Showtime Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)March 20th, 2002
"Showtime" – Lights, Camera, Aggravation by Homer Yen
(c) 2002
Remember when quality programming was the only way to attract increased viewership? Lightweight comedies, educational children fare, weighty news shows, and well-scripted dramas dominated the television landscape and provided some kind of moral barometer of pop culture. However, over time as our demand for new forms of entertainment grew, these steadfast offerings seemed to grow increasingly artificial and out-of-place. As a result, reality programming began to grab viewer interest, while specialty cable channels evolved to showcase them.
"Showtime" is a spoof that kind of/sort of recognizes that a television network can enjoy increased viewership if they could come up with a hybrid between reality and written scripts. In the film, a confident network producer (Renee Russo) begins to put together her idea for a cop show that's part Hollywood and part hard knocks. But who will be her stars? How about a cop with the temperament of Bobby Knight and a funny minority type?
The temperamental one is Mitch (Robert DeNiro). "He's Dirty Harry and he's real," notes the producer. As a veteran detective, he's weathered from experience, gruff, and abrupt. He knows that police work is not about choosing between the red and the green wire. It's not about breaking down doors and then executing a somersault. It's not about sliding across the hood of the car when beginning a foot pursuit. And it's not about using your pinky to taste suspicious-looking white powder to see if it's cocaine ("What if it's cyanide? There's a reason real cops don't taste drugs."). That kind of police work is for tv cops like TJ Hooker. Police work is really about endless filing and long days in court.
The funny minority type is Officer Trey (Eddie Murphy) who has learned police work by watching countless episodes of TJ Hooker. Perhaps that's why most of his real work is spent unraveling Do Not Cross police tape at crime scenes. He'd rather play a cop than be one in real life.
Based on this pairing, one grounded in reality and one afloat in starry dreams, you can expect (and the actors deliver) lots of energy and chemistry. This is not just because DeNiro is so good at being persnickety while Murphy just loves to mug the camera. Their characters are like oil and vinegar. Individually, they have presence and charisma.
DeNiro can ably talk the talk and walk the walk. Murphy shows flashes of his earlier smoothness such as when he poses as the host of the Justice Channel in order to trick a prisoner into revealing information about a major gun running operation.
It's harmless fun to watch DeNiro and Murphy take jabs at each other. And it's also amusing to see William Shatner, who played TJ Hooker, play the acting coach as he prepares Mitch and Trey for their roles. But the big problem with the film, I believe, is that it's supposed to be a satire. DeNiro is supposed to discover that at times he needs to discard his uptight attitude and leap onto the hood of a car. Trey needs to learn that police work is serious and that nothing is more important than a partner. As hard as they try, there isn't enough direction and finesse in the script to make it all work. Either this needs another rewrite, or it should be given to the UPN network.
Grade: C+
S: 0 out of 0
L: 1 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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