Murder at 1600 1997, Rated R Warner Brothers Home Video

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Starring Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane.

I suppose it would suggest a sad state of affairs in Hollywood, but, upon reflection, the reason this particular film is worthy of seeing isn't so much because of what it does right, but because of what it doesn't do wrong. It never takes the easy way out, and doesn't create situations the viewer raises an eyebrow or the remote at.

The direction, acting, and writing is all decent--there are no obvious flaws--but, while I'm not suggesting computer generated dinosaurs, lacks a certain edge. Even without the Martin Scorsese, or Tim Burton flair to the production, it nevertheless is a very entertaining movie. With help from a Basic Instinct sound alike score, your attention's grabbed at the opening credits and isn't let go of until the film ends.

I am of the opinion there are two types of movies, movies that wish to entertain, and movies that wish to be classified as art. Films like Back to School and Stripes fall into the first category; Howard's End and pretty much anything else with Emma Thompson into the second. Murder at 1600 fits with the first category. It won't, and didn't, win any awards for movie excellence, but does satisfy all of your desires to be entertained for two hours.

This is not one of the great numbers of films, including, gulp, The Fan, that wishes to amuse you, that fall so mercifully short the ten o'clock news has a better chance of keeping you entertained. Another plus for Murder at 1600 is the fact that it doesn't show you the murder, as Absolute Power does, allowing the film to become a sort of hybrid whodunit-adventure-suspense flick. The last whodunit movie I saw was Scream, and for those of you who've seen it, you know it was also a whydunit movie too. No motives were given to the characters before the identity of the killer was revealed, which is a let down for movie goers hoping to guess the bad guy.

Murder at 1600 presents motives, albeit in subtle form, for the major characters and when you learn of who did what, for what reason, it all fits. You think to yourself, "why didn't I see that coming?", not "what kind of garbage are they throwing at me now?" Wesley Snipes, who I continue to maintain, only plays cops and baseball players, carries the lead role well.

Murder at 1600 isn't a Hitchcockian film, but delivers an entertaining punch that was completely lacking from Absolute Power. See this one.