It's so much easier for me when a movie is just plain bad. 15 Minutes does me the disservice of sticking little bits of originality or thought provoking material in with the excess that makes up the rest of the movie. As a film, it has many flaws. It's choppy, with many useless scenes (watch for the scene towards the end with Ed Burns and Emil in the warehouse-what's the point?). It's characters are generally contrived and silly, but are brought to half-life only by the actors behind them. It is original in some spots (one in particular), but mostly runs on tired cliche. The timing of the humor is very poor, and leads to a general feeling of awkward discomfort in the audience. Everything about this film, right down to costumes and set decoration, is extremely ugly. I don't know if that was intended, but it's just plain hard to look at. The entire film was surrounded by that aura of ugliness- ugliness not only of the sets and costumes, but of the characters and story.
And that story involves a cop named Eddie Flemming (Robert DeNiro), an inferior rehash of Kevin Spacey's Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential. Eddie uses the media to make his job easier- and as a result, has become a minor celebrity. Edward Burns plays Jordi Warsaw, a New York Fire Marshall who joins Eddie on the case to find two Eastern European criminals newly in the US to wreak havoc. They have learned from watching television that no one in America is responsible for what they do- and that the media run the show. Murderers become millionaires, and these two know it. They begin to kill and videotape their killings. They plan to kill somebody famous and sell it for millions of dollars. Eddie and Jordi have to stop them.
Now you might ask, why is a fireman on the case- The answer is that there is no answer. They throw in a bit with fire just to bring the Jordi character into it. All writers in Hollywood like to invent different jobs that allow people to be just like cops- without being cops. I guess they figure it makes it more exciting because the cop thing has been done so much. They're wrong. Making the character a fireman is a distraction, leaving the audience wondering what he's doing there. There is no justification for his presence at the crime scenes. Just making him DeNiro's character would have allowed the film to run much smoother.
There are lots of scenes, character developments, and even romances in this film that serve absolutely no purpose. Writer/Director Herzfeld was filling gaps where they didn't need to be filled. It shows that he was looking for something to do, that he only really had one idea, and was strained to make a two hour film out of it.
I mentioned the film's ugliness- It just leaves you with a sick feeling in your stomach. This isn't a sign that the material was effective, just horrible. In a way, the movie is mean spirited, and that is never a good thing. The way the humor was added showed absolutely no skill on the part of the filmmaker. He should have watched his own movie before releasing it, because if he did, he would know how awkward that humour is.
So it all sounds pretty bad, I know. The film's only high points come from generally good performances (DeNiro never fails, even if the script does) and a single point of originality. The film's message, regarding the injustice of the American system, and its preoccupation with fame, publicity, image and the media that creates it all, are points well taken, but not properly executed. The first hour of the movie is deeply unentertaining and choppy, but the second half, at least, becomes somewhat suspenseful and little bit interesting.
Overall, 15 Minutes should be avoided. It was an ugly movie with low points far outnumbering the high ones.
And that story involves a cop named Eddie Flemming (Robert DeNiro), an inferior rehash of Kevin Spacey's Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential. Eddie uses the media to make his job easier- and as a result, has become a minor celebrity. Edward Burns plays Jordi Warsaw, a New York Fire Marshall who joins Eddie on the case to find two Eastern European criminals newly in the US to wreak havoc. They have learned from watching television that no one in America is responsible for what they do- and that the media run the show. Murderers become millionaires, and these two know it. They begin to kill and videotape their killings. They plan to kill somebody famous and sell it for millions of dollars. Eddie and Jordi have to stop them.
Now you might ask, why is a fireman on the case- The answer is that there is no answer. They throw in a bit with fire just to bring the Jordi character into it. All writers in Hollywood like to invent different jobs that allow people to be just like cops- without being cops. I guess they figure it makes it more exciting because the cop thing has been done so much. They're wrong. Making the character a fireman is a distraction, leaving the audience wondering what he's doing there. There is no justification for his presence at the crime scenes. Just making him DeNiro's character would have allowed the film to run much smoother.
There are lots of scenes, character developments, and even romances in this film that serve absolutely no purpose. Writer/Director Herzfeld was filling gaps where they didn't need to be filled. It shows that he was looking for something to do, that he only really had one idea, and was strained to make a two hour film out of it.
I mentioned the film's ugliness- It just leaves you with a sick feeling in your stomach. This isn't a sign that the material was effective, just horrible. In a way, the movie is mean spirited, and that is never a good thing. The way the humor was added showed absolutely no skill on the part of the filmmaker. He should have watched his own movie before releasing it, because if he did, he would know how awkward that humour is.
So it all sounds pretty bad, I know. The film's only high points come from generally good performances (DeNiro never fails, even if the script does) and a single point of originality. The film's message, regarding the injustice of the American system, and its preoccupation with fame, publicity, image and the media that creates it all, are points well taken, but not properly executed. The first hour of the movie is deeply unentertaining and choppy, but the second half, at least, becomes somewhat suspenseful and little bit interesting.
Overall, 15 Minutes should be avoided. It was an ugly movie with low points far outnumbering the high ones.