Radioland Murders

This is a wonderful, obscure film completely lacking subtlety which is why some people may hate it but exactly why I like it. The countless visual and verbal puns mean you can watch this film 20 times and never find them all. AND eventhough you KNOW what is coming next, you will still laugh at the punchlines.

Great story movement, dialogue; every stereotype known to Hollywood and YET, every stereotype seems to get violated; its like stereotypes of stereotypes. The only weakness is the movie keeps interupting some great songs.

One of my favorites. OK, so I don't have great tastes. Its still a really fun movie.

This is the all-time great overlooked flick! Filled to the brim with intricate timing, sight gags, 40's-style dialogue, radio in-jokes, ensemble acting, and great music, this movie had everything to love and nothing to hate! Most baffling to me, on finally seeing it on video was how people could not like it! I have yet to show it to a friend or relative who did not agree that this is an excellent movie! See it now! See it later! See it both! If you CAN laugh, if you like movies, if you liked the radio, if you breathe, you should like "Radioland Murders!"

You can see what critics in 1994 were complaining about. You can get a headache from this movie. Gags are too snappy (too packaged), editing is too rapid (if someone trips over the shot is only just long enough to cover the actual tripping over - we don't see the crucial bit at the start where they don't trip over, or the bit at the end after they trip over), and there's not a single moment of still contemplation which would allow all the feverish activity to be as funny as it deserves to be. And while it's nice to see a film that doesn't milk its gags for more than they're worth, at least that would be a fault on the right side. Some of the comic ideas are just begging to be WALLOWED in. For example (I'm going to end up recommending this film, so if you don't want its best sight gag ruined, for God's sake skip the next paragraph)...

One of the radio serials is about an aristocratic English explorer and his native jungle sidekick. We hear the former saying things like `What ho, I mean to say, steady on, old chap', while the latter is going, `Ooga booga - me mongo mongo man' - then we see that the African is being played by a dopey-looking white man, and the Englishman is being played by a black (in a tuxedo). It's a glorious moment. We realise what if their roles had been reversed they would BOTH have been demeaned ... as it is, they merely look like a couple of prize wallies. Unfortunately, that's IT. If we'd seen more of this radio play - and got to watch the bemused/assured/disgusted/bored expressions on the faces of the two voice actors - it would have continued to be funny; it would have got even funnier. But we cut to some other zany thing or other and the moment is lost.

(To be fair, some throwaway gags - like the one involving the policemen and television - are true throwaway gags: snappiness suits them.)

But it works, on the whole. There are plenty of good jokes, many of which have been weakened by the style of presentation, but by no means destroyed. The radio performances are amazingly polished and varied - you'd swear that Lucas sent talent scouts back in time to 1939. Sure, the film wants to be more than a highly entertaining comedy variety show (it's also trying for murder mystery, love story, nostalgic reverie, and social commentary), so it fails on its own terms, but it IS a highly entertaining comedy variety show, which is good enough.

I am glad to say that I have this picture on video now, and it is still one of my favourite movies. I think the film brilliantly captures how a radio station (or a stage production even) can be controlled chaos at times.

This film was unfairly maligned in my opinion. I like the murder mystery/comedy genre. At times, it can be badly done, but here it is very well-handled. Brian Benben, Mary Stuart Masterson and the squad of celebrities who cameo, handle their scenes very well. My only real complaint would be that Christopher Lloyd and Michael McKean have very little to do.

But the plot twists and the resolution both pay off excellently and Mel Smith directs the piece with panache. There are also several great musical numbers thrown in as well. I give this film 8/10.

If you're looking for a serious mystery--or for that matter, a serious anything--don't watch this movie.

If you just want a fun movie that you can watch again and again, this one is for you! It takes place in the studios of radio station WBN on the night of its national debut. The station managers, directors, writers, and actors, already stressed with the debut and pleasing the affiliates, are shocked when a trumpet player in the orchestra is poisoned and killed. The station crew then has to keep the programs going while the police investigate and the writers go on strike. After more murders are committed, writer Roger Henderson, the innocent prime suspect, has to simultaneously evade the police, rewrite scripts for shows about to air, and solve the crime to prove his innocence.

There are some discrepancies and parts I'm sure critical people split hairs over. Don't expect a masterpiece, just some good fun.