This was painfully cheesy, cliche and unrealistic. If hallmark dabbled in murder mysteries, I think this is about what they would produce.
I mean, really? You want me to believe she as a judge was allowed to smack someone in the court room with the gavel, tamper with evidence and play case detective? You don't need a background in law to know that nothing about this movie was realistic.
The phony southern accents were hard to get through and the acting was pretty bad. Also, the blatant sexism against Reba as a female judge felt outdated for modern day, even for the south.
Every "mysterious" incident in the film was what we've all seen thousands of times: a phone call from a spooky heavy breather, anonymous threats written out on paper, a dead pet, that sort of thing. At no point did the film successfully evoke a sense of wonder and thrill in me. Plus, the situation with Reba's character and her past with her dad and sister is sort of left undisclosed. They teased it, then left it undeveloped.
Also, why was Reba such a vagabond? Living in a tent on her truck?? Going to sleep with a FULL face of makeup and hairspray? Yeah right.
And don't even get me started on the ending. They wrapped it up way too quickly and spelled out absolutely everything for the audience as Reba's character connected all the dots out loud. And then you want us to believe that by simply stepping on the gas and charging into a stack of hay Reba escaped her death? As if that collision would have knocked out the gunman sitting passenger while Reba sat there on the drivers side unharmed?? It was embarrassing to watch actually. Did some teenagers write the ending?
Then just like that, all was well in the town. Party on, padnaw!