Bluemeany
Affluent people live an affluent lifestyle with vague hints of something else going on. Except in Secrets, Columbo never shows up. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is white, straight and extremely early 90's. They're also, despite what the title says, distinctly lacking in juicy secrets. I bought this for 98p on Amazon. Because it was 98p and had bloody Christopher Plummer in it. Basic 'plot' is that they're glamorous actors making a glamorous Dallas style show. They all have problems in their personal life they are trying to keep hidden.The story is dull, the dialogue is just awful and the soundtrack is like it was a made for a different film and it's just playing over random scenes. Oh, and everyone is rich. The only exception being a pair of trailer-trash blackmailers and a drugged up prostitute, all of whom are minor characters and meet unhappy ends. But that's okay because literally all the rich folks find bright futures. Including the young actor kid whose stands trial for the murder of his drugged up prostitute wife.A wife, he hasn't told anyone in the show about. And who is now conveniently dead leaving him free to pursue a glowing TV career and the love of a millionaire heiress (who he sleeps with the day after the funeral). He's got no alibi. He's got the motive. He doesn't suggest any other suspects. And yet everyone is so sure 'a kid like that' is innocent. The jury let him off after Christopher Plummer testifies to his good character. A happy ending, yay! But what about the murdered wife? Who actually did that? Oh, wait, the film doesn't care
Seltzer
Okay, it's not the best show you'll ever see. The lead actress is mannered and phony. The supporting cast is pretty bad, especially the actress and the blue jean ad guy. The script is bland. However, I suggest you fast forward past all that to get to the Christopher Plummer scenes. As always, he turns in a solid performance. And he's very attractive in this film. Very. I mean very. Yum. Who cares about the supporting actor who is said to be so attractive in his blue jean ad. I didn't even notice him, except how bad his acting was. It was Christopher Plummer I noticed. I did a screen capture of him from the DVD and I have it as my desktop wallpaper. Yum.
MissTRious
I have read some reviews which slam this film for being uneventful and dare I say bland.First of all I would like to say that the title of this drama is Danielle Steele's Secrets, this is important because no offence to Ms Steele but her books are hardly War and Peace or Lord of the Rings. She has cornered the market in soap operas on paper, holiday books that are read once, enjoyed and then used to raise funds for the disadvantaged at your local charity shop. This is by no means a complaint or a sign of disrespect to the lady, she is good at what she does and is well loved.So with this in mind the film had no illusions at being a blockbuster. It is flashy, glammy, 80's (even though it was filmed at the beginning of the 90's the influence is still there) and lightweight.The story line presents all the scenarios from the beginning, each are worked through in succession and all happily concluded by the end. Personally speaking in this day and age of movies with non-endings or bittersweet tales that show that dreams and hopes and romance are not only dead but very suspect that they ever existed I find little bits of escapism like this a breath of fresh air.The stars are not looking to win awards, just do a little TV movie which to the heavyweights such as Stephanie Beecham and Christopher Plummer keeps their hands in, their profile current and their bank account healthy. For some of the up and coming stars such as Ben Browder and Josie Bisset it provided a useful stepping stone to bring them to the attention of other directors, etc. which lead to their later more high profile appearances.So all in all, this is a likable pulp novel dramatisation which is as entertaining, stylish and forgettable as the book. Just perfect for a rainy afternoon and a box of quality street and a nice cuppa.
howie73
This is a lame duck of a TV movie. Effectively a soap opera about a soap opera, the ensemble cast shuttle back and forth between the art of creating fiction and the terrible secrets that threaten to expose them all.The story feels stretched but curiously littered with as many holes as a golf course. It's nowhere as good as it should be and lacks the acerbic put-downs one would expect from Stephanie Beachem as the improbably named Sabina Quarles. The problem with Beacham's character is that we are lulled into thinking she is a reincarnation of her former alter ego, Sable, from Dynasty; the reality is she's as bland as the rest of the cast. It's also a slow movie with more formulaic banter than a toothpaste advert.
AD
