Family in Hiding (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews (13)

Nothing Terribly New, But Not Bad Either

[drtesdell · 6/10 · 6 August 2006]

This is a TV movie I saw just today.

The story premise is nothing new. An innocent bystander sees a murder or other crime being committed. They are also seen by the "bad guys," but they escape and go to the cops. Then to protect themselves before they testify for the Feds, to protect themselves and their family, they go into the Witness Protection Program.

The acting of the leading adults in the film was fairly good, especially the family's mother. The rest of the family also did credible jobs. The acting and casting of the "bad guys" was pretty typical, but nothing to write home about. Overall however, the film rolled along for two hours fairly quickly, and did not have many real slow spots, which helped me with its rating.

It's not an "edge of your seat movie," by any means, but for a TV movie using fairly unknown actors, it wasn't bad. I have seen much worse movies that were made for the big screen and had "big name" casts and much higher budgets.

Derivative drama

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 27 June 2007]

A single woman and her two children become a "Family in Hiding" in this 2006 film, done in Canada. Brenda Strong of "Desperate Housewives" fame plays the mother, Carol Peterson. After witnessing a murder, the entire family is put into the Witness Protection Program until Carol can testify. All I've got to say is, if you ever witness a high profile murder, run the other way. The Witness Protection Program is run by the Marx Brothers and is strictly from hunger, at least in this film. The family relocates and gets to live in a dump with no security and is given barely enough money to live on. The people in charge haven't created a job history for Carol, so she can't supplement the money they've given her.

The best part is that one of the thugs after the family infiltrates the Protection office and, after hitting a few buttons on the boss' computer, finds out where the Petersons are living. Now, don't you think they'd be a little more careful than that? Anyone ever heard of your computer being frozen when you're away from your desk? Or getting into your computer via a password? Or how about putting fake info on the computer and putting the real location, using a code, in a wall safe? MORONS. To protect and serve - forget about it. Carol figures out there's a leak immediately, and when she tells the man in charge of her relocation about it, he continues to give the new person in his office all kinds of information so he can call it in to the defendant.

Only a good cast can save this movie, and it does, even if the film isn't terribly exciting. Strong, a likable actress, and the rest of the cast are very good, and you really can believe they're a family. The end of the movie has a chiron that tells how many people the Witness Protection Program has relocated and that they have an 89% conviction rate as a result. With the way they are depicted in "Family in Hiding," this is bound to bring gasps of disbelief from the audience.

You no longer exist

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 16 January 2014]

***SPOILERS*** Having witnessed the murder of crime fighting assistant D.A Jimmy "Bulldog" Kanagawa, Hiro Kanagawa, in a downtown L.A parking garage housewife and single mom Carol Peterson, Brenda Strong, is put together with her family into the whiteness protection program for their own safety. The person who murdered D.A Kanagawa was a member of the Russian Mafia, Organizatya, Mickey "The Mig" Migikovski, Raoul Ganeev, who had put a hit on her and her children Alicia & Matt, Elyse Levesque & Brett Dier, to keep her from talking. things seem to be going right for the Peterson family until the love sick Alicia gets in touch with her not too bright boyfriend Brian, Christopher Jacot, who's conversation was recorded by Migikovski who thus tracked down where she and her mom Carol were in Seattle Washington.

This has "The Mig" send out his #1 hit-man Nahanee, Hrothgar Mathews, to whack the entire Peterson family especially Carol in order to keep her from identifying his boss as D.A Kanggawa murderer. there's was also a rat in the D.A's office that was filling in Migikovski in just were Carol and her family was staying that made things even worse for her. It was really Alicia who really screwed things up by constantly getting in touch with boyfriend Brian that tipped off Migkovski to where the Paterson family was that even put Brian's life in danger.

***SPOILERS*** Taken hostage, while trying to get in touch with her boyfriend Brian, by Nahanee and his drug trafficking thugs Alicia finally realizes just how stupid she was in putting everyone that she loved in mortal danger including herself. The ending was a lot more satisfying for everyone, that isn't a criminal, involved with the police FBI and a SWAT team coming to Alicia's rescue and thus having her mom finger Migikovski in open court as D.A Kanagawa's killer. The lesson learned here is in the case of the blabber mouth Alicia is what was said back in WWII about yapping too much about things that you should keep secret: Loose lips sinks ships". In this case Alicia's big mouth was not going to sink any ships but her entire family including her bird brain boyfriend Brian as well!

Ticks all the boxes for a made-for-TV movie.

[CabbageCustard · 5/10 · 22 September 2019]

A single mom witnesses a murder and the baddies are out to stop her testifying, so it's into the Witness Protection Program for the woman and her two kids. From that point the movie does its best to suggest how awful it is to be part of the program and how inefficient the people running it are. The funny thing is, at the end of the movie, out of the blue, it makes a statement about how effective the program is in keeping people safe and obtaining convictions. Which is it guys? You can't have it both ways.

Anyway, I digress.... There are certain things we have come to expect from made-for-TV movies: a clichéd plot, mediocre acting, corny dialogue, cardboard characters. This movie does not disappoint on any of those points. Let's face it, you've seen this sort of thing before, done much better. In fact, you could have written this script yourself. It doesn't offer anything new or anything special. Sometimes you might even have a chortle, although that definitely wasn't the producers intention. The best thing I can say about this movie is that it's not terrible. It's average.

Witness Protection Wig

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 9 May 2014]

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raids a warehouse near Alhambra (this is in the Los Angeles, CA area), looking for a big narcotics dealer. After about ten minutes, wealthy and attractive divorcée Brenda Strong (as Carol Peterson) witnesses a related murder in her office's underground parking structure. She is able to identify the killer from FBI mug shots. He is on the loose and looking to silence Ms. Strong, so she and her children are placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program. This puts a strain on mature teenagers Elyse Levesque (as Alicia Peterson) and Brett Dier (as Matthew "Matt" Peterson). She is going to miss boyfriend Christopher Jacot (as Brian Jackson) and he won't be able to play basketball...

You know there are going to be problems when the Federal Witness Protection Program people give Strong a funny wig to wear whenever she leaves the house. Watching her run for the wig when someone visits the family is fun. Nobody expects criminals hunting the family might actually look in the windows and/or enter the home, because Strong does not wear the wig inside. The three main stars are cast very well and look like a family – however, the wig makes Strong look like she's wearing a wig to draw attention to herself. Bag guy Hrothgar Mathews (as Roger Nahanee) and his pals use basketball and the boyfriend to track he family, but they need only look for the woman in the obvious wig.

**** Family in Hiding (8/6/06) Timothy Bond ~ Brenda Strong, Elyse Levesque, Brett Dier, Hrothgar Mathews

Reaching Reviews

[ryleilove · 3/10 · 1 May 2021]

I was shocked to come and find this movie rated a 5. I've seen better movies scored lower. These reviews are seriously reaching. This movie of course is mediocre - I mean what can you expect? But the acting is just horrible, the plot is annoying, and I was hoping they would kill the daughters character off. I give it a solid 3.

A Long Vacation for the Peterson Family

[lavatch · 7/10 · 10 November 2020]

The federal witness protection program has placed 18,000 citizens in hiding for the purpose of convicting hardened criminals, and the there is an 89% success rate in convictions. It is the devout hope of Carol Peterson and her two lovely children, Alicia and Matt, that they will not be in the 11% failure category.

Life was nearly perfect for Carol Peterson, who was successful in her job. Her daughter Alicia was about to graduate from high school. And young Matt was a star basketball guard. But the nightmare began when Carol was an eyewitness to the killing of an aggressive prosecutor by the drug lord Roger Nahanee. It was at this moment that Carol and the kids were placed in the witness protection program.

An unintended consequence of the film was a nearly farcical set of scenes as Nahanee tracks down the Petersons in both Seattle and Manchester, New Hampshire. There was a clumsy attempt to provide the pretext for the villain discovering the whereabouts of the Petersons when Alicia places a phone call to her boyfriend, Brian Jackson, and Bobby tries out for the basketball team at his new school, and his photo appears on the cover of the local paper when he scores the winning bucket. There resulted the mad scrambling when the family bundles up their gear and frantically tries to outrace Nahanee. Carol's tacky black wig amused the children enough to refer to their mom as "Cruella."

Another place where the film nearly lapsed into comedy was in the incompetence of Mr. Cloninger, the hapless FBI agent, who, at one point, is lectured by young Matt Peterson after a rat in Cloninger's staff is clearly giving away vital information about the informants. Cloninger seems fated to be perpetually holding the bag.

Through it all, the Peterson family is held together by the loving mother. Carol found some levity to buoy the kids' spirits while they were in the pressure cooker. She was one of the few characters in "Family in Hiding" who never looked stupid.

Witness to a murder victimized by the system.

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 26 December 2007]

The system of witness protection comes under scrutiny in this film. Shown on HBO recently, this feature has a movie-of-the-week type of quality, in which a real incident is dramatized as a full length picture. As directed by Timothy Bond, the picture doesn't pack much of a punch of the screen treatment by James Kearns.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this story is how a courageous woman who goes along with the program by agreeing to testify against the man who she saw killing a D.A investigating a drug lord in Los Angeles, is treated by the same system that wants her to tell what she saw. Carol Peterson is at first, reluctant to cooperate, then when she learns about the characters that will be after her to try to silence her into cooperating with the justice, she realizes she is dealing with professional killers. By putting herself, and her two teen-aged children, in the hands of, what she thinks, is the right agency that will protect her, she really takes a big chance. Not only that, she loses her identity, job, and well being in her community for an uncertain life, at best.

It's a sad state of affairs when this family, that has been used to a certain living status, is reduced to practically eke out a life because of the way the financial help is denied to her by the government. Since she can't work, and her kids are reduced to have no friends, Carol Peterson, and her family, pay a high price indeed.

On the positive side, she comes forward and points the finger at the man who has followed her and has tried to kill her in order to prevent her from testifying against him.

Just Awful Movie

[morientes-68401 · 1/10 · 10 April 2024]

A woman witnesses the murder of a prosecutor by a criminal he is trying to convict. She informs the FBI, who then places her and her family in Witness Protection. And their lives are turned upside down. The agent tries to get the criminal but it seems he has someone in the FBI helping him. And when her daughter calls her boyfriend, it places her family in danger.

The script, storyline is done 100 times before. Acting not good either but not the worst i have seen. It was one of the most boring movies I have seen and I have seen a lot of movies. This goes in my bottom 100 movies I have seen. I had to fast forward to get through.

Interesting film - including some aspects producers probably didn't intend

[caa821 · 8/10 · 24 August 2006]

I hope that nobody who views this movie will ever have to go into the witness protection program. Even the healthiest person would be in grave danger of death from the stress of anticipating this. The group of officers, lawyers, and government operatives in this flick are so incompetent and naive, one can imagine Rodney Dangerfield, assisted by Larry, Moe and Curly being more competent (and without sacrificing any of their comedic hi-jinks). I'd feel safer with Barney Fife, without Andy.

Not only are they stupid and inept, but completely without empathy for their charges. The latter include a single mother, played by Brenda Strong, and her teenage daughter and son. Ms. Strong (from "Desperate Housewives," and Sue Ellen, the bra-less candy bar heiress from "Seinfeld"), is pleasing to look-at and gives a very credible performance. They are fleeing a murderer and his competent accomplices - and scurry from locale to locale throughout the proceedings - her daughter makes an unauthorized phone call to her boyfriend's tapped phone, and there is an accomplice to the bad guys inside the government apparatus (the other officials are as inept finally discovering this as they are in every other aspect of their duties).

The story provides less tension than usual in this genre, except for the final 15 minutes or so. But it is an interesting film to view, the fleeing threesome (especially mother and son) hold your attention - and viewing the activities of the "good guys" is thoroughly fascinating because of their complete ineptitude and insipid personas.

Thank you, Brenda Strong

[boyinflares · 8/10 · 12 February 2007]

Brenda Strong does it again - makes what would otherwise be a rather standard film something highly interesting and watchable. The unsung star of "Desperate Housewives" gets plenty of screen time here as she stars in "Family in Hiding", which is literally about a family in hiding.

Strong plays Carol Peterson, hard-working solo mother who witnesses the murder of a state attorney, and as the murderer and his gang uncover who she is, the FBI place her and her children into the Witness Protection Program. There, the lives of Carol and her children Matt and Alicia are turned upside down as they try to adjust to their new life while the murderer tracks them down.

Strong is, of course, fantastic, and the acting of pretty much everyone else in the film makes it a TV movie of considerably high standards. Brett Dier plays Matt, and I predict that he will go on to have a very prosperous acting career. Elyse Levesque does an admirable job playing Alicia. Christopher Jacot has a small role as Alicia's boyfriend Brian, and Gary Hetherington gives a good performance as the Peterson's handler in the program, Pritchard.

The Peterson family goes through all the emotions and possible scenarios of what one expects someone to go through if they have just bee uprooted from their lives and placed in a new city with new identities while a murderer hunts them down. This is one suspenseful drama with very little wrong with it, other than it is a bit slow in a couple of areas, and at times the production values are a bit low. Other than those minor issues, it is well worth a watch, especially for fans of Brenda Strong.

Criminals were more free than this family.

[ThunderKing6 · 10/10 · 20 March 2022]

About: A mother runs to the government to wipe her backside after getting involved with a criminal.

Story: good story but the lack of specific action was dumb.

Production: Boarderline. A lot things worked while other things like story were very questionable

Highlight: mom in her pj's. And her daut in leggings.

Main Intelligence: 0

Unworthiness Level: 0

Worthless Mutt: 1 mutt and it was eating trash.

Should you watch this? Yes. If you are an intelligent person you may notice that the criminals could hack payphones to find the whereabouts of the family but the government couldn't find the criminals. It's a head scratcher. Like back in 2011 with that cave dweller.

The criminals out of nowhere had a plant working for the government. The plant was making calls from work mind you and was still able to deceive his government pals. I'm Pretty sure their phone calls are monitored.

While the criminals were able to track the family in over 3 snakes. I mean states.

This movie had some stupid elements.

However the eye candy made it worthwhile.

Good enough for Lifetime

[vchimpanzee · 12 August 2008]

Carol Peterson's husband left her 14 years ago, though he got her pregnant when she was 19. With two kids to support, she had to learn to make it on her own, and she has been office manager at a Los Angeles insurance company for nine years. The price she has had to pay is being too busy to spend time with her family. Matt, for example, wins the big basketball game, but she arrives too late to see it happen. Alicia, who will soon turn 18, is too serious about Brian, in her mother's opinion. Of course, Carol is concerned that her daughter will end up like she did.

Carol witnesses the murder of U.S. Attorney Kanagawa by a major drug dealer, Roger Nahanee. Roger and his goons see her license plate, and he seems to have Chloe Sullivan working for him, so Carol and her family are not hard to find. Fortunately, the FBI get Carol and her family out of danger, at least temporarily. They go into the Witness Protection Program and have to change everything about themselves. Naturally, the kids don't like the idea of leaving their friends. Matt can't stand giving up basketball (what high school teams are still playing in April and May?), and Alicia misses Brian terribly.

First, the family ends up in Seattle, where they live in a house the kids consider a dump, though a lot of us live in places like that. I suppose when you've had the best of everything, it's hard to adjust, though surely these kids remember when their family struggled. I had a different image of the Witness Protection Program; Carol (Barbara?) can't even get a good job because she is hiding information about herself.

Mistakes are made. Not just by Matt/Bob and Alicia/Jennifer, who use poor judgment, but also by the FBI. Someone there is on Roger's payroll. So the family must move again, and again. Each time, they conveniently end up near the Canadian border. A look at the closing credits will explain why.

There is occasional excitement, and the final scenes are very exciting indeed.

I have to say the head villain, for all his smarts, uses extraordinarily bad judgment in one scene. Though that scene does manage to add some excitement.

This is nothing spectacular, but it is entertaining. There are funny moments, especially in the scenes where the family members must come up with new identities. There are tender moments such as Alicia's 18th birthday where the family finally gets to be a family, something they have neglected to do with their busy lives.

Brenda Strong is quite good, though I wish I had known it was her. I'm used to only hearing her, and she didn't give that over-the-top performance I'm used to. Elyse Levesque makes a very good whiny teenager. Not annoying at all. Just entertaining. And when given a challenge, she meets it. I wish I could say the same for Brett Dier. He is okay most of the time, but in one challenging scene, he's just annoying.

Jerry Wasserman does a good job as Agent Cloninger, who is in charge of the family's safety and care. Cloninger could have done a better job, but maybe it's not his fault. I guess he has to follow procedure, and procedure seems woefully inadequate.

I didn't catch the name of the most entertaining villain, but since someone said he sounded Russian, I'm going to say Raoul Ganeev. He's very good. A bumbling idiot at times, but also quite scary.

It's as good as your typical TV-movie.