I read the magazine story on which "Murder in the Hamptons" is based, but alas, when I sat down to watch this movie, I didn't recall much of it. Starring Poppy Montgomery as Generosa Rand Ammon, the movie tells the story of the Ammon family - Ted, Generosa, and their adopted twins - and the horrific murder of Ted in their palatial Hamptons home - a case that stayed open for a long time before an arrest was made.
Generosa is an attractive artist when she meets Ted Ammon and marries him. After a while, it becomes evident that she's wound a little too tightly on one hand and one sandwich short of a picnic on the other. Her paranoia becomes worse and worse as time goes on, and she and Ammon eventually separate as she becomes convinced that he's cheating on her and has an illegitimate child. Neither of which was apparently true. She soon takes up with an electrician, Daniel Pelosi, who is renovating her house. Generosa is presented as an extremely disturbed woman. She emotionally abuses her children, she brainwashes them against their father, and she keeps Ted's sister from seeing the kids. She has surveillance bugs planted in the Hampton house so she can watch all of Ted's activities on a laptop - which after the murder was never found.
Though it's a fascinating case, "Murder in the Hamptons" is the stuff of routine TV movies as it meanders through the story. Montgomery is very good, acting completely normal in her scenes - as a result of her demeanor, one then never knows when Generosa is going to totally lose it, so you're waiting for the next blow-up. The rest of the performances are okay, with the nanny giving an especially chilling performance.
Naturally there are things that were omitted, and for some reason, Pelosi is presented in a decent light. In fact he's a total waste. Also, assuming the will referenced near the end of the movie was filed in New York State - which it was - it's not possible to eliminate one's husband from a will. You can disinherit a child in your will as long as you specifically mention them by name. But no matter what your will directs, your husband is entitled to a third of the estate. So that business was a foolish plot device. Stick to the facts - they're usually more interesting.
