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Showtime

4.6

11,196

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Original title

Showtime

Year

2002

Running time

96 min.

Country

United States

Director

Tom Dey

Screenwriter

Keith Sharon, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar. Story: Jorge Saralegui

Cast

Music

Alan Silvestri

Cinematography

Thomas Kloss

Producer

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow, NPV Entertainment, Material Production, Tribeca Productions

Genre

Action. Comedy | Cop Movies. Television. Buddy Film

Synopsis

SHOWTIME deftly combines clever satire and explosive action, taking the buddy cop movie in a new direction. Robert De Niro stars as Mitch Preston, a no-nonsense detective who makes headlines when he shoots the television camera right out of the hands of a meddlesome photographer during a bust. The department is sued for millions, but a slick producer (Rene Russo) drops the suit to force Mitch to star on the network’s new reality series. Trey Sellars (Eddie Murphy), a struggling actor and incompetent patrolman, bamboozles his way into a plum role as Mitch’s partner. Mitch is a better cop, but Trey knows a lot more about how to be a TV star. He even comes up with the show’s catchphrase: "It’s SHOWTIME!" In the film’s funniest setpiece, William Shatner is brought in to teach Mitch and Trey how to master important TV cop procedures, like jumping on the hood of a car. Things get more serious as the celebrity cops track down a crazed criminal armed with a powerful new weapon. Director Tom Dey keeps things moving, and laces the action with reflexive humor. Murphy is in fine comic form, and has terrific chemistry with De Niro.

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Awards: 2002: 2 Nominations for Razzie Awards: Worst Actor (Murphy) and Worst Screen Couple

2009: Razzie Awards: Worst Actor of the Decade.

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Critics' reviews

"[Satire] is not a vaccine against stupidity. More and more these days, as movies try to camouflage their lack of imagination with knowing cleverness, it's just another form of stupidity."

A. O. Scott: The New York Times
"The movie's funny in the opening scenes and then forgets why it came to play (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"It's getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that Hollywood isn't laughing with us, folks. It's laughing at us."

Paul Tatara: CNN
"From frame one Showtime displays an ingenuity, cleverness and briskness that never flags"

Kevin Thomas: Los Angeles Times
"A shrill, strained and shallow riff on a tired idea (...) Pic has a notably ugly look for a major studio production."

Todd McCarthy: Variety
"Humorous but much too predictable send-up of reality TV and the sheer banality of it all."

Chris Kaltenbach: Baltimore Sun
"Decidedly average, actually (...) Odd belly laugh apart, this should have been so much more (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"

William Thomas: Empire
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