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I'm a
huge Robert De Niro fan, he is my Number One favorite actor, and
Eddie Murphy is usually trusty in the comedy department--despite
clunkers like "Holy Man." So naturally, I was
really looking forward to this movie. And let's face it,
De Niro and Murphy teamed up as buddy cops--that's something you
definitely want to see. We always want to see serious
actors teamed up with comic actors. Well, De Niro and
Murphy gave it their all; it's the scriptwriters that didn't.
This is a
pleasant, innocuous action-comedy that simply shoots itself in
the foot by scraping up every movie cliché in the book.
De Niro plays a "Dirty Harry"-like cop who takes his
job very seriously, and even preaches his thoughts on crime and
punishment to first-graders. One night he successfully
finishes a drug bust, and cameramen and reporters swarm the
premises. He gets so pissed that he shoots one of the
cameras, and the network threatens to sue the department.
The only way to evade the fine is to star in a
reality-based TV show that follows two real-life cops on the
beat. He's reluctantly teamed up with Murphy, a loose
cannon cop/bad TV actor.
When I
came back home, I watched a forgettable James Woods/Michael J.
Fox action-comedy called "The Hard Way" on the Encore
Network. "Showtime" is not only a
clone of "The Hard Way," but every buddy cop movie up
to date. It's all been done before, and it doesn't have
the style and finesse that Richard Donner, Mel Gibson and Danny
Glover had in the "Lethal Weapon" movies.
Reality
television has become such a staple of pop culture that it's
becoming a jaded theme. I liked "The Truman
Show," I laughed out loud at "Ed TV," but "Showtime" got
released about six months too late. Reality TV is no
longer fascinating!
I got a
fair share of chuckles throughout the film, but no real
laughs. The main actors try hard to overcome this
third-rate script, and I give them tons of credit. De Niro
has proved he can be just as effective at comedy, as he is in
heavy dramas like "Taxi Driver" and "Raging
Bull." Like in "Analyze This" and
"Meet the Parents" De Niro doesn't go for laughs.
He lets the laughs come to him. Murphy on the other hand
does go for laughs, but he is more subdued than usual and
never gets obnoxious. William Shatner makes a brief,
forgettable appearance, spoofing himself as a former TV cop.
Anyone remember "TJ Hooker"? If you can't, I
don't blame you. Though he gets fourth billing, he only
has about three minutes of screen time. That sucks,
because he was a hoot in "Miss Congeniality" and
I was hoping he would deliver another fine comic performance.
The
climax is quite original, but all the other action sequences are
the usual compilations of shootings and car crashes.
The film tries to redeem itself with a gag reel before the
closing credits. I've never been a big fan of gag
reels--there are exceptions, like in Jackie Chan's movies--and
the outtakes are as unfunny as most of the gags in the movie.
"Showtime" is not totally without merit, but
there's nothing memorable about it. It would've worked out
better as a sitcom. It still would've been corny, but it
just seems better suited for the small screen.
-- Matt
( 2 out of 4 pops )
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