Showtime

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 95 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

It’s Showtime! That’s the catch-phrase for the movie that marks the first time that Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy have been paired together. As you might expect from those two personalities, the chemistry they create together on screen is quite interesting. We found the film more entertaining than we expected based on the previews.

Showtime

The premise of the movie is as unusual as the pairing of the stars. We’re basically treated to what doubles as a parody of cop buddy movies while turning into one itself. This is director Tim Dey’s second movie. So far strange pairings and really oddball buddy movies are becoming a bit of a niche for him. His first movie was Shanghai Noon with the odd pairing of Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in the equally weird genre of a western martial arts comedy.

In Showtime, Murphy plays a street cop named Trey who isn’t all that good at it and would really rather be an actor. De Niro plays Mitch who as you would suspect is just the opposite. He’s a veteran detective and the best cop this side of Dirty Harry and wants nothing more than to be left alone to do his job. Enter Rene Russo as the Hollywood producer who manages to rope Mitch and Trey together in a reality based cop series, and you’ve got your storyline.

In addition to chemistry, the movie has some decent action. There’s a gun in this film that has to be seen. And we get a decent chase scene in the movie. One of our main complaints with the movie is the abuse of a beautiful new Corvette. Eddie needed to treat this fine co-star just a bit better. If there were something like the ASPCA for cars, they’d be all over this movie!

Corvette abuse aside the movie was quite entertaining, there were some good laughs and the movie was a pleasant surprise. However, this isn’t one of those movies that you’ll watch over and over or that just absolutely has to be seen on the big screen. We give it only 3 stars for that reason, but it is a very strong 3 star rating, especially considering there are currently no other good adult comedies to really compete with it at the box office.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, Comedy, Drena De Niro, Eddie Murphy, PG-13, Perdro Damian, Rene Russo, Robert De Niro, Theatrical