Last night's airing of Lifetime's movie "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" made one thing clear: this case still gets under everyone's skin.
The movie stars Rob Lowe as assistant state's attorney Jeff Ashton, who wrote a book about the infamous trial, "Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony."
[Related: See who played who in the Casey Anthony Lifetime movie]
Based on that book, the movie is an inside account of the prosecution team's effort to convict the young Florida woman of murdering her daughter, Caylee Anthony. While Casey Anthony was eventually acquitted, as a reporter notes in the movie, "She was convicted by the 13th juror in this case: the public -- and given a life sentence of infamy."
And it's clearly public opinion is still heavily against her. "Casey Anthony" was trending on Twitter last night, with many commenting how sickened (again) they were by the spectacle of the trial -- though they couldn't turn away again.
Others didn't think Lifetime should've even made a movie in the first place:
As for the merits of the movie itself, "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" ended up being a fairly balanced account of how the prosecution lost a case that felt "unlosable." While it's based on Ashton's book, he definitely doesn't come across as a saint. Lowe plays him as arrogant, disdainful of the opposition, and blind about the holes in his case.
The movie starts out with Ashton being interviewed after the trial has ended. "What went wrong?" the reporter asks. "Other than the verdict? Not a thing," he answers.
Rob Lowe talks about his role in the movie on "The View":
Meanwhile, Oscar Nunez makes Casey's lawyer Jose Baez into a calmly charismatic, shrewd operator who eviscerates the prosecution's experts during the trial.
Still, since the case was so highly public (as clips from Nancy Grace and cable news prove), the movie lacks tension or intrigue. Casey herself is barely a character in the movie; she doesn't really speak at all. And because we don't get her side of things, anyone who followed the trial in real-time really didn't learn anything new.
But considering how gripping the actual trial was, it was probably too much to expect a movie to duplicate that intensity.
What did you think of "Prosecuting Casey Anthony"? Check out more opinions on the Lifetime movie, then sound off in the comments below!
