15 Minutes (2001)
Director: John Herzfeld
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
When Oleg and Emil arrive in New York from Eastern Europe, their first act is to steal a digi-cam. Then they murder the couple who ripped off their loot, torch the place and check in to a fleapit under the name 'Frank Capra'. Then they review the rushes. Already homicide cop Eddie Fleming (De Niro), arson investigator Jordy Warsaw (Burns) and tabloid TV reporter Robert Hawkins (Grammer) are vying for jurisdiction, but all the boys really want is a movie deal. Writer/director Herzfeld is best known for the stylish thriller Two Days in the Valley. His follow-up aspires to the hard-boiled satire of novelist Carl Hiaasen, but it's a total misfire, a reactionary revenge thriller with the American Dream as the sacrificial victim. Herzfeld works hard to bring in unusual textures and disrupt the predictable patterns of the tired buddy cop genre. He does muster a few surprises, but neither the director nor his actors seem at all sure of the tone they're after. It's too broad to engender any credible suspense, too violent to be more than fitfully funny - and too half-baked for its assault on tabloid irresponsibility to stand up in court.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: John Herzfeld
Producer: Nick Wechsler, Keith Addis, David Blocker, John Herzfeld
Cast: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer, Avery Brooks, Melina Kanakaredes, Karel Roden, Oleg Taktarov, Vera Farmiga, Charlize Theron, Kim Cattrall full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 121 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now