With Edward Burns, Robert De Niro and Kelsey Grammar, this could have been a great movie with excellent characters. Instead it is what so many other "message" movies are -- a violent, misanthropic mess. I would have like to have seen a greater examination of De Niro's character motives for staying in the spotlight, the genesis of he and Grammar's relationship, and more about Burns' desire to be a hero and his quick attachment to De Niro's cop. Instead, we get a pair of ultraviolent villians, a ridiculous plot, and one-note characters that I cared nothing about. The great Avery Brooks (Capt. Cisco from "Deep Space Nine") is thoroughly wasted as one of De Niro's cop buddies. And any shred of believability or integrity the movie had left is completely blown by the ending, which is as predictable as it is awful. There is a better movie inside "15 Minutes" that could have been made, but this version is not it. A definite Must-Not-See.
Review of 15 Minutes
