Written and directed by John Herzfeld ("Two Days in the Valley").
The title comes from Andy Warhol's prediction that before long everyone would be allotted 15 minutes of fame.
This is a slick police detective action flick that features three stabbing murders, one murder by uncertain means and two major arsons.
Robert De Niro stars as Eddie Fleming, a flamboyant New York detective, loved by the media, and who uses that media to enhance his career--and his love-life as embodied in a live action tv reporter played by Melina Kanakaredes. Edward Burns plays Jordy Warsaw, a fire department arson investigator who, in effect, becomes Fleming's sidekick and student of the media.
This movie is really about the media and the cynical use thereof. Specifically it's a punch in the face of tabloid journalism, and the Burns character acts as the meta-conscience with whom we are, presumably, to identify...even as we wallow in the cynicism and feast our eyes on the mayhem and bloodletting.
Kelsey Grammar is the tabloid tv producer who takes the punch.
The best scenes go to the villains, a Russian and a Czech, who get the ball rolling when they enter the United States in pursuit of their share of a bank heist they helped pull off in the old country. Oleg Taktarov plays the Russian, who was bitten by the film-making bug when he once saw "It's a Wonderful Life". So enamored of that film is he (going so far as to register in a hotel under the name, Frank Capra), that he borrows a digi-cam from a shop window in order to begin his own film career in the land of opportunity. And a wonderful life it is that he proceeds to record.
The Czech actor, Karl Roden, plays the Czech. Though all the elements of the movie are well done, it would be another run of the mill cop flick if it weren't for Roden's smirking, serpentine villain. He really makes you want to take a shower after it's all over, and I mean that as a compliment.
The IMDb credits are a little sketchy, failing to mention Kim Cattrall (tv's "Sex and the City") and a noted real-life lawyer, whose name escapes me at the moment. He did a fine job as a thoroughly despicable defense attorney and should be given full credit for his 15 minutes.
In sum, news is business and will gravitate toward the bottom line, and that's a shame. Or is it?
As I said, this is a slick, commercial production, not gritty realism or art house sensitivity. For what it is--and especially for Karl Roden's villain--I recommend it.
The title comes from Andy Warhol's prediction that before long everyone would be allotted 15 minutes of fame.
This is a slick police detective action flick that features three stabbing murders, one murder by uncertain means and two major arsons.
Robert De Niro stars as Eddie Fleming, a flamboyant New York detective, loved by the media, and who uses that media to enhance his career--and his love-life as embodied in a live action tv reporter played by Melina Kanakaredes. Edward Burns plays Jordy Warsaw, a fire department arson investigator who, in effect, becomes Fleming's sidekick and student of the media.
This movie is really about the media and the cynical use thereof. Specifically it's a punch in the face of tabloid journalism, and the Burns character acts as the meta-conscience with whom we are, presumably, to identify...even as we wallow in the cynicism and feast our eyes on the mayhem and bloodletting.
Kelsey Grammar is the tabloid tv producer who takes the punch.
The best scenes go to the villains, a Russian and a Czech, who get the ball rolling when they enter the United States in pursuit of their share of a bank heist they helped pull off in the old country. Oleg Taktarov plays the Russian, who was bitten by the film-making bug when he once saw "It's a Wonderful Life". So enamored of that film is he (going so far as to register in a hotel under the name, Frank Capra), that he borrows a digi-cam from a shop window in order to begin his own film career in the land of opportunity. And a wonderful life it is that he proceeds to record.
The Czech actor, Karl Roden, plays the Czech. Though all the elements of the movie are well done, it would be another run of the mill cop flick if it weren't for Roden's smirking, serpentine villain. He really makes you want to take a shower after it's all over, and I mean that as a compliment.
The IMDb credits are a little sketchy, failing to mention Kim Cattrall (tv's "Sex and the City") and a noted real-life lawyer, whose name escapes me at the moment. He did a fine job as a thoroughly despicable defense attorney and should be given full credit for his 15 minutes.
In sum, news is business and will gravitate toward the bottom line, and that's a shame. Or is it?
As I said, this is a slick, commercial production, not gritty realism or art house sensitivity. For what it is--and especially for Karl Roden's villain--I recommend it.