Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

juneebuggy The true story of Alabama teenager Natalie Halloway, who went missing while on a class trip in Aruba in 2005 and the subsequent desperate search by her mother (Tracy Pollen) for the truth behind her disappearance.This is another one of those ripped from the headlines, made for TV dramatizations, that I tend to watch when I don't feel like thinking too hard. This one was just okay. I found Tracy Pollen's character to be very annoying and then I realized that was how she was supposed to be as the mother.An interesting story that is made even more so because at the end you are left with more questions than answers. The mystery remains unsolved even with a video confession. I did find myself annoyed by the constant "if this was America" preaching. You're not in America and things are done differently in other countries. 08.13

abz638 I thought the movie about Natalee Holloway's disappearance was very well constructed. I believe that her story should be told in order to raise awareness for teens traveling abroad reminding them to never separate from their friends or family or leave their drink unattended. This movie serves as a very good lesson for teenage girls. The disappearance of Natalee was very accurately portrayed. I read several news articles regarding her disappearance and I think the movie adheres to the facts found in newspapers and magazines. I don't think the movie attacked Aruba in any way. The police and investigators in Aruba were seen working with van der Sloot suggesting that their police may be somewhat corrupt. Van der Sloot comes from a wealthy family (as portrayed in the film) and many times money drives investigations and news, thus I believe this portrayal is accurate. I don't think the movie was biased in any way. The movie showed how Beth Twitty was frustrated with the lack of concern for her missing daughter so she took the investigation into her own hands. I do not blame Twitty for doing so. I am not a mother but if my brother or someone close to me went missing I would do anything in my power even if the Aruba government and people did not agree with me.Overall I think the movie was excellent and every girl should see this film in order to enhance their awareness while traveling abroad as well as going out with friends close to home.

rbrb This film is engrossing. The acting, direction and screenplay is superb, and it deserves to be seen and it gets a high vote from me.Natalee Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.Apparently the last time any of her high school graduates saw her, was after leaving a club in Aruba in the company of 3 local males. All the actors give convincing and compelling performances especially the actress playing Natalee's mother.The Aruba police investigated the case and that investigation was poor and likely corrupt and poisoned by local cronyism if not worse. It is a fact that the aforementioned males in the case lied about what happened, but none ever confessed in an admissable way outright criminality sufficient for a trial to take place.The case attracted an international media frenzy, and in my view the media are responsible for hindering rather then helping the investigation with misplaced under cover attempts at detective work etc.The actual mother of Natalee wrote the book from which this story comes, but whilst that gave me some concern about the reliability and authenticity of this movie, the basic facts as to what happened are portrayed properly in my opinion. Natalee was a first class person and had a bright future. OK so what that whilst on holiday Natalee was perhaps drunk a lot, and misbehaving as only teenagers can, and I am not surprised that the effect of her disappearance caused the mother to behave in the way she did.The fact remains that the last people to see Natalee alive were the 3 males, who gave conflicting accounts of what happened. In that situation what inference do you draw? Whatever these males said about what happened has to be totally discounted unless corroborated by independent evidence. Therefore it begs the question: What reliable 'evidence' is there to say what truly happened?Top notch drama, hence:8/10

Michael_Elliott Natalee Holloway (2009)** (out of 4) Lifetime Movie Network produced TV movie tells the story of Beth Twitty (Tracy Pollan) who headed to Aruba after her 18-year-old daughter Natalee went there for a trip and turned up missing. The prime suspect was a local named Joran Van Der Sloot but his changing stories and possible cover ups by the police leaves this case unsolved. I admit to being one of those who heard about this case early on and followed most of it so I really didn't learn anything new by this movie. If you're familiar with the case then this movie isn't going to teach you anything and if you haven't heard of the case then I doubt the movie is going to tell you enough to get a full view of the case. There were many different stories told by the suspects and a couple of them are looked at here but in the end the movie just isn't strong enough to work. I found Pollan to go over the top way too many times and at points in the film she'd become quite annoying. The big prayer sequence was so over acted that I wanted to look away. Some could call this TV acting, which to me is unfair to say but I wasn't impressed. The direction is decent but the screenplay could have used some work. The film tries to tell a big message of being careful when you're overseas but I think it overlooks the biggest flaw in the real story and that's 18-year-old girls shouldn't be given the keys to run wild in a foreign place and getting drunk. The drinking issue is the real message that should have been given off because sadly, this isn't the first girl to get drunk and have something bad happen to her by the hands of a guy.