Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

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."

whpratt1 Enjoyed viewing Gordon Clapp,(Detective Doug Welch),"Splendor Falls",'99,)(NYPDBLUE), who starred in this picture and really gave Farrah Fawcett,(Diane Downs),"The Cookout",'04, a very hard time because of things that happened to her very own children. This story is about a Diane Downs who is desperately seeking to find true love in her life and winds up going from one husband to another and plenty of one night stands. Diane claims that her very own father molested her many times and gave her very little attention except for sexual advances. This story goes into great detail about all her affairs and there is a very long trial which Diane has to encounter. Farrah Fawcett gave an outstanding performance and I wish she would perform in many more pictures.

CindyH Today, we've been true-crimed to death. Yet, this story was one of the firsts of it's kind and not to mention the best. Akin to Burning Bed, Fawcett rings in an absolute superb performance as she realistically and accurately portrays the sociopath known as Diane Downs. The movie carefully plots the turn of events without over dramatizing. The moving portrayal of Christie Downs (known as Karen Downs in the series) is quite haunting. Many true crime dramas leave me with a taste of ratings-desperation in my mouth. The focus of these are not feelings but instead dramatic effects. This series however was much different. What you find here is Diane's self-centeredness and apparent inability to feel sorrow contrasted with a child who, even without speaking, manages to convey a fear of her mother as well as true love for her in a very tender heart wrenching way. While this description may very well sound overly dramatic it truly isn't. This is just such a well made series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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.