Showtime

Movie Title: Showtime	[Ads/google-ads3.htm]
Official Website (it might still work): Showtime
Rating (out of 10): 4
Reviewed By: Michael Stevens
Buy the: Video/DVD \| Soundtrack
The Review:

The movie 15 Minutes starts off, er, wait, that was last years Robert De Niro cop film involving cameras and a partner. This year it’s Showtime with Eddie Murphy (Shrek, Bowfinger) as the sidekick, and this time it is a comedy instead of a suspense film. However, De Niro’s character does fall for a TV person in both films, so the resemblance between the two films is striking.

Showtime starts with officer Trey Sellars (Murphy) trying to land a role in a cop drama. Sellars is a LAPD cop that wants to make it in showbiz, but just hasn’t gotten his break yet. The same night as the casting call, Sellars interferes with an undercover operation being run by detective Mitch Preston (De Niro, The Score), which ends up getting Preston in trouble for shooting a TV camera. The TV station then threatens to sue the LAPD unless they give the station Preston to do a reality cop show. Preston’s captain (Frankie Faison, Hannibal) orders Preston to do the show against Preston’s wishes. Now the show just needs a buddy cop for Mitch, whom the show’s producer Chase Renzi (Rene Russo, Lethal Weapon 4) provides in Sellars, who has been lobbying for the part, and whom Mitch has nicked named Topcop. Of course the two don’t get along, but somehow manage to make good TV. The TV show, titled Showtime, even brings in T.J. Hooker front man William Shatner (Miss Congeniality) to work as a consultant to teach the two real cops how it’s done in Hollywood. Sellars loves this, and (as could be predicted) Mitch hates this. Well, the show becomes a hit, but Mitch still needs to solve his case that Sellars messed up, a case that involves a large caliber handheld machinegun that apparently fires elephant gun sized rounds. Mitch and Trey work the case and find out that they need to go after Ceasar Vargas (Pedro Damián, Collateral Damage). Of course this isn’t exactly easy, and the director Tom Dey throws in a bunch of explosions and whatnot to entertain us between laughs.

Keith Sharon is the man responsible for writing Showtime’s screenplay. Others in the cast are Nestor Serrano, Dante Beze, T.J. Cross, Kadeem Hardison, John Cariani, Jullien Dulce Vida, De Niro’s adopted daughter Drena, a cameo for Johnnie Cochran, and many more.

Showtime is supposed to be making fun of buddy cop films like the Lethal Weapon series, but often ends up just like those films. Yes, De Niro and Eddie provide some laughs, but not really enough for a good movie. This forces me to give Showtime a thumbs down. Wait, that’s not my gig. Lets make it four couches instead.