''Crimetime'' is a 1996 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

starring

Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor. He has appeared in the films ''Born on the Fourth of July (film), Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Posse (1993 film), Posse'' (1993), ''8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome (1994 ...

Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After various stage and minor television appearances, Postlethwaite's first major success arose through the film '' Distant Voices, Still Lives'' ...

Sadie Frost Sadie Liza Frost (née Vaughan; born 19 June 1965) is an English actress, producer and fashion designer. Her credits as an actress include ''Empire State'' (1987), '' Diamond Skulls'', also known as '' Dark Obsession'' (1989), '' Bram Stoker's D ...

and directed by

George Sluizer George Sluizer (25 June 1932 – 20 September 2014) was a French-born Dutch filmmaker whose credits included features as well as documentary films. Career Born in Paris, France, he was best known for directing two versions of ''The Vanishing (1 ...

Plot

''Crimetime'' is set in the future where the media is nearly omnipotent. When an unemployed actor named Bobby (

) is hired to play a

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

on a crime reenactment television series he desires to understand the killer's motivations and begins researching the crimes getting police officers to describe the grisly details of recent murders. Bobby becomes an expert and a star, which delights the real culprit and inspires him to go on to even more lurid, headline-grabbing crimes.

Reception

''Crimetime'' was released to negative critical reaction mainly noting the confusion of the plot. Shlomo Schwartzberg of ''

Boxoffice ''Boxoffice Pro'' is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by BoxOffice Media LP. History It started in 1920 as ''The Reel Journal'', taking the name ''Boxoffice'' in 1931 and still publishes today, with a ...

'' magazine stated "''Crime Time'' makes little sense at its best of times. At its worst, it's unwatchable."

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in their review noted that in spite of "a decent cast and the odd stylistic flourish, this psychodrama is dragged down by histrionic plotting, clunky talk and general sense of confusion over what it wants to be."

References

External links

* * * 1996 films 1996 psychological thriller films British neo-noir films British satirical films Films directed by George Sluizer Films about actors Films set in the future Trimark Pictures films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films English-language thriller films {{psychological-thriller-film-stub