MURDER AT 1600 (1997) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Dwight H. Little Writers: Wayne Beach and David Hodgin Starring: Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Daniel Benzali, Alan Alda, Dennis Miller, Ronny Cox, Tate Donovan, Harris Yulin, Norman Fell
"Murder at 1600" deals with the rather "Absolute Power"-esque (a far better film, by the way) problem that the president may have had sex with another woman who wasn't the first lady and then brutally murdered her and shoved her corpse in a bathroom in the White House. Now, I'm sorry, but they have the Secret Service to deal with the corpse, and they wouldn't just toss it in a bathroom. Anyway, the chief suspect is one of the cleaner's of the White House, and the investigator is a cool and inquisitive detective played by the cool Wesley Snipes, and of course buddied by wisecracking ubergod, Dennis Miller, who seems to have written a line or two of his own dialogue.
Snipes is aided in his investigation with not much initial help by a Secret Service chick played by Diane Lane. But the investigation is limited by a creepy White House staffer played by the Daddy Warbucks-looking Daniel Benzali (from "Murder One"). He limits nearly everything, hindering Snipes investigation. Also in on the investigation is another staffer (Alan Alda), the president's horny son (Tate Donovan), and, of course, the President (Ronny Cox), who seems rather ignorant with everything anyway.
Now, this film is not a bad film at all. The plot twists are interesting, though not very shocking since somehow you can feel the twists minutes before. And the film has a totally original albeit unbelievably proposterous finale, including sneaking into the White House (????). And, of course, the acting's good. And the actor chosen to play the big villain is a totally original choice. I like that pick of casting a lot.
But the characters are all cardboard and any kind of character developments are just there for plot reasons. For instance, Diane Lane's characters was a sharpshooter in the Olympics back in the 80s, so you know she's gonna be used to shoot some badguys. And, as most films do, it uses the great comic brilliance of Dennis Miller as just a character who will either be wounded or killed (I won't say which). On his show once, he said the reason his personality shines through each of his film personas is because their so thinly drawn. He's so right. The guy's a genius, give him a good part some day, will ya?
Anyway, the film is pretty fun for a cliched-ridden thriller, and has some really cool plot twists. It's not its absurdity that's wrong with it, but lack of innovation and originality that wounds it. It's not a bad film, but it's nothing special either.
MY RATING (out of 5): **1/2
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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