Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.
After the excellent "Nan's Ghost", it is sad that one of 'Murder She Wrote's' weaker and most inconsistent seasons continues with one of its lesser episodes. An episode that is several steps down from "Nan's Ghost" and to me it's around the bottom when ranking the 'Murder She Wrote' episodes. Not an unwatchable episode by all means, but a long way from a good one.
There are a few good things. The production values are slick and stylish with great use of the setting, anybody who's never been to Rome will find themselves wanting to go. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.
Can't fault Angela Lansbury, who can still deliver even when the material is beneath her like it is here. The other good performance is the charming one of Lorenzo Caccialanza.
Other than those two, the rest of the acting falls completely flat. Allen Cutler's performance is one of the particularly bad ones with a lack of screen presence. Some of the actors have done decent work elsewhere but "Shooting in Rome" brings the worst out of them.
"Shooting in Rome's" very stock characterisation works against the actors, as do a script that's both contrived and stale and lots of melodramatic soap opera that's not worth investing in (could care less for the whole reconciliation plotting, which came over as silly). We have to wade through all that before finding anything resembling much of a mystery, which is neither very clever or compelling.
Generally, the story and mystery for "Shooting in Rome" is rather dull and is disadvantaged too by its predictability, due to being filled with elements done so many times before and far better. Very little engages and very little surprises, while not blatantly obvious the final solution is one of the season's least surprising and worst acted.
Overall, very weak and one of Season 12's and 'Murder She Wrote's' worst. 3/10 Bethany Cox