"15 MINUTES"

"15 Minutes" is a bizarre mixture of action, humor, and brutality with an overindulgent attempt at satire that most often misfires. It has all the elements of a typical straight to cable buddy action movie with incorruptible good guys like NYC detective Eddie Fleming (Robert De Niro) and arson inspector Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) doing battle with the sadistic bad guys , Emil (Karel Rodin) & Oleg (Oleg Taktarov). They’re a couple of boneheads who come to the states from Eastern Europe to collect a debt and stake their claim on the American Dream. A stolen video camera, a double murder and arson figure in their attempt to interest a tabloid TV show in a snuff tape. Oleg schemes to make his fortune in much the same way as some guy he sees on TV who blames his sorry childhood for his crimes - by pleading insanity. If this seems a little far fetched, that’s because it is. It’s very much at odds with the more realistic touches that Herzfield brings to the rest of the film.

"15 Minutes" starts off promising with a staccato behind the scenes look at a tabloid TV show. Kelsey Grammar is the sleazy host who’ll do anything to boost his ratings. When things are slow, he can always rely on some canned footage of star detective Fleming. There are some sparkling moments between Fleiming and Warsaw when they join forces on the arson/murder case that brings them together. Once they learn to trust one another, the things that make them different - Flemings affair with the press and Warsaw’s disdain for it - are used to the other man’s advantage. A witness is whisked away by Warsaw while Fleming hogs the spotlight. A great take-no-prisoners, no-holds-barred chase through the streets of New York and a thrilling booby trap scene raise the level of expectations for the rest of the movie. Unfortunately, Herzfield drops the ball when he decides to turn Warsaw into an avenger. Ed Burns goes way beyond the tenets of his character in a scene with Oleg that could easily be cut without anyone knowing it. It’s designed to be a crowd-pleaser but it has no ties to anything that comes before it and no impact on the rest of the movie. It sticks out like a boil on the back of the movie. "15 Minutes" begins to disintegrate rapidly after this with the plot thrown into Oleg’s corner for yet another showdown with Jody Warsaw and a chance to give Emil the last laugh.

Copyright 2001

"Wag the Dog" (1997) - Dir. Barry Levinson with a screenplay assist by David Mamet.

A knowing look at how to stage a phony war on TV to distract the public from their interest in a President’s sexual shenanigans. Robert De Niro is the Spin Doctor who recruits Hollywood producer, Dustin Hoffman to make it happen. Things get sticky when Hoffman wants to tell the world about his greatest production which is, of course, top secret.

"Network" (1976) - Sidney Lumet directs Paddy Chafefsky’s Oscar winning screenplay about the prophet of the airwaves who’s ‘not gonna’ take it anymore’ and threatens to commit suicide on TV. Peter Finch won a well deserved Oscar as the man who does it with the help of a great cast that includes William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall and Oscar winner Beatrice Straight. Seen today, this movie looks like a primer for today’s ‘reality’ TV.

"Backdraft" (1991) - Kurt Russell and William Baldwin are two fire fighting brothers in this amazing special effects driven movie that puts the acrid smell of smoke in your nostrils and its taste in your mouth. Robert De Niro gives a great low key performance as an arson investigator and Donald Sutherland delivers the goods in the small but pivotal role of a convicted arsonist who has a gleam in his eye at the mere mention of the word ‘fire.’

"Casualty of Love:Long Island Lolita Story" ( 1993) - Jack Scalia is Joey Butafuoco and Alyssa Milano is Amy Fisher in this story behind the headlines about the troubled teen who went to jail for trying to kill her lover’s wife.

"The Preppie Murder Case" ( 1989) - William Baldwin is superb as David Chambers, the amoral murderer who killed Jennifer Levin, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, during rough sex in New York City’s Central Park Danny Aiello is the cop who works to put him behind bars. Also with William Devane as a defense lawyer and Joanna Kerns as a prosecuting attorney.