I have learned not to wait much of a TV movie. Now this is a "based on true story" one that shows such a dangerous issue in a very good way too.
The case is scary. Big part of its scaring is that it's realistic. The matter of "it could happen to you" is so pressing this time. And it is scarier since there are no deterrent laws for it yet. So in the digital age that we live, destroying the life of someone, financially and morally, became very easy job to do, and getting away with it became yet easier!
Moreover, the movie smartly made of the main situation such a physiological problem of loving a person, and her life, so much to become her. This cat and mouse game between a girl and a criminal copy of her was creative. Then when it dealt with the collapse of the copy, it gave us a deeply sad side to the story, which made it so human and effective. And, finally, what a dramatic climax it achieved when the copy / Connie phones her victim / Michelle, finding no one but her to seek help from, while she became unable to be a copy anymore, or even herself. You can appreciate these efforts more when you know that the 2 characters, in the real story, never met at all (as I read somewhere).
The meeting between them both at the end was a fine master scene. And the finale in the courtroom was shocking enough. From that joke of a judge, to lines like: "Life isn't fair / I expected it to be fair here!", ending with the lead's hot monologue about the tragedy of losing her "good name"--the whole scene was so zealous, true and bitter statement about the movie's main case.
As for the acting, it's more than clear that (Annabella Sciorra) won, but not for (Kimberly Williams-Paisley)'s weak performance, it's simply for one logical reason which's the power of Connie's role in the first place. This character got spectrum of mixed feelings, a more pathetic status, being in problem like the main character however sick, with no love, no escape, and no cure. All of that while the script didn't give much to (Kimberly)'s character Michelle but to smile naively for half of the time, and frown for the other half. Nevertheless she did the last scene perfectly, with high energy and intensive rage. I believed her utterly.
(Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story) isn't a movie to be forgotten easily. Before making a good thrill out of its story, it enlightens us with ugly crime, and uglier facts, that no other movie I know showed seriously, or cared about.
The case is scary. Big part of its scaring is that it's realistic. The matter of "it could happen to you" is so pressing this time. And it is scarier since there are no deterrent laws for it yet. So in the digital age that we live, destroying the life of someone, financially and morally, became very easy job to do, and getting away with it became yet easier!
Moreover, the movie smartly made of the main situation such a physiological problem of loving a person, and her life, so much to become her. This cat and mouse game between a girl and a criminal copy of her was creative. Then when it dealt with the collapse of the copy, it gave us a deeply sad side to the story, which made it so human and effective. And, finally, what a dramatic climax it achieved when the copy / Connie phones her victim / Michelle, finding no one but her to seek help from, while she became unable to be a copy anymore, or even herself. You can appreciate these efforts more when you know that the 2 characters, in the real story, never met at all (as I read somewhere).
The meeting between them both at the end was a fine master scene. And the finale in the courtroom was shocking enough. From that joke of a judge, to lines like: "Life isn't fair / I expected it to be fair here!", ending with the lead's hot monologue about the tragedy of losing her "good name"--the whole scene was so zealous, true and bitter statement about the movie's main case.
As for the acting, it's more than clear that (Annabella Sciorra) won, but not for (Kimberly Williams-Paisley)'s weak performance, it's simply for one logical reason which's the power of Connie's role in the first place. This character got spectrum of mixed feelings, a more pathetic status, being in problem like the main character however sick, with no love, no escape, and no cure. All of that while the script didn't give much to (Kimberly)'s character Michelle but to smile naively for half of the time, and frown for the other half. Nevertheless she did the last scene perfectly, with high energy and intensive rage. I believed her utterly.
(Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story) isn't a movie to be forgotten easily. Before making a good thrill out of its story, it enlightens us with ugly crime, and uglier facts, that no other movie I know showed seriously, or cared about.