Any movie starring Robert De Niro naturally will be saturated with hoopla, and “15 Minutes” is no exception. In director John Herzfeld’s latest film, De Niro plays Eddie Flemming, a media-savvy detective whose appearances on local TV and in Time magazine have turned him into a Manhattan legend. Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) is a local fire inspector who teams up with Flemming after his examination of a seemingly accidental fire uncovers a gruesome double homicide. Intrigued by his skills as a detective, Warsaw starts following Flemming around throughout this investigation and even gets a mini crash course in law enforcement. Meanwhile, the two Eastern European men (played by Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov) who were responsible for the original killings are still on the loose, committing several other murders and videotaping them all in hopes of selling their recorded crimes to Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer), the host of a sensationalized news program called “Top Story,” for $1 million.
“15 Minutes” is filled with some fantastic action, and Roden and Taktarov masterfully portray two twisted men desperately searching for their warped version of the American Dream as they begin to understand the horrifying power the media wields in the United States. But in all, this flick could be considered a mild disappointment for a couple reasons. First, the director asks his viewers to assume way too much throughout the film. Youre expected to understand why a fire inspector would be allowed to tag along on a high-profile serial killer case even though his involvement ended once the original crime was classified as a homicide. And along the way I guess youre supposed to notice a father-son relationship developing between Flemming and Warsaw, yet we just dont see enough of that on screen to truly believe in its existence at the end of the movie. Still, “15 Minutes” was an entertaining action flick with a bunch of bells and whistles to keep most guys interested, and the message here is strong. But a little more substance in terms of story telling and character interaction would have gone a long way because, as it stands, “15 Minutes” doesn’t quite live up to the typical De Niro hype.
3 / 5 Stars
Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer
Director: John Herzfeld
