In this film, malpractice is committed both in hospitals and onscreen by the filmmakers! The character relationships are so muddled that, by the end, all of the lives seem to have been conveniently interconnected for years.

The focus of the film is on the hard-driving attorney Beth Robertson, who is the watchdog for malfeasance committed at the local Riverside hospital. And there are plenty of operating room shenanigans to keep Beth constantly busy.

Beth's husband Kenny is the gentle giant, a medical practitioner whose life was changed when a boy died on his watch. Kenny has never been the same and now leads the life of a virtual zombie, sleeping during the day and playing Mr. Mom while his wife litigates malpractice cases.

While serving on the hospital medical staff, Kenny had a brief affair with Ellen Henderson, whom Beth is now representing in a malpractice suit against the hospital. Ellen's fiancé died while undergoing the knife. But Beth slowly comes to learn the truth about the lengths that Ellen will go to feather her nest.

Much of the acting is ham-fisted, stretching credibility to the limits. The most hilarious scene is the obligatory arrival of the police at a crime scene. Of course, they arrive too late to do any good. And the helicopter hovering overhead will obviously not be put to good use.

With the exception of the workaholic Beth, the entire cast of characters is extremely unlikable, including the malingering husband, the femme fatale, oily attorneys, and a medical staff at Riverside Hospital who would put the fear into any unsuspecting patient who is wheeled into one of their operating rooms.

The movie has moments that inspire but the ending is too predictable and too much like another episode of Remington Steele. I did enjoy seeing Ms. Zimbalist in something somewhat resent and would like to see her more often in say something like Law and Order as a prosecutor or investigator.

Some things were also less than believable particularly the poisoning of the aged mother and the security guard locking an inside door in the main hallway of the hospital right after our heroin has entered. But with plenty of faults and an ordinary ending I did watch it all mostly because of Stephanie Zimbalists' classy looks and ageless sex appeal.

Malpractice is an above average TV movie with a more complex plot than most TV movies.

It's an intriguing film and if you stick with it past the fairly lacklustre opening 20 minutes it is pretty rewarding. As well as the murder/intrigue plot there is some nice human interest drama as Lawyer Stephanie Zimbalist and her doctor husband Markus Flanagan struggle to keep their relationship together.

Most TV movies often suffer with average acting but this is not the case here. Zimbalist is charming and Flanagan plays the struggling with depression doctor very well. Gabrielle Carteris plays the villain nurse well.

The ending is a little too rushed and predictable but this is still a film I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. Whilst it's certainly not a brilliant movie it's worth watching if you have time to kill.