall in love with her based on her looks alone, as her character is supposed to have done. She also doesn't come across as super intelligent and her playing an arson investigator never rings true.

Playing opposite her is Matthew Settle. He is a Tom Welling lookalike who never establishes a personality in this film. His character meets Reena, falls for Reena, and finds her again six years later. That's a quick synopsis of something that takes five minutes on film.

The movie had potential. Scott Bakula and Talia Shire are both actors who could have made a difference in the believability of the story, but they are reduced to virtual cameos. Everything is so rushed and plot elements that would have given the movie depth are discarded.

Some stories can be adapted for TV and a two-hour time limit. Others just can't, and "Blue Smoke" is one of those. The next "movie" from Nora Roberts' books is "Caroline Moon." Here's hoping the series goes out with a winner.

"Nora Roberts' Blue Smoke" premieres Monday, February 12 at 9PM on Lifetime.
 

 

 

 

 

©2007 Jackie K. Cooper

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