I know, It's not really a new movie or anything like that. I just got around to watching this one now, as I am writing and I am actually pleasantly surprised by this one. I find the visual aspect of it was very good. It doesn't have those made for TV looks. The audio too is good. The plot is interesting and I can't really admit to foreseeing the end before its time. Well at least not at where I am presently.(she just go run off the road by someone who was listening to her cell phone call) There are a few point that one could possible be irritated with. But in all nothing really major. As mentioned by others, the relationship that forms between the two main actors doesn't really seem plausible but yet how many movies have we all seen where two actors going through a rough patch have an intimate relationship. Probably every one, so I don't think this really destroys the movie.I doesn't give it a boost either I should say. If your looking for a movie that is not action packed and that the plot holds up and you don't want to waste time then I really think you should give this one a shot.
4 Reviews
Lifetime, need I say more
blanche-210 January 2014
"Smoke Screen" is a Lifetime TV movie from 2010 starring Jaime Pressly, Currie Graham, Garwin Sanford, and Larissa Laskin. Writing that it's a Lifetime movie and then adding it was made in Canada is redundant, but there you go.
Pressly is Britt Shelley, a beautiful blond news reporter. One morning she wakes up and there's a dead man in bed with her. Naturally the police suspect her immediately, and poor Britt can't remember a thing past a certain point. She's positive she was slipped a date rape drug. She explains to the police detectives that a man who was involved in a fire she covered five years ago, Jay (Martin Cummins) wanted to speak with her. They meet at a restaurant; he has something important to tell her. After that, she's clueless until she wakes up next to his dead body.
A city firefighter whose career was ruined by Britt due to the incident five years earlier, Raley (Currie Graham) kidnaps her and takes her to his cabin. Raley points out that he was set up the exact same way as Britt: he woke up with a woman in his bed, and the last thing he remembered was her offering him a drink at a party. The two investigate and realize the two cases are connected, and that someone is out to get Britt.
This film didn't hold together all that well, and I figured out whodunit pretty soon after it started. It's a little slow, the romance seemed implausible, and Currie Graham was a distraction because he reminded me so much of Kevin Spacey. I actually thought there were too many characters and different parts of the original crime didn't come together well; if it had been directed better, we could have seen the plots gel more succinctly, but as it was, it was all over the place.
Jaime Pressly did an okay job; she looks like your ideal soap opera actress, and the rest of the acting was passable. Just an okay film. Writing okay and Lifetime movie is redundant. But there you go.
Pressly is Britt Shelley, a beautiful blond news reporter. One morning she wakes up and there's a dead man in bed with her. Naturally the police suspect her immediately, and poor Britt can't remember a thing past a certain point. She's positive she was slipped a date rape drug. She explains to the police detectives that a man who was involved in a fire she covered five years ago, Jay (Martin Cummins) wanted to speak with her. They meet at a restaurant; he has something important to tell her. After that, she's clueless until she wakes up next to his dead body.
A city firefighter whose career was ruined by Britt due to the incident five years earlier, Raley (Currie Graham) kidnaps her and takes her to his cabin. Raley points out that he was set up the exact same way as Britt: he woke up with a woman in his bed, and the last thing he remembered was her offering him a drink at a party. The two investigate and realize the two cases are connected, and that someone is out to get Britt.
This film didn't hold together all that well, and I figured out whodunit pretty soon after it started. It's a little slow, the romance seemed implausible, and Currie Graham was a distraction because he reminded me so much of Kevin Spacey. I actually thought there were too many characters and different parts of the original crime didn't come together well; if it had been directed better, we could have seen the plots gel more succinctly, but as it was, it was all over the place.
Jaime Pressly did an okay job; she looks like your ideal soap opera actress, and the rest of the acting was passable. Just an okay film. Writing okay and Lifetime movie is redundant. But there you go.
Britt Shelley, Roving Reporter
lavatch1 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
"Smoke Screen" was bogged down in an extremely convoluted plot and a ton of characters. The crisis stems from a fire at the police station that occurred five years in the past. Promises were made, and promises were broken. Murder and mayhem ruled the day in this quintessential Southern town of Charleston.
Jaime Pressly is good as the central character Britt Shelley, a news reporter for the local television station. Her investigative work led to the firing of Raley Gannon, a decent fireman who still is seeking to clear his name and good character.
Britt and Raley team up to piece together the story of what happened in the fire. Both Britt and Raley were set up. Eventually, they must solve the riddle of who is calling the shots in this small town. Along the way, they apparently fall in love.
Unfortunately, some of the acting was wooden, and it was difficult to truly care about the characters' situations. "Smoke Screen" was a kind of Peyton Place with deep, dark secrets hidden around every corner and in the highest places of power in this amoral community. Britt and Raley must struggle to find their way to the truth and redemption.
Jaime Pressly is good as the central character Britt Shelley, a news reporter for the local television station. Her investigative work led to the firing of Raley Gannon, a decent fireman who still is seeking to clear his name and good character.
Britt and Raley team up to piece together the story of what happened in the fire. Both Britt and Raley were set up. Eventually, they must solve the riddle of who is calling the shots in this small town. Along the way, they apparently fall in love.
Unfortunately, some of the acting was wooden, and it was difficult to truly care about the characters' situations. "Smoke Screen" was a kind of Peyton Place with deep, dark secrets hidden around every corner and in the highest places of power in this amoral community. Britt and Raley must struggle to find their way to the truth and redemption.
Where's There's SMOKE SCREEN, There is No Fire
jfrentzen-942-2042113 September 2011
Warning: Spoilers
A news reporter investigating the police and DA's office about a cover up of a police beating is framed for murder. The first half of SMOKE SCREEN, a Lifetime Network murder mystery-slash-odd-couple romance flick, is somewhat successful, as we follow TV news personality Britt Shelley after she wakes up in bed alongside a corpse and remembers nothing. Two laconic police detectives figure Britt as the primary suspect, but meanwhile Britt is targeted by those responsible for a series of similar frame-up killings. The filmmakers decide to rely on perky Jamie Pressly, one of the few actresses around who could inject some vulnerability into the aggressive beat-reporter character, to carry this implausible flick. Sadly, the movie's suspense breaks down with the introduction of an unlikely romance between Britt and Raley, another victim of a similar frame-up. Raley is a disgruntled and disenfranchised city firefighter, played by Currie Graham (who manages to look like Kevin Spacey playing Jason Lee as Earl, the redneck hero of the "My Name is Earl" TV comedy series, which incidentally also stars Pressly). Raley has a big chip on his shoulder and is first seen kidnapping Britt. Later, he complains angrily that she ruined his career by her negative TV news reporting of the scandal. Britt then seems to fall in love with her kidnapper, though -- which is strange enough -- but then she teams up with him to expose the real murderer, even though he frequently goes off on her, drugs her (twice), and has a back story that may implicate him in the murder conspiracy. The unbelievability of the romance subplot is intrusive, and despite some cleverness in revealing who did it, the movie slowly collapses in a heap -- despite noble attempts at chemistry by Pressly and Graham.
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