Review: Showtime

By FORCH F. Fortier

The Buddy Cop genre of film has been done to death, so how can an original twist be put on such an overworked and overdone film style?

Why not make a movie about making a reality series?

That’s pretty much the idea between the 2002 comedy, Showtime, starring Robert DeNiro and Eddie Murphy.

Mitch Preston (DeNiro) is a no-nonsense Detective for the LAPD. Trey Sellars (Murphy) is a Patrolman who dreams of making it big in Hollywood. DeNiro’s luck goes south when an undercover drug bust goes sour [Partly because Sellars called in a crime in progress, not knowing that Preston was a cop], Preston ends up shooting a news camera, and now the TV network wants to sue the LAPD because of it.

Enter Chase Renzi, played by Renee Russo (Lethal Weapon 3 & 4, Freejack), a TV producer, who has an idea for a reality TV series. Using Preston as leverage, they pressure him into starring in a Buddy Cop/Reality show where they follow him around, waiting for him to snap, and when he does, it’ll be TV gold.

Sellars decides that he wants to be part of the show, trying to get the role of Preston’s partner stages an audition for the show, and after impressing Renzi, the two become partners.

After a crash course in acting in a buddy cop show, by William Shatner, himself, Preston and Sellars start filming on the job. Investigating the appearance of a gun first used at the initial crime scene, the two start to form a reluctant partnership. Preston giving Sellars advice on how to be a cop, and Sellars helping Preston appear more friendly before the cameras.

Think Lethal Weapon as a reality series. That’s probably the best way to put it.

Directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon, Failure to Launch), Showtime is nothing different in the buddy cop style of movie. Many funny moments appear in the film, mostly when Shatner’s trying to teach Sellars and Preston how to be a cop on TV, most notably “Hood Jumping”.

Shatner makes the film in his short stint in the movie, most notably when he refers to Preston as “The worst actor he’s ever seen,” which obviously is a nod to the fact that most consider him a horrible actor [he’s not, by the way!]

Murphy and DeNiro do have some on-screen chemistry, which is good. However the script wasn’t exactly the best. This was done during the time where DeNiro was in his comedy-phase [The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Meet the Parents/Fockers], and this was probably something suggested to him as a quick payday.

I enjoyed it, and I chuckle when I watch it [whenever it happens to be on], but I couldn’t say that it was either’s greatest performance.

I recommend this movie to anyone who has nothing else to watch, and wants a good laugh.

I give Showtime 6 out of 10.