R – New This Week to Video/DVD -
Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. But what will some people do to get it?
Eddie (Robert DeNiro) is a cop. He uses the press to help him catch criminals. In doing so he has become pretty famous. “Top Copy, ” a local news program features the crimes that Eddie is trying to solve. Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer) is from “Top Copy” and often follows Eddie on busts.
Emil and Oleg (Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov) are from Czechoslovakia. They come to the US to get money they are due from a past heist. Oleg is infatuated by US movies and steals himself a video camera. When their money is not there, they kill the two people responsible. Oleg films the whole event. After watching American TV, Emil decides that he can get away with murder by pretending to be crazy and pleading temporary insanity. That way they can make a movie and a book about him and he’d be rich.
The fire inspector, Jordy (Edward Burns), helps Eddie track down these killers. But everywhere the killers go they leave disasters behind. Will they be able to stop these murderers before something else happens? Or before they make a movie of the week about them!
John Herzfeld wrote and directed “15 Minutes.” The whole idea of this storyline, the fact that criminals become famous in the US, was right on target. In this exaggerated portrayal the viewer realizes how sick that concept is. Robert DeNiro was outstanding in his performance and Edward Burns gave it his all in his first leading role. There were also small cameo performances by Charlize Theron as a Madame and David Alan Grier as a mugger. Melina Kanakaredes (from TV’s “Providence”) played DeNiro’s newscaster girlfriend. He role was also very believable. And I was pleased to see Kim Cattrall (from “Sex in the City) in this film. Her role was a small one, but worth it to see her.
This film was a little bit gory, but not too far from the truth of how criminals are treated. I liked, although did not love, this movie, but would recommend it if you adore Robert DeNiro. It was a great idea for a script and was portrayed well.
Enjoy!
©2001 KAC