The Preppie Murder

I just saw this film for the first time, and I must agree with the previous reviewer - Alec's l'il bro was seriously miscast in the role of a remorseless murderer! While cute during the first 27.8 seconds of the movie, Billy's Basset Hound StaresT grew a little - no, make that extremely - tiresome in very short order. His good looks didn't make up for the fact that he couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, something the producers might have considered when they were looking for someone to play the role of a sociopath.

The only actor worth watching here was Danny Aiello; in fact most of those who played cops did so with amazing credibility. The interrogation scenes were a joy to watch and actually made you believe that this is what it must really be like (unlike the usual TV in-your-face all-anger-all-the-time TV cop shows).

In the end, though, I was left with the feeling that if a good actor had played the lead it may have been a better film.

Okay, the film was not that great but the story of the preppy murderer, Robert Chambers, played by William Baldwin in a chilling performance. Lara Flynn Boyle plays Jennifer Levin, the victim of the crime. Chambers was the son of a New York City nanny/housekeeper of prominent East Side families who wanted her son to have the same advantages as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Jennifer Levin was a true New Yorker from a family who was well-to-do. He was from the wrong side of the tracks while she was from the right side of the tracks. Her life would end tragically one night in Central Park. Joanna Kerns took a break from her role as Maggie Malone Seaver on Growing Pains to play Linda Fairstein, the prosecutor, and I believe she did a service to the role. The case itself was on the cover People magazine and the New York City tabloids. Of course, Robert Chambers was a good looking man and too nice to be a killer but I think that was why the case brought so much attention. If you have attractive people like Chambers and Levin, you want to know why. If they were unattractive, I think that we would not care for it.

The majority of the fascination with the "preppie murder" case revolved around the startling good looks and charisma of the man accused. A very rare few are blessed/cursed with the type of beauty that placed Robert Chambers in an elite above and beyond what most can even imagine. A young Elvis Presley, Ricky Martin or Rob Lowe could also be considered among those few. It was easy to believe that once under the spell of such a an intensely magnetic draw, a young girl could become violently obsessed if rejected. It was absolutely impossible for me to buy this scenario with Billy Baldwin - PLEASSSSE! Who casts these things?

This movie is semi-engrossing, featuring a Brat Pack that never could have been. It is certainly worth watching (in fast forward) to marvel at this strange amalgam of stars that don't really go together - two Heathers from HEATHERS, Sandy Bullock, Lara Flynn Boyle. William Devane is as smarmy as ever; Danny Aiello is simultaneously a sensitive cop and an ass with an inferiority complex (bizarre combination). The Chris Isaak soundtrack (was this a big enough movie to have a big recording artist do the soundtrack?) only adds to the movie's surreality, as does the presence of feisty Joanna Kerns, who clearly has a thing for Billy. I'll admit I was drawn to Billy Baldwin's murderous magnetism, but then I started to think about how dangerous that can be. Remember SLIVER? Remember FLATLINERS?

This film grinds along at a confusing slow pace for at least half its length. It also has the look and feel of a low budget production. I was debating whether to bail out or to stick it out, perhaps voting a 1 or 2. The glacial and gummy pace of the film is aggravated by some sort of "method" acting in which people mumble, over react, interrupt each other and in striving for a natural quality succeed only in creating a very unnatural one. However after the crime, when the police investigation and the trial start, it becomes rather compelling. So I bumped up my rating. Although I'm glad I stuck it out, my life wouldn't have been much devalued if I hadn't.