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15 Minutes 2001 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by John Herzfeld
R, 120 min. (strong violence, profanity, some sexuality) |
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Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer, Vera Farmiga, Karel Roden, Oleg Taktarov, Kim Catrall
Producers: Keith Addis, David Blocker, J. Herzfeld, N. Wechsler
Screenplay: John Herzfeld
Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Released: 3.09.01 (Wide) |
Rating:
 (out of ) |
True to its title, it took about fifteen minutes before I knew this movie was in trouble. The word
implausible comes to mind first, although I think a good argument can be made that this scenario could
actually take place in the U.S. Money is king, and some people have no conscience or second thoughts
about using people (in other words killing them) to realize their goals. The movie works in some areas,
but it gets bogged down in a convoluted, and at times indecipherable, plot.
Robert De Niro is effective as Eddie Fleming, a publicized New York cop, who tries to track down two
European immigrants who are killing people in order to be famous. Their plan is to video their killings and
then sell them to the highest bidder, while pleading insanity to escape prison. Eventually they will
be released from an institution and still have the money to come back to. Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov
play Oleg and Emil, the two immigrants who go on a killing spree. Emil is especially convincing, and is
probably the highlight of this film. Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) teams up with Eddie after a fire that
burns up the first two victims in the film. Jordy, who is a fire marshall, wants to tag along with Eddie
to learn more about his success. Kelsey Grammar plays a ratings-hungry television anchor Robert Hawkins,
who manipulates the killers to give him a copy of their killings for his tabloid television show.
The movie can probably be summed up early in the film when Hawkins confronts one of his television producers.
He argues that "if it bleeds, it leeds", answering the producer's claims that his show was too violent
and needed some cleaning up. Kim Cattral has a nice cameo here as the producer.
The theme meant to get across to the viewer is that our society is willing to do anything to be famous,
or just make a ton of money, with no thought of others around them. While disturbing, director John
Herzberg has a point here. The movie, for the most part, gets that point across, but breakdowns in the
story line and a very implausible ending cut this movie short of its potential.
© 2001 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
 | Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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