Overrated and overhyped

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This film was only worth watching for the beautiful locations, which earned my 2 star vote. The story was totally unrealistic. I know it's a bit of a fantasy mystery/romance, but it just lacked little touches that would have made it so much better. Everybody that the heroine met with spoke English perfectly, 9 times out of 10 with an American accent! The arriving/living/researching in a strange country seemed to go remarkably smoothly, no trying to find her way about, struggling with unfamiliar money or language. Every time they went to the train station the train was there! No difficulty trying to work out the timetable. Public phones were within a few yards whenever one was needed (pre-mobile phone days....). The genealogical research was accomplished relatively easily - none of the paperwork was illegible, or in a difficult Cyrillic script, so the heroine found what she wanted within a few hours of searching (yeah right.... like that would happen!). The characters were 2 dimensional rubbish and not at all realistic. Yes, I know it's fantasy, but you need decent acting and lifelike emotions to draw you into the story. 3 people have been strangled - no sign of stress or fear from Jordan and Nick. They get shot at while on the balcony of their hotel - they don't move to a different hotel or anything - a few hours later they're back on the balcony, not a care in the world! Twice Nick tackles the gunman when he knows he's armed and dangerous - foolhardy heroics from an art expert, methinks. And did I say that the acting is more like a first read through? Very poor direction..... it could have been a good film, but sadly it fell far too short.

LMN has revived "Broken Lullaby" as one of their featured movies this week. As a family genealogist myself, I find it troubling that this story leaves such a huge hole by not clearly defining the relationship between Jordan (Mel Harris) and her "Aunt Kitty" (Vivien Reis) and more troubling still, that genealogist Jordan could be so wrong in what her own relationship to Nicholas is.Commenter Verenka above states "Her aunt (by marriage we are left to presume), is trying to track down her long lost family in Europe." After a huge part of this family puzzle is solved, however, Jordan supposedly alleviates the concerns of her love interest, Nicholas (Rob Stewart), by stating that she and he are fourth cousins, indicating that it is therefore OK for them to pursue a relationship.If they were only cousins by marriage, Jordan should have stated so at that time, but since she goes so far as to try to define their NATURAL relationship, this leaves us with the never addressed question as to how did Jordan's mother/father end up being the sister/brother of the believed orphan Kitty? Even after Kitty's true family background is revealed, there is no room for Jordan's mother or father in the picture. This supports the theory that Kitty is Jordan's Aunt only through a marriage by Kitty to Jordan's natural Uncle. Again, if that were the case, why did Jordan not alleviate Nicholas' concerns with the fact that they are only related by marriage instead of stating they are fourth cousins? They are NOT, however, fourth cousins, either by marriage or through natural relationship, rather FIRST COUSINS ONCE REMOVED (by marriage, if that's the case). Jordan and Nicholas's mother would be first cousins (or first cousins by marriage). One would think that any genealogist worth her salt would get a relationship THAT close to home right! Nevertheless, if they are NOT related by marriage, this is a problematic relationship - much too close for comfort!

The story concerns a genealogy researcher (Mel Harris) who is hired by her Estee Lauder-like cosmetic queen aunt. Her aunt (by marriage we are left to presume) is trying to track down her long lost family in Europe. All they have to go on is a photo of a young girl standing by an ornate music box. The researcher heads to Europe and conducts her search in places like Milan, Budapest, and Vienna. The scenery is the real thing and is actually shot on location (unlike a Murder, She Wrote where Jessica is supposed to be visiting a far-flung locale and Lansbury never left Burbank). Anyway, she meets a young man who is also searching to solve a family mystery of his own and they team up to track down clues and menace bad guys. The dialogue, particularly the romantic dialogue, is terrible. I watched this because of the scenery but the script was so bad that I stayed on just to see if it would get worse. It did. Acting was also off. I can see why Mel Harris's career never really took off after thirtysomething, but she is adequate (seems too old for her co-star though). But, the supporting players are straight out of the community playhouse. I also lost count of how many times they say "Budapest" to each other. Yes, it is pronounced Bood-a-phesht. We know, okay? I realized halfway into the film that this had to be one of those Harlequin movies and sure enough it is. Guess that says it all.

Take young, pretty people, put them in an exotic locale, stick in a few bad guys, have the two lead characters find romance after a couple of heavy breathing scenes, create the flimsiest of plots, then work out a happy ending for everybody (other than the three or four who get murdered, of course) That's the classic (and successful) format of the Harlequin Romance. It's not very good but then it's not very bad either, like most of the little yellow pocket books. And the location stuff in Budapest is especially interesting, even if they didn't use the wonderful old train station (designed by Gustave Eifel) or show the city's famous thermal baths.