Showtime (Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, Rene Russo) is meant to be a spoof of cop movies but contains enough `action' in the form of big guns and car chases to make that debatable.
What of De Niro and Murphy, both archetypes within the genre, spoofing themselves? Well it becomes boring, particularly in the case of Robert De Niro.
Robert De Niro has been playing these types of roles for decades now and is old enough you'd think to have moved off the streets into a police desk job. But that's beside the point. De Niro doesn't look like he's even trying in Showtime.
De Niro's character Mitch has seen it all, doesn't like the upstart Trey (Eddie Murphy) but has fallen foul of the boss and the media for destroying a television camera that got in his way while a crime was being committed.
Mitch and Trey are ordered to cooperate with a television producer called Chase (Rene Russo) in the hope that the PR will be profitable for the police force.
Big nasty guns have hit the streets and the boys are chasing them down. This is done fairly seriously even though the film is I think supposed to be a spoof.
It might have worked better if it had gone all out Police Academy style. Then all of the actors in Showtime, even the stars, wouldn't have all seemed to have been doing cameo roles.
One Lazy Fly Out Of Five
What of De Niro and Murphy, both archetypes within the genre, spoofing themselves? Well it becomes boring, particularly in the case of Robert De Niro.
Robert De Niro has been playing these types of roles for decades now and is old enough you'd think to have moved off the streets into a police desk job. But that's beside the point. De Niro doesn't look like he's even trying in Showtime.
De Niro's character Mitch has seen it all, doesn't like the upstart Trey (Eddie Murphy) but has fallen foul of the boss and the media for destroying a television camera that got in his way while a crime was being committed.
Mitch and Trey are ordered to cooperate with a television producer called Chase (Rene Russo) in the hope that the PR will be profitable for the police force.
Big nasty guns have hit the streets and the boys are chasing them down. This is done fairly seriously even though the film is I think supposed to be a spoof.
It might have worked better if it had gone all out Police Academy style. Then all of the actors in Showtime, even the stars, wouldn't have all seemed to have been doing cameo roles.
One Lazy Fly Out Of Five