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A Disappointing Continuation

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

If I had never read the book, I would have said it was a good movie. BUT I did read the book. Who ever did the screen write ruined the storyline. There is so many changes, that it wasn't really worthy of the Title. Character changes, plot changes, time line changes...First off who was Henry and the investigator? They weren't in the story. Henry had Mitch's persona somewhat, but Mitch wasn't a cop. No you made it so Roz, helped 'sink ' his body and used that as Zenia's blackmail against Roz. The real so called blackmail was Roz thought Zenia was sleeping with her son and wanted her to get away from him. Her son was also being blackmailed because he was hiding being Gay from his mother. Her son wasn't even really mentioned in the story. Neither I don't believe was his lover, Roz's secretary.Tony and West were not together in the beginning. He was actually with Zenia first while in college. The black painted apartment was their Idea, Tony just went to visit. This is where Zenia and Tony meet, become fast friends. Tony hides her love for West. Then Zenia left west, with cash from Tony, then West and Tony get together. Eventually marry, at some point West leaves Tony for Zenia again for a short time. Only to be heart broken again. Then go back to Tony. Zenia's blackmail for Tony was that Tony had written a test paper for Zenia. Now being a Professor at College she didn't want to let it get out. I will say the character who played Tony did it wonderfully.Charis character was a blond, not that it really matters. Zenia didn't trick her about having cancer while Augusta was alive. No she was there when Charis had a lover named billy. Augusta's father, he was a draft dodger in the Vietnam war. Eventually after Charis takes care of Zenia for months for what was actually drug withdrawal. Zenia and Billy have an affair right under Charis's nose while taking care of them both. Then Zenia turns in Billy to the government, and leaves on the ferry with him. Not with Augusta, Charis was pregnant with her tho. Charis also had a split personality, Karen was her real name.Zenia did not die from being cut up into piece's.... she fell or was possibly pushed (we never really knew) off the balcony and landed in a fountain. She had almost pure grade heroin in her blood and it was likely she took some not knowing and fell off as she OD'd. She was also really dieing of Cancer this time around.It didn't show any of the childhood memories or anything that endeared the characters to the reader. The Book was striped down to its bare bones. Then re made in someone else's vision. Why couldn't you just write your own story along the lines of what you made the movie. It was different enough, and I'm sure could have been made more so.

I watched this movie last night on TV and even the commercial interruptions didn't dull my enjoyment of it. In fact, it was actually kind of enjoyable to be able to discuss how the plot was thickening every once in a while. The acting was well done - from the lame-brained hippie on Toronto Island to the scientist, the publisher etc, everyone did a great job. So does that imply it was well directed? I think so. It flowed well, the storyline was clear and I was left with the impression that Atwood's original book would be great fun to read. It wasn't perfect, mind you, but the weaknesses were minor, probably because it didn't aim to be some fantastic sophisticated production. It was simple, clear, and fun.

I have to admit, it is a little confusing at points and a little dumb at other points. Nevertheless, I though that it was a good little TV movie. I liked the suspense and the misdirection, and I liked how it was ambiguous at the end. It was well worth a Sunday evening.My only major criticism is that I don't think Mary-Louise Parker was that good. She coasted through the bulk of the movie, only to come out at the end as a brilliant mastermind. I didn't really buy it. The other actors were quite capable, and they managed to pull their parts together quite well. It is likely the supporting cast is not as good as Parker, which would make the acting quality unequal, but she really stuck out in this – and not in a good way.

I found myself comparing this to another psychological thriller I had seen recently - CACHE aka HIDDEN - much to the disadvantage of THE ROBBER BRIDE.The film begins with a scene that makes the viewer expect an investigation a la CSI. Instead it is a single individual investigating a team of trio of women for the possible murder of a woman they all knew in their university years. John's character and personality seems to disappear as we learn more about Zenia the possible woman and the women, Charis, Roz and Tony.None of the latter women engendered any of my sympathy, though the story argues (or does it?) that all three have been victimized by Zenia, who unerringly detects how best and how deeply the three can be hurt.I found the choice of Mary-Louise Parker interesting in that she resembled a younger, more feminine Margaret Atwood.I imagine that I missed a considerable amount of subtext because I have not read much Atwood, and as this is a fairly recent work, it very likely reiterates themes that she finds important.I edited the commercials out of the film, and was left with slightly less than 89 minutes; so I must applaud those who sat through the live broadcast of THE ROBBER BRIDE, often enduring lengthy 4 minute or longer commercial - I found it incredibly annoying to fight off the numerous pop ups, usually for forthcoming programming, to the extent that I couldn't read or digest the all important closing credits!