Jane Doe: The Wrong Face (2005)

Too much of everything

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

The first must-see film of the year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

JANE DOE: THE WRONG FACE is one of 8 Jane Doe Mysteries so far made by the Hallmark Channel and it's from the creator of the 1980's/90's PERRY MASON MYSTERIES & Dick van Dyke series DIAGNOSIS MURDER, so if you've seen either you'll know what to expect.It stars Lea Thompson as soccer mom Kathy Davis who lives a secret life as 'Jane Doe' an agent for the Central Security Agency who works hard to separate her work and home life (her husband Jack is played by PERRY MASON star William R. Moses) while she solves crimes along with her boss Frank Darnell (Joe Penny)THE WRONG FACE has Kathy & Frank investigating the kidnapping of the Wife of Prosecutor Phil Raphaelson (John Rubinstein) who is taken during her stay in Hospital getting Plastic Surgery, because when the bandages are taken off when Phil goes to pick his Wife up, It isn't her but a younger woman who runs off to a waiting car outside.THE WRONG FACE is an enjoyable enough TV mystery, but the mysterious bad guy in this is VERY predictable, I figured it out after about 20 Minutes,or Maybe I've just watched too many TVM'S.If you're a fan of PERRY MASON or DIAGNOSIS MURDER, or other HALLMARK mystery series such as MYSTERY WOMAN or MCBRIDE, you'll find this just as good and It has likable performances from all.PS. What does stretch credibility is a guy holding a party in the same place where he is holding a kidnapped woman upstairs!*** out of *****

With the feds closing in on his operations, drug dealer Alex Brant decides to step up the pressure on those that are after him by kidnapping the wife of district prosecutor Phil Rafelson. Coincidently Caroline Rafeslon is in hospital for plastic surgery to her face but, when the bandages are removed it is not her but a younger woman that is revealed. Before Phil can say "value for money" the woman has fled the hospital and soon he gets a call from someone saying they have his wife and he needs to do what they say. With the need for Phil to be on top form for his case, Frank Darnell turns to Jane Doe for help to solve the mystery.This was my first look at the Jane Doe series and, before pressing play, I didn't even know it existed. The presence of Perry Mason regular Moses and a few other names I knew made me think that I should give it a go and maybe find a new detective film series to start finding. The plot here is reasonably good and is delivered with a nice pace to it that helps cover up how very thin it is at times. The main problem I had was that I didn't get a feel for who Jane Doe was as a character – she is a mix of housewife and secret agent for the government but her homely approach to life didn't really endear her to me, nor did it work within the mystery. For example, Columbo has his mannerisms but they are part of the formula whereas here I wasn't sure what Jane brought to the party.Lea Thompson is quite good in the lead regardless though and she was quite fun. However she should thank her stars for the hefty presence of Penny, who made the film seem a bit tougher by his mere size and delivery. The support cast features some nice turns from Starr and Wise but the presence of faces and names I recognised just made it easier to figure out who was the bad guys and not. Overall though, the standard was OK for a TVM mystery and I found it relatively breezy and easy to just watch. Not enough of a hook to it to make me seek out any more of the Jane Doe films but if I get the chance I'll take a look at another one on the basis that this was average.

Greatly enjoyed these Jane Doe TV series, with Lea Thompson,(Kathy Davis/Jane Doe); Lea Thompson, is a cute looking gal and a nice body, but her acting was rather weak and she seemed to be struggling with her lines or it was the fact that the story became over powered with too many actors and all kinds of suspects. The "Mystery Women's Bookstore" was a nice setting and it seemed to get broken into quite often for no apparent reason. I found the acting horrible and the entire TV film was long and boring, after a while I gave up on trying to figure out who the killer could possibly be and got lost in the entire story. I hope other Jane Doe films are better than this one turned out to be.

The previous poster commented on JANE DOE: TILL DEATH DO US PART. This is the one that aired last night 3/11/05 and I think the entire cast was superb. I'm so looking forward to yet another season of JANE DOE. Love the chemistry between the adults. I think Lea, Joe, and Billy all were just wonderful in TILL DEATH DO US PART. Cathy and Jack have this wonderful marriage. I would however like to see Jack continue to be wiser than he had been in the previous 2 movies. It seemed he was too trusting and unsuspecting. I'm a big fan of Billy Moses who plays Jack and I think he's extremely talented and unfortunately his talents aren't used as much as I'd love to see them used. I'm hoping to see him get more airtime in the future movies. :)