"We would like to avoid two words when talking to the media.  The words are 'woman' and 'murder.' "      

MURDER AT 1600 (R) 

What do you think happens when the dead body of a 25-year old woman is found sprawled on a bathroom floor in the White House?  Everyone scrambles, right?  A cover-up story quickly gets fabricated, the Secret Service hastily confiscates all material evidence as "classified," a murder suspect is found, and the case is closed.  Now what happens when you get an outsider, a DC Homicide Detective, involved in the case?  Well, THEN things get really messy...!

Murder at 1600 stars Wesley Snipes as Harlan Regis, the aforementioned Homicide Detective who gets swept into the White House murder investigation.  Caught between the President's National Security Advisor (Alan Alda), the chief of White House Security (Daniel Benzali), and a young Secret Service liaison (Diane Lane) assigned to monitor him, Regis finds himself investigating a case where both the evidence and the suspects seem beyond reach.  The more evidence Regis is able to uncover, the tighter he gets watched, and when Regis eventually gets too close to the truth, even he becomes a target.

I suppose there's some thrill to getting "inside" the White House, and conspiracy theories certainly do carry some entertainment value, but unfortunately for Murder at 1600, it's all getting old hat.  Clint Eastwood's Absolute Power, for instance, brought a similar White House/Murder theme to theaters just two months ago, and in truth brought it to much better effect than 1600.  You'll be glad to know that Snipes is his usual entertaining self in this film, but even so, his character (as well as all the others) seemed disappointingly one-dimensional.  These are not people you will remember long after leaving the theater.  In fact, I've gone through this entire review without even remembering to mention Regis' partner Stengel, played by Dennis Miller. 

Overall, Murder at 1600 isn't necessarily a bad film, but it's definitely been done before...your call on whether to see or not to see...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

calientemadre@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "I found it to be a very entertaining movie. I liked it better than Absolute Power. Snipes and Lane both displayed excellent acting abilities and I loved watching Alan Alda bite it at the end" (4/20/99)