15 Minutes

Director: John Herzfeld

Year of Release: 2001

Lead Actor: Robert De Niro

Running Time: 120 mins

Genre: Thriller/Crime

Review by Fraser Green

I am always up for a good thriller, but when they are bad I become really disappointed as in the case of this film, 15 Minutes. Starring Robert De Niro (Goodfellas, Raging Bull), Edward Burns (Saving Private Ryan), Kelsey Grammar (Frasier), Karel Roden (The Bourne Supremacy), Oleg Taktarov (Bad Boys II) and Melina Kanakaredes (The Long Kiss Goodnight) this cast fails to impress except for De Niro who is the only interesting character.

Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro) is New York’s ultimate celebrity detective. He is on TV most nights in his quest to bring down serial killers and raise his own media profile. But this time round, he has just met his match. Someone is on a killing and they’re videotaping their horrific murders to aggravate the police and to especially annoy Flemming. They want to be famous too and have their 15 minutes of fame. If they get caught, they can plead insanity and sell their story to television. Their psychopathic desire for reputation is about to hit Flemming in the most personal way, he is going to star in their next production. Flemming enlists talented young investigator Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) to help him track down the pair of Eastern European killers, on a rampage through the city.

This is a very up and down and strange film with at one point all seems normal and at another you’re sitting their in your seat thinking, ‘what the hell is going on, this is so brutal’. The film can be marginally interesting but just breaks down after the turning point, which I disliked quite a lot. The film does provide some mild humour with De Niro character being the only life and upside to the film. It seems to drag on forever and just becomes so unbelievable towards the end and it becomes obvious that these two serial killers are insane. Not the best film by director John Herzfeld or for Robert De Niro to star in.

My Rating: 1 and ½ stars

~ by cade14 on September 22, 2007.