Mclellan

'SHOWTIME'S' ACTION GOES AWRY

DAN MCLELLAN

Originally published Friday, March 22, 2002

Robert DeNiro, Eddie Murphy and Rene Russo star in "Showtime," a disappointing spoof of "Lethal Weapon," "Die Hard" and reality television. The story follows Mitch Preston (DeNiro) and Trey Sellars (Murphy), two wildly different cops who are forced together by the department so they can appear on a reality television show about police.

This is where "Showtime" works. It fails in its other story concerning the world's most powerful, noisy and destructive gun. Preston and Sellars have to chase down and impale and behead (insert comically over-the-top action movie death here) whichever foul minority happens to be in possession of this gun at the moment.

The gun represents all of the action genre's excesses -- explosions, noise, senseless and pointless deaths -- but fails to mock them enough to merit its inclusion.

Early in the film there is a scene where the bad guy (whose name I can't remember) and his crew of hoodlums demolish a house using five of these guns. It's a funny scene that was a clever way to rib "Lethal Weapon," but then they use the gun again, and again, and again, and all humor quickly drains from the weapon. Everytime it is used, traces of the original joke still seep through, but eventually they are drowned out by the deafening boom of ammo discharging. "Showtime" turns one of its best original gags into its most redundant and annoying.

The gun also represents what's wrong with the movie in general. The writers got the characters right and cleverly play them off each other without repeating gags too much, but the action scenes are horribly wrong.

"True Lies" was a movie that knew, embraced and poked fun at the absurd situations it thrust its characters into. "Showtime" is content to let them play themselves out seriously and poke fun at them afterward. A big mistake; it seems as though the director, Tom Dey, knew what a fantastic concept he had and then forgot to let the audience in on the joke. I imagine Dey, DeNiro and Murphy laughing their heads off when, as in all action movies, they show the bad guys demolishing an armored car with two blasts from their power weapon while it takes at least 50 from the same gun to even dent DeNiro's pedestrian cop car. It's a funny absurdity but the filmmakers play it straight, thus merely replaying the cliche everyone has seen before instead spoofing it.

What does work and what keeps the movie at least entertaining is the chemistry between Murphy and DeNiro. DeNiro has been proving over the past decade what a terrific comedian he is, and "Showtime" further cements that role.

Preston is a wonderful straight man to Sellars' outrageous showman. DeNiro keeps it straight and real but has enough fun to let the audience have a good time. Murphy is nearly unable to be restrained in his role as T.J. Hooker Jr., a hot-shot caution-tape cop whose true passion in life is to be an actor. He is given his chance to shine when he is let loose in front of the (TV) camera and bounces nicely off of the stoic DeNiro.

The chemistry between DeNiro and Murphy creates an enjoyable first hour, where the comedy is at, and a tolerable second, where the gun takes over. The magnitude of star power and the concept were so promising it is difficult to be anything but disappointed with "Showtime." It's a rental at best.

Daniel McLellan is a freshman at Olympia High School.

'Showtime'

* * 1/2

- Rating: PG-13.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to Films index