A Little Thing Called Murder (2006)

It is a performances centric movie

Admirable film.

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

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This mother-and-son couple (sometimes a triple, if they pick up another nasty type along their merry way) travel around the country insinuating their way into people's lives, bilking and killing them. It's based on a true story and it's done in a documentary style, with "witnesses" being "interviewed" on camera and so forth.I don't really know how accurate it is historically, not having followed the actual case -- two tawdry pinheads who see others as nothing more than targets. In real life, Mrs. Kimes, like some other people who are into manipulation and power, was probably stomach-churning. There's a pun lurking in there somewhere. "Kimes" = "chyme." "Stomach-churning." (An awful pun, come to think of it. Can I take it back?)The movie is played for laughs. Murders take place off screen. Everyone overacts as if projecting to the farther rows of the Colosseum. Especially Judy Davis. She wears this TERRIFIC black wig that comes across like a Bishop's miter. The gyri of her overly made-up face constantly rearrange themselves like a holographic relief map of various rugged areas -- Bashkortistan, Nepal, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes -- morphed from one to another by computer graphics. My God, I never knew there were so many expressions available to the human puss. Her gestures are equally broad and her voice changes from wheedling to shrieking in a picosecond as circumstances demand.Her proper-looking son on the other hand, though obedient, is reserved and efficient in a more ruthless, less theatrical way.They must have had a lot of fun making this movie about two serial killers. All the stops are pulled out. If you liked "Mommie Dearest" you ought to love this one. They could use the same tag line -- "The Biggest Mother of Them All."

I can't believe some of the comments already written about this movie - raging on and on and on about Judy Davis's performance as though she had invented ice cream and found the cure for cancer.Judy Davis's performance is awful, and the movie is even worse.It's funny how so many comments to date talk about Judy Davis channeling Judy Garland - the one and only role Ms. Davis ever got right. Otherwise, her performance in this movie, as in so many others, is one-dimensional and SCREECHING.If you want to truly understand the story of the deadly Kimes, please check out the wonderful TV version that was made in 2001 - starring Mary Tyler Moore. Instead of screeching - Moore's performance is brilliant, understated, and classy.The other problem with this version is the horrible, dumbed-down script. Honestly, having people who knew the Kimes stand in front of the camera and talk about their experiences with them is truly the bottom of the barrel - creative-wise - but I guess for viewers out there who don't want a sophisticated story, and who don't want to think (i.e. they just want the story "told to them") then this movie is for them!

Judy Davis will certainly merit an Emmy nomination come the next time they hand those awards out. She is absolutely fabulous in "A Little Thing Called Murder."Despicable, insane, brutal are just some of the many adjectives that can be used to describe Miss Davis's brilliant performance as grifter Sante Kimes.This woman, who apparently was born to do evil, is everything you wouldn't want in a person. Manipulative, maniacal and just outrageous. Slapping her child and then blaming the security guard for it is just the tip of the iceberg.Killing just comes natural to Sante. Whether it's drowning or strangulation, she is up to the task completely.The worst thing that ever happened to her son was when she is released from prison after a 4 year stint of enslaving maids. She is back home to mold him into her evil ways and what a job she did. Kudos to the makeup artist for making Davis old and ugly with an almost matronly look that anyone might just sympathize with. That's of course until she opens her mouth. It's as if the whole world is against her, which of course is her basic trouble.Absorbing film. Judy Davis, you're one heck of a great actress!

"A Little Thing Called Murder" is another TV movie about Sante and Kenny Kimes, the real-life mother and son con artist/murder team. The first film starred Mary Tyler Moore and focused mainly on the murder of Irene Silverman, the New York woman killed for her brownstone and whose body was never found. (Court TV also did a documentary on them.) In this version, the murder of Irene is at the end of the movie. Director Richard Benjamin takes us through the bizarre life of Sante, with each crime a new episode that begins with the title "A Little" - which is how Sante thought of her crimes - A Little Problem with the Maid (slavery), A Little Problem with the Check, etc.Now in prison, Sante Kimes must be in life as over the top as depicted by Mary Tyler Moore - and if you thought Moore was outrageous, wait until you see Judy Davis sink her teeth into Sante. The approach in this film is more of dark comedy, though much of it is quite shocking. Davis' performance can only be described as out there - and probably accurate. Sante thoroughly corrupts her young son, played here by adorable Jonathan Jackson, which makes his crimes and killings all the more horrible. She sets fire to the family home for insurance; she takes a test drive in a car and holds onto it for a year; her Mexican help are actually slaves; she shoplifts, and when caught, she hits her son and goes after the security guard; the two claim to the cops that the security guard slapped Kenny and leave; she hides her husband's death so she can clean out his Bahamian bank accounts; and finally, of course, the Silverman case. In real life, not shown here, Sante actually posed as Silverman, an 82-year-old, in order to sign some papers.Catch Davis performing "Santa Baby" with a boa and you'll know you've entered the twilight zone. She's a scream. The film is very well done, interesting, and intriguing. But don't look for motives or reasons. The writers deliberately didn't explore them. Sante is so nuts, though, one wonders if she hadn't lost sight of her original demons years earlier.