Showtime Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)March 18th, 2002
SHOWTIME (2002) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, Rene Russo, William Shatner and Frankie R. Faison. Story by Jorge Saralegui. Screenplay
by Keith Sharon and Alfred Gough & Miles Millar. Directed by Tom Dey. Rated PG-13.
The dynamic duo of Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy hurdle a so-so script and weak plotline to transform Showtime into an entertaining spoof of those reality cop shows that proliferate on television like crab grass on your front lawn.
The chemistry between De Niro and Murphy raises this uneven comedy above the mundane and cliched.
De Niro is Mitch Preston, a tough, no-nonsense Los Angeles police detective who guns down a TV video camera because the photographer is impeding Preston's search for a suspect.
Murphy is Trey Sellars, a uniformed cop and would-be actor with ham in his veins. His biggest break so far had been a one-liner on an episode of Diagnosis Murder.
To save the department a massive lawsuit, Preston is ordered to cooperate with a fast-talking TV producer, Rene Russo, who wants to follow and film him for a new reality cop show.
Of course, demographics dictate that Preston have a minority-type partner, and who better than Trey. The fact that Preston hates Trey's and thinks poorly of him as a police officer does not dissuade Russo from making them partners.
Showtime features several priceless bits of comedy, and the best center around William Shatner in a small part as the new show's "technical adviser." After all, who better to teach cops how to play cops than old T.J. Hooker himself.
Watching Shatner show Preston how to jump onto the hood of a car will crack you up, as will his "acting tips" to Trey on raising eyebrows and other facial expressions.
Good sport Shatner knows he's spoofing his own public image, but goes along with the fun anyway.
De Niro in the past few years, and as he demonstrated in Meet the Parents, is becoming quiet adept at comedy. Not physical humor or slapstick, but reactive comedy in the mold of an Oliver Hardy - slow burns, frustration - where the actor uses his body as a comedic tool.
In fact, hire De Niro to do another Jake La Motta; that is gain about 30 or 40 pounds, or put him in a fat suit, team him up with Edward Norton and star the two in a Laurel and Hardy bio-pic.
Murphy in Showtime does what he knows best, using his fast-talking, con man-type patter to bring Trey to life. Trey sees the show as a way of earning his long-sought detective's shield - he twice flunked the test.
He can't understand Mitch's reluctance to preen for the camera while continuing to investigate real crimes.
Murphy, it seems, works best when not having to solely shoulder the burden of a film. His most disciplined and funniest performances have been in features such as 48 HRS, Trading Places, Mulan, Bowfinger and Shrek, where he shares the load with actors such as Nick Nolte, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Steve Martin or Mike Myers.
With the exception perhaps of Beverly Hills Cop and Boomerang, Murphy's solo efforts - Vampire in Brooklyn, Coming to America, Harlem Nights and The Distinguished Gentleman - have failed to capture his full comic potential.
Showtime's plot is disposal, something about a new super handgun with the firepower of a bazooka. But it's secondary to the byplay between De Niro and Murphy.
When they are on the screen, Showtime sizzles.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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