Secrets at the Inn (TV movie 2022) 4 of 10 ⭐

Secrets at the Inn 4 out of 10 stars

SYNOPSIS:

Natalie Flores (Tamara Almeida) has just had the best, and worst day of her life. She just achieved her dream, and became the head chef, of a posh New York City restaurant. Soon after receiving the joyous news, a phone call dashed her hopes and dreams. Her twin sister Celia, who had been renovating an historic inn, fell down a flight of stairs, and died.

Natalie must now return to Falls Church, and settle her sister's affairs. She also has to take custody of her teenage niece, Sabrina (Zoë Belkin). Due to a falling out between the twins, Sabrina has no memory of her aunt, and is full of rage. She's not going to make this new living situation easy for Natalie. Sabrina is always sneaking off with her friend, Elijah Miller (Spencer Macpherson), and causing trouble.

As irritating as Sabrina's behavior can be, stubborn teenagers are the least of Natalie's problems. She needs to get back to New York, and resume her life. But strange circumstances continue to thwart her return. Natalie's hearing noises in the walls of the inn. She has a friend of Celia's, Andy Bertrand (Luke Humphrey), check for rats. He doesn't find anything, and the odd occurrences continue.

Andy seems like a great guy, and Natalie thinks there might be the possibility of something between them. Soon after she takes her relationship with Andy to the next level, she finds out he's not been telling her the whole truth. She's also sure someone's been skulking around the inn. Is it Andy, trying to drive them out? Or is something more sinister going on here? Did Celia fall, or was she pushed down the stairs? And who was Celia so afraid of, that she felt the need to buy a gun? Can Natalie discover who's behind the "secrets at the inn", in time to save herself, from her sister's fate?

WHAT WORKS:

*THE LOCALE IS AWESOME! The Inn, the town, all of it, set the scene for a perfect atmospheric. Props to the location scouts, and location manager, on this one.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:

*TAMARA ALMEIDA SOMETIMES GIVES A WOODEN PERFORMANCE

Celia Flores (Tamara Almeida) seems wooden, when she should be grieving, worried, etc.

*THE PACING IS A BIT SLOW By the 44min mark, things should be moving along, but we're still crawling along at a snail's pace.

*THERE'S A LOT OF REPETITION And you know what Stephen King says about repetition... You don't need six scenes showing Sabrina (Zoë Belkin) being a brat. The same is true about Natalie (Tamara Almeida) flirting with Andy (Luke Humphrey). It's the same scene over and over, where there should be character development. The characters never come to life, because all the time we should be learning about them, is wasted on repetitive scenes.

*IF THIS WAS GOING TO BE AN INN, THEY'D HAVE AN INTERNAL PHONE SYSTEM They'd have a way to call down to the desk, a system for wake up calls etc. They wouldn't be reliant on cell phones, especially since they continually say, they're out in the middle of nowhere.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:

*I can't recommend this movie to anyone, except fans of cool architecture. There are lots of beautiful places to see in this movie, but that's not enough to carry it. Unless you are watching it just for the gorgeous settings, I'd recommend moving on.