'Murders in Cognac' - Movie Review

We open with jittery cinematography reminiscent of the late 1990s that runs through character introductions and the credits. And then ... it just smooths out, switches almost exclusively to much more standard shooting. Our two leads are initially seen meeting in person for the first time after having arranged an online hookup ... and then one is called away to a crime scene where both parties are surprised to find they now have to work with the other police person from the hook-up.

The death they're investigating is the cellar master of one of the five local Cognac houses. The investigation is somewhat interesting, but the reliance on a biological improbability (the continued existence of an un-grafted grape type that was thought wiped out - and I suspect is made up in the first place) and the way our female lead's family is tied into the whole thing together was a little too much. Her brother suffers from a psychological condition that doesn't really fit with anything that happened, nor his youth. It's too bad: after the shaky camera work, the mid-section of the film was fairly good, but the explanations blew the whole thing right out of the water.