TV Reviews : Truth of ‘Mother’s Justice’ Brings Cause for Relief

If it weren’t based on a true story, “A Mother’s Justice,” tonight’s NBC movie starring Meredith Baxter (9 p.m., Channels 4, 36 and 39), would rate high on the too-incredible scale. That this story of a woman’s obsessive search for her daughter’s rapist is true is about the only compelling reason to watch.

The fault doesn’t lie with Baxter as the gutsy mother, Lilah, or with Carrie Hamilton, who plays the dysfunctional 23-year-old daughter, Debby. They are quite good, as are G.W. Bailey as Lilah’s second husband and Blu Mankuma as the frustrated investigating officer.

Writer James Henerson and director Noel Nosseck, however, concentrate on plumbing motivational depths in an attempt to explain Lilah’s obsession. In so doing, they throw in everything but the psychiatrist’s couch, leaving little room for viewers to make their own emotional investment.

The result is a bombardment of psychological signposts, trotted out again and again in remarkably wearing, one-note yammering between mother and daughter. Is Lilah searching for her daughter’s attacker to assuage her guilt at not protecting Debby from her abusive father? Does Debby drink, stay with an abusive boyfriend and lie to fulfill the failure script she absorbed from her hypercritical parents? Will Lilah ever encourage Debby’s musical talents?

By the time the end comes (and couldn’t they have left the car chase out just this once?), it’s difficult to feel much more than relief that the real attacker is behind bars.