Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder

This movie was very well done. I enjoy watching it. The little girl who plays JonBenet is a splitting image of the real JonBenet. Both the actors who played the parents look very much like the real thing. Even though in the pictures that the parents look through are obviously not JonBenet, if you didn't know better, you would think it was really her. And the dummy that was in the casket was very life-like. As you watch this, you start to get a hint on whodunnit. It was very well-acted. Does anyone know if the real house was used in the film?? It look so much like the real 755 15th Street. I love the line "I need an ambulance, I need back-up. I have a dead little girl." And the music played when the dad finds her is quite eerie making it even more shivery than it already is. It's a great movie, especially one when you are in the crime-solving mood.

At the beginning of this, with the obtrusive music and interminable opening, I groaned "oh no, this is gonna suck." Yet it quickly righted itself and established a good pace, the music backed off, and the director found a good way to reach a dramatic ending despite the case never being solved. Yes, we get an avalanche of characters at the beginning, and yes, that doll was absolutely ridiculous, and the constant "let us pray" scenes were a drag--but none of this seriously detracted from the movie (I'm calling it a movie because on the DVD it's a continuous 3hrs).

Does it answer the question "who killed JonBenet?" No. And more importantly, it doesn't try to do so. It presents the two main theories: parents did it vs. intruder did it, and shows us how and to some extent why each of the characters supports the theory that they do. The infighting between the Boulder Police and the DA's office is brought to life (best part of the movie), Danny Shapiro's role is clarified (very muddled in the book), and we're shown exactly how the case was screwed up almost from the very beginning, by detectives that were in over their heads. Thankfully, the director also edited this down to be a tight 3hrs as opposed to Schiller's sprawling, poorly written 800pgs.

High points:

The autopsy: as fake as the doll was, the girl on the table looked real and gave you an idea of just how badly JonBenet had been tortured before being killed. DA Alex Hunter: we get to watch him go from hip, experienced, Boulder DA to a frazzled, hard-drinking, Boulder politician whose career is going up in smoke because the police department can't bring him an actual case. Steve Thomas/Danny Shapiro: this whole bizarre game between the BPD and the Globe's reporter on the scence is fascinating. Who's playing whom here? The detectives make fun of Shapiro, while Shapiro plays all sides against the middle. Scene editing: the scenes go on just long enough to give you a sense of why they're there, but not so long as to make you twiddle your thumbs in irritation. Lou Smit in the Ramsey House: a great presentation of the key points of the intruder theory. Location: the film was shot on the actual Boulder locations for the most part, giving it a boost of realism.

LowLights: Music is annoying at the beginning: all that soppy piano stuff lends an unwanted covering of daytime soap to the early part of the film. Too many closeups: if Linda Arndt's (character, not actress) face came billowing into the screen one more time, I was going to hit FF. The director finally got out of that "dramatic closeup" mode by the last 2/3, but for a while, it was too much. "Let us pray" While I appreciate that the Ramseys may be deeply religious, 5min scenes in a church listening to a 2nd rate church choir can be yawn-inducing. There are a few too many long "let us rely on our faith" scenes.



All in all, very much worth seeing.



RstJ

I have read the book, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town" which is excellent; the movie, however, is terrible. The movie begins with the morning of the kidnapping, which is the first mistake. The audience is never given a chance to know JonBenet thus, when she is found murdered, we feel nothing for it. We don't know the victim, not to mention the body in the film is beyond fake. Look closely and you will see it rocking back and forth briefly after it has been touched by a mourner.

Secondly, all the pivital information is thrown in the viewer's face all at once. People who have not read the book or followed the case will be confused. Within 3 minutes, 7 characters are introduced, either in person or by mention of their name.

Thirdly, like the lack of characterization of JonBenet, we know nothing of the family. All that we know is what we are told which is the number one mistake of story-telling...telling and not showing.

What makes the movie so bad is the fact that it could have been so good. What is so odd, is that 7 years ago, when I was a freshman in high school, I wrote a script based on the crime (I am a film major) and oddly enough, i truly believe that my version was MUCH more emotionally charged, as it should be, after all, a 6 year old girl was murdered. And ironically enough, many of the scenes that are in this film , were actually in my script. My point: this movie seems like a 14 year old wrote it.

Read the book, don't watch the movie.

I've just seen "Perfect murder,perfect town",and they drag you right from the beginning into the action.After 30 minutes you think,whaaaww this is good stuff,but as off than the story gets much too far carried away and when the second part of the movie starts,you'll seriously get bored.Just so much that at the end you couldn't care less who did it. They shouldn't made a mini-serie out of this one.If the director can't get the story in a logical order and throws different charactors and plots right through each other then you shouldn't. So,as a short summary:first half an hour thrilling,then 2 hours and a half boring and very dull!!!!!

True crime docu-dramas are interesting because they allow you to get some insight into certain social conditions in a certain part of the world. Seen from that angle, this movie offers quite a lot. The viewers get to know the beautiful scenery of the town of Boulder, Colorado, a place most of us may like to live in. In the movie, it serves as the almost constantly perceptible background to a very sad story, the murder of a little girl. There is no happy ending. The person who committed this atrocious crime is not apprehended and very likely never will be. The movie does not participate in the guessing game. Instead it tries to document the tribulations of a community not used to the widespread attention the crime is given and the ensuing pressure from the media.

What makes this story and the movie interesting is the feeling it conveys that there seem to be serious cultural differences within the USA (which I think is little known in my part of the world). The parents of the murdered girl had moved to Boulder from the Southeast not too long before the tragedy. They brought with them a lifestyle which to the people of Boulder might have seemed unusual and strange, and this seems to have furthered suspicions against them. The parents in their turn did not seem to trust their surroundings anymore once the tragedy happened and tried to get back East „into safety" immediately. One can only guess how many misunderstandings this general mistrust might have caused and how this prevented the crime from being solved.

The acting is very good, all characters are convincing, especially Deirdre Lovejoy as the young detective who is brutally left to her own devices in a very difficult and complicated situation and Sean Whalen as tabloid journalist Jeff Shapiro, a character who seems to be the screen writer's pet and offers some comic relief. The only thing that disturbed me is the title. Perfect Murder? I mean, I can understand the slightly ironic meaning of Perfect Town, but perfect murder, this indicates a criminal act someone profited from without getting punished. Who on earth should profit from the murder of a little girl?