15 MINUTES

2001

Increasingly over the years, America has become a place of rudeness, ignorance, voyeurism and violence. Therefore, it's not surprising that an intelligent film should come along which attempts to focus on these issues and satirize them. Although most of the time, "15 Minutes" hits its mark, there are times in the film where it glorifies what its trying to satirize. That's unfortunate, because in general, this is an excellent film. After a run of four mediocre movies, Robert DeNiro finally gets to star in a film that's worthy of his enormous talents. As a media-whore detective working a new homicide, his character comes in contact with the sleaziest of tabloid journalists (Kelsey Grammar,) a sob-sister talk-show host(Roseanne whatever-the-hell-her-last-name-is-now,) an idealistic fire marshal (Edward Burns,) and two Eastern European serial killers, who are so enamored of classic film director Frank Capra, that they insist on videotaping all of their crimes! At one point, one of these killers says, "America, what a wonderful place. No one is responsible for anything they do here!" How true, and how sad! Thomas Jefferson and John Wayne must be turning over in their graves. Filmed in an almost epic-style, "15 Minutes" covers a lot of ground, and says a lot about America the Beautiful.

5 Stars

NJB

Two eastern European immigrants come to America and start a killing spree, filming their crimes in the hopes that it will all later translate into an insanity plea and film rights. Timely, isn't it? Robert Deniro and Edward Burns are the unlikely duo of NYPD homicide detective and fire marshal who are trying to catch the bad guys. The film does a good job of focusing particularly on the press coverage the incidents are getting, how the public perceives it and how it affects the different city departments' ability to do their jobs. Deniro is terrific as always, Burns is great even if he only plays the one character (which he has been able to adapt to taxi driver, WWII soldier, now an arson investigator), and the two unknowns who play the killer and patsy really make you hate them. Kelsey Grammer, who plays a blood-thirsty TV reporter, didn't have far to go to become unlikeable, but its really hard to accept him as anything other than Frazier. Although it sometimes feels like a patchwork of several other films, 15 MINUTES is thoroughly enjoyable with one of the most satisfying endings I've seen in awhile.

4 Stars

CDF