areatw 'Murder at 1600' is another generic 'whodunit' mystery thriller. It does just about enough to keep you from losing interest and switching off, but that doesn't mean it's any good.With the setting of the murder being the White House, you'd have thought this 'whodunit' would be intriguing at the least. Not really. The plot is okay, if a little slow to get going, and the cast do a decent enough job, but there's not much to get excited about. It's all very average.Put it this way, I'd have turned this off at any point before the mystery unravelled and not been too bothered about what I'd missed. 'Murder at 1600' is just another generic thriller, nothing special.

SnoopyStyle Young White House staffer Carla Town is murdered in the White House. D.C. homicide Detective Regis (Wesley Snipes) is assigned the case. Secret Service Director Nick Spikings (Daniel Benzali) is resistant and assigns agent Nina Chance (Diane Lane) to handle Regis. Detective Stengel (Dennis Miller) is assisting. The janitor is set up as the initiate suspect while Regis catches an assailant bugging his home. Secret service is hiding the evidence and the girl's relationship with President Jack Neil (Ronny Cox)'s son Kyle (Tate Donovan). There is a North Korean hostage crisis and General Clark Tully (Harris Yulin) is pushing to act. Alvin Jordan (Alan Alda) is National Security Adviser and Kitty Neil (Diane Baker) is the first lady.This starts off as a pretty interesting paranoid conspiracy thriller. Everybody is a suspect and there is lot of tension. Somewhere along the line, the movie goes over the top. It's probably when the DC cop investigating the White House murder becomes a wanted criminal without raising any flags. There are shootouts galore and I can't wrap my mind about how nobody could figure out something is going on. Then there is the secret tunnel into the White House. The movie pushes too far away from believability and it fizzles out. The explosive third act just feels weak, silly and formulaic.

RResende Another dumb mixture of uninteresting action scenes with a fake suspense mood associated with the political plot.The thing in these films is that none of the elements that are supposed to grab you is mildly interesting to make the film worthy. Check it: the action is the scent of action, or even less. A few shooting scenes, literally shooting, Lane's character is a specialist in straight shooting, and all the action scenes are dull and purely based on shooting; the story is trite and useless. See how silly it sounds: something about some guys who frame the president of the USA through framing his son, through implicating him in the murder of one of his lovers. That way they blackmail the president forcing him to choose between his position and the reputation of his family. The idea was to replace him so that the bad guys could get into North Korea with a few soldiers to free other soldiers... Oh the evil brain was a close friend and collaborator of the good president; the previous point shouldn't matter. I can count dozens of films with similarly silly plots which are worth the time, because they layer other interesting things on the empty plot. But here nothing supports it. Snipes' thing only works when the plot allows it (demolition man), the direction is banal and boring, there's nothing to be seen.Diane Lane does have a presence. She's not a specially interesting actress, but she poses well, and has an enigmatic look, which attracts. She would have been a great femme fatal, should she have worked 60 years ago.My opinion: 1/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

mjw2305 Harlan Regis (Wesley Snipes) is a homicide cop, Nina Chance (Diane Lane) is a secret service agent; when a murdered victim is found in the white house they are left trying to piece together the real truth behind the murder, finding plenty of smoke and mirrors that are trying to disguise the truth.Murder at 1600 is a good solid thriller, with an interesting premise and a strong cast, and even though its an enjoyable ride; it somehow seems to captivate less than it really should. Its still a good way to spend a few hours, but you'll find less here than initially meets the eye.6/10