Smart movie people shouldn't give films titles like "15 Minutes"; it simply makes a film a sitting duck for criticism.
Here is an example: "15 minutes is about how long it takes before we are sick of being hammered about the evils which occur when crime and the media meet." Courtesy of Rotten Tomato Reviews.
Now for a more charitable view, we have Robert DeNiro as a media savvy New York police detective who is after a couple of really bad guys who film their murders in the hope of getting movie and book deals after they are caught and claiming an insanity defense.
Fresh from his Seattle radio station, Frazier, aka Kelsey Grammar, plays a shock-jock TV host who is all for the project, not the killing but the filming. "It is bleeds, it leads," he actually says, as he hosts a killing shown on a Jumbotron in Times Square.
Now, back to charity. Well, for Frazier fans, it's a chance to see another side of the neurotic though charming radio host, and for DeNiro fans, what can I say? They are legion; no matter what he is in, that Italian charisma is there.
The film also stars Edward Burns as DeNiro's partner, a straight and narrow fire marshal. Fire marshal?
The two-hour movie is rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality. It is written and directed by John Herzfeld.
It starts Thursday at Cinema One.