Borderline Murder

Slow, stupid and uneventful: this join-the-dots snooze-fest about an illegal plastic surgery ring is a lesson how not to make a thriller. It's a shame because, thematically at least, the film's got more potential than most produced-for-TV fare, as law student Brooke Burns's hunt for her missing sister leads her to a Mexican clinic that's performing dodgy cosmetic procedures for cash-strapped US citizens. Poor scripting and pedestrian direction are largely to blame for the relentless flatness and unrealism of proceedings, with the absence of atmosphere in particular accentuating the crater-filled plot. Burns herself is miscast, never able to make her frequently illogical character either believable or sympathetic. Consequently, even the supposedly moving ending lacks emotional punch - though admittedly her lame final line doesn't help.