Film review: 'Murder at 1600'
A wobbly political thriller set against the backdrop of the president's place, "Murder at 1600" serves up uninspired filmmaking and a story line that veers from the subpar to the ridiculous.
Despite a talented on-screen lineup that includes Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Alan Alda and Daniel Benzali, this White House whodunit just doesn't deliver. With its release following in such close proximity to the similarly themed and far superior "Absolute Power", expect "Murder at 1600" to generate even less response than the recent Los Angeles elections.
Snipes, who understandably jumped at the opportunity to take a Harrison Ford-type role, hasn't been given much to work with as thinking-guy hero Harlan Regis (wait, the names get worse), a D.C. homicide detective called in to investigate the murder of a woman whose battered body was found in a White House restroom stall.
Given the lack of cooperation from the feds and the president's womanizing son's penchant for smacking around his playmates, the whole affair smells of a coverup, but Regis can't come up with any proof. Enter Nina Chance (Lane), an initially reluctant Secret Service agent who quickly ends up risking her life to help Regis crack the case despite the preventative efforts of her all-seeing boss, Nick Spikings (Benzali).
Alas, everything is not what it seems (at least to the folks on screen), and the murder/frame-up is actually part of a backstairs power struggle designed to oust the ineffectual president (Ronny Cox).
Everything about this extensively shot-in-Toronto production feels artificial or warmed over. Director Dwight Little ("Free Willy 2", "Marked for Death") gives it all a surface slickness, but it just isn't enough to gloss over a script (credited to Wayne Beach and the late David Hodgin) that is riddled with plot holes and questionable character motivations.
While Snipes, Lane, Benzali and Alda (as the president's national security adviser and seeming ally) go through their paces respectably, their standard issue characters haven't been injected with anything vital or rounded enough for the audience to want to invest its identification. Add a barely there turn from Dennis Miller (not his fault) as Regis' seldom-seen partner, and the entire proceedings elicit little more than a "so what" response.
Production values are just OK, although Christopher Young's unmistakably Bernard Herrmann-esque score tries a little too hard to evoke Hitchcock when the elements on the screen only go off half-cocked.
SCHIZOPOLIS
Northern Arts Entertainment
Director-screenwriter-director of photography:Steven Soderbergh
Producer:John Hardy
Editor:Sarah Flack
Music:Cliff Martinez, Joseph Wilkins, Mark Mangini, Harry Garfield
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fletcher Munson:Steven Soderbergh
Mrs. Munson/Attractive Woman No. 2:Betsy Brantley
Elmo Oxygen:David Jensen
Nameless Numberheadman:Eddie Jemison
Right Hand Man:Scott Allen
T. Azimuth Schwitters:Mike Malone
Attractive Woman No. 1:Katherine LaNasa
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Despite a talented on-screen lineup that includes Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Alan Alda and Daniel Benzali, this White House whodunit just doesn't deliver. With its release following in such close proximity to the similarly themed and far superior "Absolute Power", expect "Murder at 1600" to generate even less response than the recent Los Angeles elections.
Snipes, who understandably jumped at the opportunity to take a Harrison Ford-type role, hasn't been given much to work with as thinking-guy hero Harlan Regis (wait, the names get worse), a D.C. homicide detective called in to investigate the murder of a woman whose battered body was found in a White House restroom stall.
Given the lack of cooperation from the feds and the president's womanizing son's penchant for smacking around his playmates, the whole affair smells of a coverup, but Regis can't come up with any proof. Enter Nina Chance (Lane), an initially reluctant Secret Service agent who quickly ends up risking her life to help Regis crack the case despite the preventative efforts of her all-seeing boss, Nick Spikings (Benzali).
Alas, everything is not what it seems (at least to the folks on screen), and the murder/frame-up is actually part of a backstairs power struggle designed to oust the ineffectual president (Ronny Cox).
Everything about this extensively shot-in-Toronto production feels artificial or warmed over. Director Dwight Little ("Free Willy 2", "Marked for Death") gives it all a surface slickness, but it just isn't enough to gloss over a script (credited to Wayne Beach and the late David Hodgin) that is riddled with plot holes and questionable character motivations.
While Snipes, Lane, Benzali and Alda (as the president's national security adviser and seeming ally) go through their paces respectably, their standard issue characters haven't been injected with anything vital or rounded enough for the audience to want to invest its identification. Add a barely there turn from Dennis Miller (not his fault) as Regis' seldom-seen partner, and the entire proceedings elicit little more than a "so what" response.
Production values are just OK, although Christopher Young's unmistakably Bernard Herrmann-esque score tries a little too hard to evoke Hitchcock when the elements on the screen only go off half-cocked.
SCHIZOPOLIS
Northern Arts Entertainment
Director-screenwriter-director of photography:Steven Soderbergh
Producer:John Hardy
Editor:Sarah Flack
Music:Cliff Martinez, Joseph Wilkins, Mark Mangini, Harry Garfield
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fletcher Munson:Steven Soderbergh
Mrs. Munson/Attractive Woman No. 2:Betsy Brantley
Elmo Oxygen:David Jensen
Nameless Numberheadman:Eddie Jemison
Right Hand Man:Scott Allen
T. Azimuth Schwitters:Mike Malone
Attractive Woman No. 1:Katherine LaNasa
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/14/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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