By
Mark Betancourt
Arizona Daily Wildcat
GRADE: D+
The trailer makes it look so smart. A famous cop chases after a pair of killers who videotape their crimes and publish the footage. The title suggests that the idea of "15 minutes of fame" plays an integral role in commenting on the media's fascination with violence. It could be a really controversial, down-to-business satire. We've been had.
It seems like somehow an inexperienced film student got a hold of this idea and ran amok with several million dollars. John Herzfeld, the writer-director of "15 Minutes" and the obscure "2 Days In The Valley" is not a film student. He is, however, responsible for several made-for-TV movies, which might explain why his sophomore attempt at a theatrical film seems like the outcome of a Toys 'R Us shopping spree.
Herzfeld's "make-a-film" checklist includes: getting some famous people (Robert De Niro, Edward Burns and the essential accessory for any blockbuster hit, Charlize Theron), calling some special effects people and getting them started on explosions (to be written in later), convincing the producers that they know what they're talking about, and finally, writing a script. Then Kelsey Grammer can call Industry Entertainment and say that he wants to land a movie role that will let him say "cuss" words. Sure thing.
Let's not forget, though, this film is about something. It's about the media, it's about violence, and it's about these two cops who hate each other at first but then start making jokes and becoming friends but then this building catches on fire and a girl is trapped inside because the bad guys are after the cops. Cool, huh?
But what about the killers? They are two Eastern European criminals intent on getting off scott-free because, "In America," one of them muses during a lull in the action, "no one is responsible for what they do." Unfortunately, these little anecdotes of theirs, often muttered while watching American talk shows, are the only vocal element to the supposedly key theme of "15 Minutes." De Niro and Burns either weren't given such lines or got so wrapped up in shooting their action scenes that they simply forgot to say them.
Not like Herzfeld cares. He tried though, by throwing in the death of a main character - a standard "oh my gosh, is he really dead?" moment - just to make sure the audience knows he means business with this one. But by the end of the final showdown scene, everyone's eyes are on the bullet holes.
Here is a crucial concept that Herzfeld seems to have missed - viewers only see what you show them. A film chock-full of plot-driven action and violence, including the murder of a bare-breasted prostitute (known in Hollywood as a two-for-one), will probably not leave the audience in deep thought.
In fact, it might actually convince the audience that there is nothing to think about. The bad guys get what was coming to them, end of story. Media apathy? But the TV show producer gets punched in the end and everything gets resolved.
Because "15 Minutes" starts out as a film about an important issue, the fact that the movie completely ignores it is misleading to an audience that might well have learned something. Now all they have is one more Hollywood smash to keep them eating up the same ideas this film pretends to criticize.
