"Lights, Camera, Aggravation!"
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What You Need To Know:
SHOWTIME stars Robert DeNiro as no-nonsense L.A.P.D. detective, Mitch Preston. Preston just wants to be left alone to do his job the way he’s done it for two decades. Eddie Murphy plays Patrol Officer Trey Sellars. A frustrated actor, Sellars spends his workdays chasing pickpockets and his evenings perfecting action poses in front of a mirror, just waiting for the one big break that will change his life. Television Producer Chase Renzi (Rene Russo) pairs the two unlikely cops for a new reality TV cop show. The action gets hilarious as the over-the-top Sellars and the resistant, under-played Preston must overcome their old ways and work as a team.
SHOWTIME brings a lot of laughs in 90 minutes. DeNiro and Murphy are beautifully cast as unlikely partners, and Rene Russo does a fine job as the ambitious, manipulative TV producer. The violence is action-oriented, and the language is pretty rough in the movie, but there is no sex, nudity or perversion. The humor is timed well, though there are a few remarks that disparage certain groups. At one point, Murphy’s character says, “You’ve got us waiting out in the hall like a bunch of Jehovah’s Witnesses!
Content:
(H, B, LLL, VV, A, DD, M) Humanist worldview with entertainment being an idol; some moral elements, with relational obstacles and judgments overcome through true friendship and loyalty, plus one humorous stab at Jehovah’s Witnesses; 49 obscenities and 3 profanities; numerous gun fights, police chase bad guys, car chases and crashes, giant explosions of marquis, elevators, swimming pools, armored trucks, etc., but all in an “A-Team” style, without blood and gore but with implied death; no sex or nudity, but one wise crack about apartment looking like a gay porno star’s; alcohol depiction at a bar; smoking and drug depiction with deals and busts gone bad; and, lying, stealing and gun-running.
More Detail:
No-nonsense L.A.P.D. detective Mitch Preston (Robert DeNiro) begins by lecturing children about the seriousness of police work. He reminds them that being a cop is not what it looks like on TV. It’s very systematic, life-and-death, and not to be interrupted. Preston just wants to be left alone to do his job the way he’s done it for two decades.
Patrol Officer Trey Sellars (Eddie Murphy), on the other hand, is not satisfied with just being a cop; he wants to be a TV star. A frustrated actor, he spends his workdays chasing pickpockets and his evenings perfecting action poses in front of a mirror, just waiting for the one big break that will change his life.
One night Trey stumbles into an undercover drug operation in progress, inadvertently blowing Preston’s big chance to nab a notorious gang of drug dealers. Moments later, a TV news truck and helicopters barge in on the action, lights ablaze, further jeopardizing the bust – and putting several lives at stake. Preston scrambles and saves the day, but cameras get shot and an embarrassed Sellars gets handcuffed in the process.
Television Producer Chase Renzi (Rene Russo) catches a clip of Preston in action and gets an idea. Why not pair Mitch Preston with another officer and make a Reality TV Cop Show? Though adamantly opposed to the idea, Preston’s superiors force him to comply, and now another officer must be found.
Sellars gets wind of the idea and stages a dramatic purse rescue for Chase Renzi to see. She loves his antics, and the two cops are now a team. The television crews follow the pair around town as they fight crime in low places. Their biggest quest is to bring down a night club owner who has manufactured powerful weapons that use depleted uranium rounds.
The action gets hilarious as the over-the-top Sellars and the resistant, under-played Preston must overcome their old ways and work as a team to make a great show for “Showtime.” The big questions remain, though: Will Preston ever learn to loosen up and enjoy the big cop-star antics of TV world? Will he learn to engage in a real relationship with those he once judged? Will Sellars ever settle down and learn to be a real detective? Will “Showtime” ever make it big? Will the big, bad gun-running drug boys be caught, and will our duo be part of the problem or the solution?
SHOWTIME brings a lot of laughs in 90 minutes. DeNiro and Murphy are beautifully cast as unlikely partners, and Rene Russo does a fine job as the ambitious, pushy, manipulative, but fun TV producer. Though there is lots of violence, it is truly an “A-Team” type violence, with lots of cars crashing and burning, lots of gun fights, drug busts, and chases, but no real blood-and-guts gore.
The language is pretty rough in the movie, but there is no sex, nudity or perversion. The humor is timed well, even though there are a few remarks that disparage certain groups. At one point, Murphy’s character says, “Come on, let us in. You’ve got us waiting out in the hall like a bunch of Jehovah’s Witnesses!”
The packed audience really enjoyed the movie, and the special effects and all-star cast (with even an appearance from William Shatner) made us almost overlook the offensive language of the movie.