Pretty Good

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I must differ from the previous reviews of this movie, in my opinion it is just awful. I had the misfortune of watching a Jesse Stone movie last year and had hoped that the 2009 version may be a little more entertaining but was very disappointed. Tom Selleck, who is one of my favourite actors, looks like a human version of my grandmother's Bassett Hound, all sad and droopy, I hoped a dog-catcher would spot him and take him away permanently. His character is so wrapped up in his alcoholic misery it cast a depressing pall over the story. "Joe the Dog" was without a doubt the star of the show, I hope he was digging Jesse Stone's grave beside the sea shore! The movie has one really great benefit, you do not have to take a sleeping aid the night you watch.

I just saw this after not paying close attention to TV listings months ago.At the start of this movie based on a Robert Parker novel, Chief Stone is on a stakeout with his friend Captain Healy, the Massachusetts head of homicide. The two are talking and not paying enough attention when someone shows up and shoots both of them. Stone, naturally, recovers, but Healy may not.Town councilman Carter Hanson wants to hire his nephew to replace D'Angelo, though what he really wants to do is get rid of Stone, whose reputation is hurting the town's image as a tourism destination. Eilzabeth Blue shows up wanting the Paradise police department to find her son who was kidnapped seven years ago. She has received a letter from Paradise suggesting her son may be alive in Paradise. Actually, she didn't see the letter for two years because her ex-husband hid it from her. Stone doesn't really want to investigate but Rose does.Stone's ex-wife Jenn, who does the weather on a Los Angeles TV station, calls to say she is moving in with her producer. Stone doesn't approve. His dog doesn't either, but I think the dog is reacting to Stone drinking again. Dr. Dix doesn't approve of much of anything Stone does, and one wonders where he's getting the nearly $200 he has to pay per hour. Jenn has talked to Dr. Dix, who won't reveal what she said.Sidney is Stone's latest girlfriend; she is investigating him for Internal Affairs after Stone shot his shooter, which is standard procedure. But she is also investigating him because he is "on thin ice" with the town council.Suitcase provides a critical clue in the Blue case. One would expect Stone to be so smart he'd see it, but I'm sure this makes Suitcase look good.Tom Selleck gives his usual fine performance. Even though Stone meets a new standard for unethical behavior, Selleck makes us like him. Actually, Stone is more moral than the town council on one issue. Stone doesn't seem to want to be liked except by his friends, but that doesn't matter.The lead actors all give good performances as well, and Camryn Mannheim stands out among the guest stars. Many of the guest actors also give good performances.Somehow I didn't enjoy this as much as other Jesse Stone movies, but it was still worthwhile.

Tom Selleck's fifth go round as Robert B Parker's Jesse Stone, the emotionally wounded chief of police for Paradise Massachusetts a small hamlet not far from Boston. Sharing many of the same characters as the Spencer novels the stories and the films have a nice familiar feel while having their own unique style. This is the first film not to be based upon a Parker novel, though to be perfectly honest I think it would fit in nicely with the books.Stone, forever pining for his ex-wife is at the end of the road and perhaps as the story begins the end of his rope. One of the town fathers has it in for Stone because he's not playing ball. he is not using his men to write lucrative speeding tickets (and he's removed the best ticket writer the town had) nor is he willing to hire the man's son in law. The main thrust of the film is that Stone was involved in a shooting that left the head of the state police homicide squad, Captain Healy, (a cross over character from the Spencer novels) struggling for his life. Healy is a good friend of Stone's and he is not going to let the shooting rest, "because I got shot as well". From this shooting comes further complications as Stone becomes involved with an internal affairs cop investigating the shooting. Add to the mix there is also the appearance of a woman from New Mexico who is looking for her son who was abducted seven years earlier while still an infant and whom she believes maybe in Paradise.There is much going on and yet at times not a great deal since the film seems more interested in getting into the head of Selleck's Jesse Stone. A man of few words Stone says little preferring his actions to say more than his words. He is a very moral man (his battle with the town council makes that clear) adrift in a world with out morality.I know on some level I would have liked more details to the mysteries at hand, but at the same time I like that the film is a character driven tale. I like that you have to watch the film (and the other Stone films) because what is important isn't what is being said, its whats being done and what is happening between the words. There is a really good scene late in the film when Stone, knowing he is being watched, goes through a pantomime with one of his officers. What is being said runs at odds at how things look, it is something that sums up how the Stone films work.They draw you in and make you care because in order for them to work you have to pay attention to what the characters really are saying and doing.I liked the film a great deal. If you are a Jesse Stone fan you will like this as well. If you've not seen one before I think you'd like it as well. I'm sure, that you'll be like me and it will have you looking forward to the next one, due late in 2009.

Tom Selleck returns for a sixth time as chief Jesse Stone in Paradise. This time he's on the trail of who shot Captain Healy (Stephen McHattie) and himself one night while they were parked doing surveillance. Meanwhile a woman (a very compelling Camryn Manheim) from Albuquerque arrives clinging to a thread of hope about her missing son. Jesse prefers not to take the case but allows Rose (Kathy Baker) to take up the case herself. Simultaneously Captain Healy warns Jesse against pursuing the shooter, and the town council prepares to discipline Stone. Like the previous films, the story develops deliberately. Selleck is perfect in the title role as usual. The film touches on minor threads from previous story lines, like Luther's cognition, while maintaining its focus on the present. William Devane returns as Doctor Dix and Kerri Smith returns as Sister Mary John. This is the first film in the series with an original script not based on one of Robert B. Parker's novels. Once again Robert Harmon directs. The background music really does add a nice touch. I wonder if Leslie Hope's Sidney Greenstreet character is intended to be a joke for film buffs. **1/2 of 4 stars.