Carnal Innocence (2011)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

My girlfriend has got me into Nora Roberts / Lifetime movies, and they're a lot of fun in the way that bad horror or action is.Boiled down, this is the story of a famous violinist Caroline returning to small town Mississippi and falling for millionaire playboy, Tucker Longstreet. Sounds pretty straightforward, but the thing that made this movie for me were the red flags on Tucker as romantic lead and how Caroline just rolls with it. I might have these a bit out of sequence, but here goes (SPOLIERS):Red flag 1: Tucker almost causes a near fatal collision with Caroline.Red flag 2: Caroline finds out one of Tucker Longstreet's ex-girlfriends has been murdered.Red flag 2: Caroline finds Tucker alone on her property and he acts weird to her. Red flag 3: Caroline finds the body of Tucker's other and most recent girlfriend on HER property. Red flag 4: She's playing a violin solo in her house,Tucker walks in unannounced and starts clapping, she turns around startled. The first thing he says isn't "Hello" or "Sorry for startling you". He says: "I didn't kill those women."Red flag 5: Immediately after this, someone starts shooting at them in HER house.Red flag 6: The next day, Tucker crashes his car into her property and destroys her gateRed flag 7: Tucker then hires the son of the guy who tried to kill them to do... jobs around the house?It keeps going. Accents drop in and out. Lines are delivered horribly. But Carnal Innocence is never boring. Oh yeah, the name of the small town is Innocence. Lol.Also, if you drink every time somebody says TUCKER LONGSTREET's full name, I promise you'll have a very toasty afternoon.

A woman is found dead in the river near the small town of Innocence, Mississippi. Famed violinist Caroline Waverly (Gabrielle Anwar) returns to her late grandmother's home to escape problems. She hasn't been back since 9 years old. Tucker Longstreet (Colin Egglesfield) is the local playboy from the rich family in town. Josie (Jud Tylor) is his sister, Dwayne is his screw-up brother, and Della Duncan (Shirley Jones) is his longtime nanny. Edda Lou Hatinger believes Tucker is marrying her and she makes a scene at the diner when he rejects her. The killer lures her out to the river and kills her. Sheriff Burke investigates with newly arrived FBI Agent Matthew Burns. Both women were Tucker's exes and he's the prime suspect. Edda Lou's father Austin is arrested after shooting at Tucker.Romance writer Nora Roberts moves towards the crime drama in this one. I'm not a fan and I couldn't claim to know her writing. As crime drama, this is not good. Caroline shows no sign that Tucker could possibly be the killer. In fact, it's the opposite and the tension is all gone. Why would Austin come after Caroline instead of Tucker? The characters don't always make sense. This is too desperate to make it a romance which only makes it a bad romance. The production is weaker TV level. The actors are mostly second tier. By the second half, the story and the killer's identity stops mattering.

Then this movie is for you. There are A LOT of cheesy accents (I even heard one of the actors mistakenly do a BOSTON accent at one point!).Despite these accent issues, if you like a Southern setting (think, 'The Skeleton Key', but with a Lifetime feel) - then you will probably dig this movie.I would not consider this a suspense film, as there are no suspenseful moments whatsoever. It's a very PG "mystery". I would allow my daughter to watch it (she's 11).They didn't make this movie to win any awards. It is what it is, and the makers of the movie know it. Lot of cute male eye candy too ;) Perfect for a lazy afternoon on the couch. Give it a shot.5/10.

This southern Gothic wannabe was adapted from an original novel, but it's hopelessly derivative. I haven't read the book, but boy did I watch the movie. It's so filled with clichés and stereotypes, at times it played like a "Airplane" style comedy. It takes place in a town called Innocence. How ironic! I especially enjoyed hearing the actors slip in and out of their bogus, Honey Chile southern accents. There are also several prized clichés- talk about runnin' barefoot, eatin' craw fish, chasin' fireflies, huntin' possum, guttin' trout, and of course, deep dark family secrets. All that was missing was a trailer park with a tire hanging from a rope tied to a tree. The story involves a world-famous violinist from Innocence who returns back home to her late grandmammy's place after experiencing romantic disappointment. She soon catches the eye of the town's hunky womanizer, a rich guy named Tucker, who looks more like an Abercrombie & Fitch model than the scion of wealthy southern gentry. Well, shuck my corn! Of course, she and Tucker fall in love. Problem is, the friendly neighborhood serial killer is offing various white trash ladies who were romantically linked to Tucker. So, is our fair maiden next? Will he kiss her or try to kill her? It's up to us to figure it out while we get to meet a wide array of southern stock characters amid hot sunny days and steamy humid nights. I have to admit, I enjoyed all the badness. If you keep your sense of humor high and your expectations low, you may enjoy it too.