Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Crimetime: Freefall’ on The Hallmark Channel, A Delightful Mystery-Comedy Where A TV Detective Helps Solve A Real-Life Murder

In all of my experience watching made-for-TV movies, I’ve discovered that Hallmark Channel movies can go one of two ways: predictably generic, or surprisingly fun and funny. Crimetime: Freefall is the latter thanks to a silly but smart script and a very funny ensemble cast. The film, which feels like it could be the first in a series, is a murder mystery about an L.A. actress who spent her career playing a TV detective who worms her way into a real-life murder investigation in her new town. Meddlesome as she may be, it turns out that all that time on the set of her show proves helpful to the case.

CRIMETIME: FREEFALL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A man with a gun searches for a woman who’s hiding in a warehouse. When he finds her, we learn that she’s actually a cop, and she lured the man, a criminal, there as bait. A scuffle ensues and she knocks him out. Alas, this is all just a scene being filmed for a police procedural show, and the woman is an acclaimed actress named Hadley Warner.

The Gist: Unfortunately, that scene marked one of Hadley Warner’s (Lyndie Greenwood) final moments acting on her long-running TV show, Crimetime, which she starred in as a police detective. With the show cancelled, she decides to move out of L.A. with her two teenage kids to a charming town in Colorado where her mother lives. Her kids, Hendricks (Lennox Leacock) and Rain (Hana Huggins), are not thrilled to move to the middle of nowhere, they’re coastal elites who appreciate the value of matcha lattes and valet parking, and this quaint new town looks like everyone shops “at the vintage store.”

But this is less about the Warners’ move than it is about the fact that a local resident named Sam Davis has gone missing, and after a couple days, his body is found on Hadley’s rental property. Sam’s mother, who is friends with Hadley’s mother, Donna (BJ Harrison), is bereft, which is maybe why she asks Hadley to help investigate what happened to her son. Hadley protests on the grounds that she’s not a real detective, but then she gets the idea that maybe, thanks to her acting background, she actually could make herself useful.

Detective Shawn Caden (Luke Macfarlane) is the actual cop on the case, and though he seems annoyed that Hadley is poking her nose where it doesn’t belong, it’s more in an eye-roll kind of way and less of a “back off, lady,” kind of way. That’s a good thing because it keeps their vibe light, friendly, and flirty. Hadley follows several leads and there are more than a few people with motives to have wanted Sam dead, and Hadley, her kids, and her realtor Jay (who also happens to be obsessed with her career), form what they call a Clue Crew (I guess they don’t watch enough Jeopardy to know this name has already been taken) where they keep track of their investigation, which ultimately leads them to the killer.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There’s an obvious nod here to Only Murders In The Building, as one of the amateur detectives on that show, Charles Haden Savage (Steve Martin) was also a TV detective whose experience on-set helps him (okay, sort of helps him) investigate the murders of his neighbors and colleagues.

Our Take: It’s always struck me as odd that so many murder mystery shows take a light, comedic approach to homicide (Only Murders In The Building, Midsomer Murders, etc.) but that’s what makes them so watchable, isn’t it? Detectives doing their detective thing, but keeping the mood upbeat in spite of the dark nature of their work. That’s what makes Crimetime: Freefall work, too, it doesn’t take anything too seriously. The movie is packed with joked, witty banter, and running gags that all lighten the mood and help you forget that they’re trying to figure out who killed a dead guy.

Greenwood is really funny as Hadley Warner, she’s totally in on the joke that she’s a Hollywood actress without a part to play, and therefore she has invented this new part for herself, that of real-life detective. The jokes about the differences between city folk and their new town are played up and exaggerated, but they’re a pretty funny running gag. Hadley constantly barking orders at Skylar, her assistant who no longer works for her, or the family freaking out when they hear the neighbors goats wailing in the middle of the night are genuinely funny bits… I’m a sucker for anything that references those YouTube videos of goats that sound like humans, though. And Macfarlane has a very Chris Hemsworth vibe, rugged on the outside but he’s got great, goofy comedic timing. They pair well, but their characters are also fleshed out and have chemistry with everyone else in the cast, too. Even before the mystery was finally solved, I found myself rooting for this movie to be the first in a Crimetime series.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After solving the case, Caden shows up at Warner’s house and they engage in some flirtatious banter. As they walk out of the frame, a goat lets out a guttural, human-sounding scream. I have to admit, this goat callback made me laugh, I almost wish I wasn’t spoiling it right now because it was so unexpectedly funny.

Performance Worth Watching: There’s a very Stars Hollow/quirky town cast of characters in the film, including standouts Babak A. Motamed as realtor/Hadley Warner superfan Jay Bax and David James Lewis as a banjo-playing locksmith who both maximize their limited screen time with very funny choices and line deliveries.

Memorable Dialogue: “TV cop just got a real-life clue!” Hadley tells Detective Shawn Caden, who doesn’t want her helping his case since she’s not a detective, she just plays one on TV, but she’s so relentless that she actually does become a help to him eventually.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Crimetime: Freefall‘s name doesn’t really suggest or hint at what this movie is about which is too bad, because I worry that might make viewers overlook it. Though the actual mystery of it all here feels secondary to the relationships and character arcs, it all comes together to make for a genuinely entertaining whodunnit.