Jodie Colter (Caught in the Act)

Created by Billy Field and Cynthia Whitcomb
Teleplay by Cynthia Whitcomb

All grits, no grit.

In Caught in the Act,a 2004 Lifetime TV movie, Lauren “Picket Fences” Holly portrays JODIE COLTER, a feisty Nashville Tennessee housewife and mom who thinks Buck (played by Max Martini), her lout of a hubby, is stepping out on her. She consults a divorce lawyer and hires a local P.I., but he turns out to be a complete bust.

So she decides to conduct her own investigation, wearing disguises and tailing Buck—and soon discovers she has a knack for the work.

But when she decides to use her new-found skills to help out another woman, things take a turn for the worse.

I tried to watch this, but it was truly horrid, with the entire cast acting like a very bad, road company dramatization of The Beverly Hillbillies, with the accents ranging from huh? to way over the top.

And is taking a whiz on a golf course supposed to be funny?

Well, maybe. But on Lifetime? You can almost hear the pearls being clutched.

Even more amazingly, though, Caught in the Act was inspired by the real-life story of Nashville-based private detective Janice “J.D.” Holt, founder of Nashville’s Legal Legs detective agency, who has a small role in the film as the waitress who blows the whistle on Buck for cheating. According to Holt, “It was sweet revenge.”

Maybe she hadn’t seen it yet…

Sorry, but anyone in any way involved in this bumpkinfest ought to be taken out to the woodshed. Except maybe for country musician Marty Stuart, who wrote some original music for it, and chose some most excellent songs for the soundtrack.

THE EVIDENCE

• “I’m so hungry I could eat the ass end of a billy goat.”
• “I don’t get mad — I get video.”
  — possibly the one good line in this slice of hillbilly hokum.

UNDER OATH

• “I guess the movie was ok; it didn’t completely suck — but the music was far and away the most entertaining part of the show.”
  — Greg Harness
• Lauren Holly delivers a terrific performance as a woman who, while trying to get evidence of her husband’s infidelity, discovers she’s good at being a private investigator. She uses her newfound talent to help a woman in the same situation. Based on a true story. Buck Colter: Max Martini. Dan Robinson: Brian McNamara. Alice: Madeleine Potter. Grissom: Eddie Marsan.
  –TV Guide

TELEVISION

• CAUGHT IN THE ACT
  (2004, Lifetime)
  Working title: Tenn P.I.
  Premiere: May 10, 2004
  Story by Billy Field and Cynthia Whitcomb
  Teleplay by Cynthia Whitcomb
  Based on the real-life story of
  Directed by Jeffrey Reiner
  Music by Marty Stuart
  Starring Lauren Holly as JODIE COLTER
  Also starring Sinead Keenan, Max Martini, Janice Holt

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• Nashville Private Investigator’s Story Becomes TV Movie
  Article by Ken Beck (May 8, 2004, The Tennessean)
• Undercovers: A scorned wife discovers that catching cheating spouses is her life’s calling.
  Article by Matt Pulle (February 27, 2003 Nashville Scene). Saved for us by Marty Stuart, who did the music for the film.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.