| 15 Minutes |
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| Rating: Poor Distributor: New Line Cinema MPAA Rating: R Release Date: March 9th, 2001 (wide) Running Length: 2 hours Genre: Thriller, Drama Director: John Herzfeld Cast: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Vera Farmiga, Melina Kanakaredes, Oleg Taktarov, and Kelsey Grammer. |
| Plot: A grizzled and famous police officer, Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro), and an investigator from the fire department (Edward Burns) attempt to uncover the secret to a series of brutal killings. The killers are newly immigrated Easter Europeans, and have no respect for American law or culture. One man is explosive and kills, and the others tapes the murderous acts on video. An immoral reporter (Kelsey Grammer) finds the two men to be profitable. Meanwhile, Eddie is about to propose to his girlfriend. |
| Critique: Fifteen Minutes is a poorly conceived, heavy handed and forced film. Its dramatic points are bumbled, and its social commentary is handled with extreme unintelligence. The direction is unorganized and muddled. The film is constantly abhorrent; its quest to be constantly repugnant clouds its purpose. In addition to the great actor Rober De Niro, the cast has potential to be good. However, De Niro and Kelsey Grammer are the only actors who are awake during the film. The rest of the cast senses that the film is second rate, and acts accordingly. They are lazy, but truthfully who can blame them? If one reads a script this bad its likely to drain his inspiration. Indeed, the actors could have picked a different script, but many members of cast may not have the ability to pick and choose the films they star in. Its understandable that lesser known actors sometimes have to try their best in less than desirable situations. Additionally, the film could have been interesting, its topic is ripe for possibilities. However, without control, and with little creativity, the film has little to offer. Fifteen Minutes was a disaster because it was unable to channel its message properly. The director and writer, John Herzfeld, had something to say, but delivered it with inexcusably weak ideas and unconvincing execution. To make matters worse, he struggles to keep consistency throughout the films duration. Fifteen Minutes constantly changes its format; thus the final product lacks strength. The attempts to surprise the viewer feel ugly and useless. In conclusion, Herzfeld digs himself into a hole early on because of his unskilled procedure. The film is ugly and monotonous. I do not recommend Fifteen Minutes, an lackluster production. review by supernothingman |