Director: John Herzfeld
Starring: Robert DeNiro,Edward Burns,Vera Farmiga,Kelsey Grammer,Melina Kanakaredes
I just saw a movie that made me feel dirty.
15 Minutes is about a cop (Robert De Niro) and a fire marshal (Edward Burns) tracking down a murderer who sets his victims' bodies on fire. The murderer and his accomplice are psychopaths from Eastern Europe who terrorize everyone in New York. Heck, they terrorized me and I live in Boston.
Like The Usual Suspects or Seven, this is a film made by a director, in this case John Herzfeld, who also wrote the script, who makes the villains smarter and always one step ahead of the good guys. And this parallels the director's relationship with his audience--he's always one step ahead of us. Herzfeld is smart, too, teasing us with situations and resolutions that we think we know and then subverting them.
De Niro, playing Robert De Niro, does a good job. His character is flawed but basically good. When you decide you can root for him, he acts like an ass. When you cast him as a jerk, he does something nice for someone. It's oddly realistic.
Ed Burns first appeared in The Brothers MacMullen, a movie he wrote and directed, and since then has had more success acting than writing or directing. He was all right in Saving Private Ryan, and here he holds his own with De Niro. In fact, better than that, they work quite well together and the scenes where they listen more than talk, sizing each other up, are among the most interesting.
The supporting players are good, too. The villains are unknowns, but Kelsey Grammer plays a tabloid tv anchor who pops up when you least want him. Avery Brooks (Hawk!) doesn't have much to do as De Niro's partner, but he's a damn big guy.
There are some odd cameos as well: David Alan Grier as a mugger (a mugger? Doesn't this guy have his own TV show? It was cancelled? Oh never mind.) and Charlize Theron as a ho. Why would Charlize do a part where she's on-screen for only a minute or two? Well, Herzfeld's previous feature was 2 Days in the Valley, Charlize's first big break (and her performance made Maxim's top 25 movie sex scenes). I guess this is payback.
So what's dirty about the movie? It's graphically violent, it's exploitative and it's manipulative. There are more fake-out endings here than in a movie since Brazil (and unfortunately the “real” ending is the least satisfying). It comments on the American acceptance of lurid spectacle as “entertainment,” even as it provides more of the same. And it's so smartly done that it's hard to criticize it--in a way, it condemns itself before you can.
Should you see it? Yes, because it's smart, entertaining, and has some things to say, even as it entertains. But don't be surprised if you feel like taking a shower afterwards.
