''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, producer and director. He has appeared in the films ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Posse'' (1993), ''8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome'' (1994), ''The Usual Suspects'' (19 ...

Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical film ...

Sadie Frost Sadie Liza Frost (née Vaughan; born 19 June 1965) is an English actress, producer and fashion designer, who ran fashion label Frost French (until its closure in 2011) and a film production company (Blonde to Black Pictures). Early life Frost ...

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, to a Dutch-Jewish father and a Norwegian mother, he was best known ...

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 is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

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 ...

'' 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 network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

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 1990s 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 {{psychological-thriller-film-stub