Showtime

Showtime
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Tom Dey
Produced by	James Lassiter Jane Rosenthal Jorge Saralegui
Written by	Jorge Saralegui Keith Sharon
Starring	Robert De Niro Eddie Murphy Rene Russo William Shatner
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Editing by	Billy Weber
Studio	Village Roadshow Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 15, 2002 (2002-03-15)
Running time	92 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$85 million
Box office	$77,741,732[1]

Showtime is a 2002 comedy film directed by Tom Dey and starring Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy.

Plot

The film centers on two cops, Det. Mitch Preston (Robert De Niro) and Officer Trey Sellars (Eddie Murphy), who are paired together for a reality police show and run into real trouble with a crime lord. The beginning of the story closely parallels that of the 1988 film The Dead Pool, in which Harry Callahan intentionally breaks a news camera and is subject to favors for the news channel as a result. In this film, Detective Mitch Preston breaks a news camera after a failed confrontation with a drug lord, who escapes by using an extremely destructive custom-built gun. Maxis Television, the network which employed the cameraman, decides to sue the police department for ten million dollars. The lawsuit will be dropped if Mitch agrees to star in a reality cop television show which Trey later calls Showtime!.

Trey enters the picture shortly after, as an LAPD officer who actually wants to be an actor while also tries to becomes a police detective on the side. He pays a friend to snatch the purse of the show's producer, Chase Renzi (Rene Russo), and then retrieves it after a staged fight scene. Even though the deception is embarrassingly revealed, Chase is impressed and signs Trey on anyway. It is quickly revealed that the show's producers have little interest in filming an actual police officer's existence: they build a mini-movie set in the middle of the station, and replace Mitch's nondescript personal car with a Humvee. They also hire William Shatner (who once played T. J. Hooker) to give both men tips on how to act. Trey is eager to learn, Mitch is merely annoyed.

Despite all this, Mitch tries to investigate the mysterious supergun, which is subsequently used by arms dealer Ceasr Vargas to kill the drug dealer and his girlfriend. Through a clever ruse by Trey, they are able to get the arms dealer's name from the dead dealer's henchman. However, Vargas is less than cooperative, which causes a brawl at his nightclub. Trey and Mitch are able to defeat him and his henchmen, and subsequently have a relatively friendly conversation on their way home. Mitch's good humor evaporates when he finds that, in his absence, the Showtime producers have drastically remodeled his house and given him a retired K-9 dog as a pet.

A short time later, Vargas and his crew use his guns to assault an armored car and kill the crew, then devastate the police who respond. Trey and Mitch arrive and are pulled into the shootout. When the attackers flee in a garbage truck, Mitch gives chase in a police car. In the ensuing mayhem, the car is rammed by the garbage truck, which winds up crashing into a construction site. Mitch, ironically, survives by jumping from the police car to Trey's sports car (he had previously denounced "hood-jumping" as a useless skill. In the wake of the disaster, the police chief pulls the plug on the show and suspends Mitch from duty.

With the show ended, Mitch's car is returned and his apartment restored (but he refuses to return the dog, of which he has grown fond). While watching the final episode, Mitch sees one of his police colleagues at Vargas's nightclub. he and Trey investigate, and soon find that Vargas is selling the weapons at a gun show at the Bonadventure Hotel. Vargas flees with one of the weapons, and takes Chase hostage in the process. The duo are able to rescue her, via a pocket pistol concealed in a Maxxis camera, but he shoots out the ceiling of the room, which is located just below the pool. When it floods, and Vargas is washed out the window, Trey manages to save himself and Mitch by handcuffing them together. They wind up suspended from a broken beam,outside the hotel, with news helicopters hovering all around.

The movie ends with Trey promoted to detective, and he and Mitch still working together with a new case, and there are hints of a romance between Chase and Mitch. Showtime is in its second season, this time with two female officers, who are just as antagonistic as Mitch and Trey were.

Cast

• Robert De Niro as Detective Mitch Preston
• Eddie Murphy as Officer Trey Sellars
• Rene Russo as Chase Renzi
• Pedro Damián as Cesar Vargas
• Drena De Niro as Annie
• William Shatner as T.J. Hooker
• Mos Def as Lazy Boy

Soundtrack

Showtime: From And Inspired by The Motion Picture
Soundtrack album (Digital download / Audio CD) by Various
Released	March 15, 2002
Label	MCA

Tracklist

1. Caramel -performed by Alias Project [3:27]
2. Why -performed by Rude [3:33]
3. Mr. Lover -performed by Shaggy [3:55]
4. My Bad -performed by Rayvon [3:29]
5. Lie Till I Die -performed by Marsha [4:52]
6. Man Ah Bad Man -performed by T.O.K. [2:54]
7. Money Jane -performed by Baby Blue Soundcrew [4:19]
8. Your Eyes -performed by Rik Rok [4:00]
9. Fly Away -performed by Gordon Dukes [4:00]
10. Swingin' -performed by Shaggy [3:10]
11. Get The Cash -performed by Howzing [3:45]
12. Still The One -performed by Prince Mydas [3:25]
13. Showtime -performed by Shaggy [4:31]

Reception

The movie was nominated for two Razzie Awards (Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple) and was a box office flop, grossing only $38 million in North America and a little over $39 million internationally, bringing its total revenue to just over $77 million. When put against its $85 million budget, the movie did poorly. It also received negative reviews from critics and audiences, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 25% rating.

References

External links

• Showtime at the Internet Movie Database
• Showtime at Rotten Tomatoes
• Showtime at Box Office Mojo