Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007)

Who payed the critics

Truly Dreadful Film

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

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

I have liked every Jesse Stone "movie" I have seen! Today Hallmark is re-broadcasting all six, including the most recent, which I have not seen. Unfortunately they are are in the order of the time/year they were broadcast instead of the chronological order of the books/events. Very confusing! And I wonder how much of the "movies" are being cut. The first episode; Sea Change; at noon EST not only had commercials, they essentially had infomercials. Unfortunately infomercials are everywhere disguised as regular commercials. Some 30 minute shows go 36 minutes occasionally and I hope that's so they can include more commercials in order to see the "real" full length episode, but on some blogs I've read where it's not even the case when they are given extra time. I watch Encore West for Gunsmoke and their episodes are commercial free for 25 minutes followed by 5 minutes of commercials for Encore West. I'm still not sure whether these episodes are not edited.

What I love about the Jesse Stone novels is that you never know what you're going to get. Of course you know the characters, but some are intense and emotional, while others focus more on the mystery and small town politics. Sea Change was an interesting choice for the fourth film, as it shows a different side of Jesse and was somewhat unique among the other stories. Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck), was an L.A. Homicide Detective, who left to become a small town police chief in Massachusetts, after his life was thrown into chaos. Now that he's been there a while, he's come to realize that not a lot of things happen in a small town, and he's tired of writing parking tickets. Craving something to do, Stone decides to open the towns only unsolved murder. A body found in the woods, 20 years earlier. As he opens the investigation, it brings up the past, a past that the town of Paradise would like to forget. Sea Change plays more like a Cold Case or Criminal Minds episode than a typical Jesse Stone story, but what's unique about it, is that it really gives us a look inside Jesse's life. Tom Selleck was terrific as always, but he gives a particularly special performance in Sea Change. We finally see the man for what he is, driven by justice and living for the people. His job is his life and when there is nothing to do, he falls back into and becomes stuck in his past. Sea Change is also special as it was the novel that introduces us to the character of Rose Gammon, played by Kathy Baker. I haven't seen her in anything since Picket Fences and God did I love that show! It was really thrilling for me to see her again, and playing a character I really came to admire in the novels. Sea Change might not have the action that younger viewers crave in their police dramas, but it is a textbook example of how to solve a case and a unique look into the mind of one of the deepest characters I know. I loved the books and rarely do these types of stories translate well to film, but with a star like Tom Selleck you can't go wrong and I really did enjoy this film as much as I did the novel.

While some may find the pace plodding and grow impatient, real enjoyment follows for those who focus on the subtleties of character development through facial gestures, incremental relationship growth between characters, and the economical dialogue. All the Jesse Stone movies provide refreshing change from movies relying excessively on frenetic car chases, lengthy foot pursuits, protracted shoot-outs, high body counts, sixteen camera views of the same explosion, badly contrived conflict between partners, and tiring vocabulary abuse (profanity). Watch these in order because there are larger story threads that connect from movie to movie especially concerning the central characters. When you find yourself able to relax and have a story with depth gradually and carefully laid out before you, you'll be in the right frame of mind to enjoy this. As a peripheral character in Sea Change tells Jesse, "listen to Brahms."

Tom Sellewck, (Chief Jesse Stone) assumes the role as Police Chief in a small local town in Mass. and finds himself getting bored with talking to his ex-wife and drinking a entire bottle of scotch during the evening while his companion, the dog keeps him company and watches every move Jesse makes. Jesse gets himself involved with a Cold Case of a woman who was killed during a robbery in 1992 and finds out there was a great deal of money involved with this robbery and some big time mob bosses were laundering money. While this investigation is going on, Jesse solves a rape case that happened to a young girl on a schooner in the harbor. There are many twists and turns to this film and it will keep you guessing right to the very end of the film. Great entertaining film with a cast of great actors.