WakenPayne I wanted to see this movie because of Emily Perkins. Pure and simple. I considered her role in Ginger Snaps amazing. Here, although she doesn't get as much screen time as I hoped she was equally as good (if not even better). I chose this movie out of what she did because it very much aligned with my taste in drama movies.I'm sure people who were alive at the time (I wasn't) might hear about the Diane Downs case. Where a woman rushes her three kids to a hospital after all four of them getting shot (with Diane conveniently getting shot in the arm). One of the kids dies, another will never walk again, the final child (played by Emily Perkins) gets paralysed on one side of her body and can't speak (but gradually does). The more the investigation goes on the more the evidence points to the fact Diane shot her own kids because her married (and uninterested) ex-boyfriend doesn't want to be a father.Now based on the plot, you know it is grim in tone. I am going to warn you that the more this movie goes on, the tone changes from grim to downright depressing. The scene where Karen (Perkins) goes up on the witness stand and says Diane shot her being the most depressing.Now the acting is good. Emily Perkins being the absolute best performance. Why she is not in more dramatic (or larger in the case of movies like Juno) roles is beyond me. Everybody else does a good job too, the weak link being Fara Fawcett as Diane Downs (but for two thirds of the movie that might be how things were intended).I do think people should see it, but I might warn you this might fall under the category of "great movies that I NEVER want to watch again."

triple8 I had read the book, and have to say the movie, for the most part, is very similar and is just done very well. Everything from the acting, to the directing etc etc, is superb. This movie is, sadly, a true story. It stands at 4 hours or so but it always keeps your interest. Farrah Fawcett loses herself in her character, and I have to say, I don't see how this movie can be watched, without the watcher coming away with a very healthy respect for Ms. Fawcett.This true life story is so disturbing, the thought has to flash through your mind whether you can sit through a 4 hour drama about it, and although of coarse some scenes are extremely difficult to watch, as you'd expect them to be, this movie is not something you can turn away from once it's on and is both shocking and horrifying.It is directed and acted on a level as good as major big screen releases and the character development is great as well. There isn't one bad piece of acting in the movie and this Is the best I've ever seen Fawcett.

moonspinner55 After playing TV-movie victims for years, Farrah Fawcett is terrifically good (almost surprisingly so) cast as real-life child-killer Diane Downs, who tried to convince the police she and her kids were victims one night of a car-jacker with a gun. One is tempted to go on and on about Fawcett's multi-layered portrayal of a sociopath, yet this is a long movie--four hours with commercials--and Farrah has the burden of it resting on her performance (she carries it off with gusto). Ryan O'Neal is very strong, too, playing the lover who doesn't return her affections. A sad, violent story, but told with an intense, focused energy which makes it completely absorbing and ultimately moving. Farrah does Emmy-worthy work.

freebird-10 Here's TV doing true crime the way it should be done--slowly unfolding plot through character, threading the cops and perps stories together, good courtroom drama--it's spellbinding. Farrah Fawcett is exceptional as Diane Downs, the woman who manages to kill one out of three kids. The two surviving kids are also stand-outs, especially the small daughter who must choose whether or not to testify against the monstrously narcissistic Downs. John Shea is also good as the D.A. A must-see for crime buffs.