Release Date: March 9, 2001
Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer, Avery Brooks, Karl Roden, Oleg Taktarov
Directed by: John Herzfeld
Written by: John Herzfeld
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
MPAA Rating: R (graphic violence, language, sexuality)
American society is aware of its flaws, and Hollywood seems determined to rub our faces in it. In this vein, writer/director John Herzfeld (2 Days in the Valley) tries to weave a bold, compelling statement of fame and greed into 15 Minutes but instead gives us a heartless, trashy piece that can't even discover its own theme.
The first notes of the Anthony Marienelli score during the movie's opening seconds quickly set an absurd tone for the film. Herzfeld immediately introduces us to Oleg (Oleg Taktarov) and Emil (Karl Roden), a pair of Eastern European nationals who are in America for reasons unknown -- apparently to collect on the profits of a robbery they performed a while back, but this back story is never developed. So when their arrangement turns foul, they hatch a new plan -- to commit a series of videotaped murders, plead insanity when eventually caught, and profit from the movie and book deals sure to follow.
Enter Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro), New York's finest and most media-friendly homicide detective. He takes the case, and because Emil and Oleg like to torch the crime scenes, arson detective Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns, Saving Private Ryan) joins the investigation. Though we'd like to see the eventual partnership of Flemming and Warsaw, it is totally contrived. How often do an arson detective and a cop really become partners? Only in New York ...
Through this story, Herzfeld attempts to deliver a bold film about the flaws of fame-hungry Americans, but we really get nothing except a product stuffed with gratuitous violence that doesn't even get to the point it's trying to make. We know nothing about the villains, and as they continue their murderous romp, we hardly care -- their characters are too flat. Furthermore, instead of presenting a compelling commentary on our media-controlled society, all we see are a bunch of sick, greedy people that are of little consequence to anything. Writer/director Herzfeld seems to have forgotten his goal with the film and gets overly excited about his action sequences, attempts at artsy camera work, and his star Robert De Niro.
These major problems aside, it is still easy to say Robert De Niro does no wrong. He is a perfect New York cop, and as always, his mere presence commands attention. His co-star Edward Burns, on the other hand, seems as though he's intimidated by De Niro and can't muster a sound performance. Perhaps an actor with a larger ego, like Ben Affleck, could have handled himself better in De Niro's shadow. The villains were fittingly cast, but their acting could not make us ignore the tasteless story and directing. And Kelsey Grammer's role as the greedy television news magazine anchor also fits, but again to little advantage of the film. It's a shame to say that even a masterful actor like Robert De Niro can't save a bad movie. But as De Niro fans remember, the same thing happened in 1996's The Fan.
All of De Niro's scenes and a chase sequence in the middle of 15 Minutes are worth watching, but the climax in the second act will doubtlessly have people wanting out. Those who stay hoping for something huge to make it worth their money will be gravely disappointed as they watch the almost completely mishandled finale. It's as if Herzfeld wrote the script in one hurried draft and snuck it by studio execs by saying he signed big actors. How the actors were fooled by it is a mystery.
Herzfeld was obviously trying to match the disturbing, brilliant examination of human excess in 1995's Se7en, but his film completely lacked the compelling story, characters, and skill needed to pull it off. Instead, people will wish the title, 15 Minutes, was also the description of the film's running time -- by minute 130 they'll be squirming in their seats in abject disappointment.
all contents © 2001 Andy Zientek