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Title: Showtime (2002)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Robert De Niro | ... | Det. Mitch Preston | |
| Rachael Harris | ... | Teacher (as Rachel Harris) | |
| Eddie Murphy | ... | Officer Trey Sellars | |
 |
Zaid Farid | ... | Police Captain Ben |
| Alex Borstein | ... | Casting Director | |
|
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Holly Mandel | ... | Producer |
| Marshall Manesh | ... | Convenience Store Owner | |
| Nestor Serrano | ... | Ray | |
|
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T.J. Cross | ... | ReRun (as TJ Cross) |
| Yasiin Bey | ... | Lazy Boy (as Mos Def) | |
| James Roday | ... | 'Showtime' Cameraman | |
|
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Joel Hurt Jones | ... | Reporter #1 |
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Chris Harrison | ... | Reporter #2 |
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Perri Peltz | ... | Reporter #3 |
|
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Amy Powell | ... | Reporter #4 |
LAPD Detective Sergeant Mitch Preston cares only about doing his job and nailing crooks. LAPD Patrol Officer Trey Sellars joined the force as a day job until his acting career took off. During an undercover drug buy Mitch was working that Trey botched by calling in for backup and drawing media attention, Mitch's partner is shot with a very exotic 12-gauge automatic weapon; Mitch then shoots the video camera out of the hands of a reporter filming the action when the cameraman refused to shut it down. Faced with a $10 million lawsuit, the department agrees to let producer Chase Renzi film Mitch's investigation for a new reality TV show, and constantly tries to make everything more "viewer friendly" by changing everything about Mitch's life to fit the stereotypical view of police officers--and partners him with Trey. Written by Jeff Cross <blackjac_1998@yahoo.com>
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Watching Showtime I got the impression that the producers got the idea to put Robert DeNiro and Eddie Murphy just for the sake of having a film that co-starred the two of them. Other than that I can't think of a reason to justify the film's existence. Not that it isn't amusing in spots, it certainly is, but the concept is so completely ludicrous that the laughs are somewhat muted.
The thing that really got me was Eddie Murphy's character. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the concept of someone being a police officer as strictly a day job. When I was working person at New York State Crime Victims Board I had to deal with all kinds of cops and they ran the gamut between the really dedicated and some real slugs, but I can't think of one who thought that this was just something I do until I get my career going in an area far afield. I mean, can you really see Eddie Murphy or anyone else going through the rigors of the real Police Academy, not the screen version, just to get a day job?
Anyway DeNiro is your basic hard working detective who's on the trail of a major gun dealer. He's undercover and Murphy is part of his backup. So what does the showboating Murphy do, he calls a reality based TV series like COPS to film the action.
So DeNiro's bust gets blown sky high, but the producer of the show gets some good footage of Murphy and DeNiro and decides on a new reality based television series. So these unwilling partners get joined and try to continue working DeNiro's case with all the TV cameras around.
Eddie Murphy's a funny guy, I loved him in Beverly Hills Cop and in the Doctor Doolittle movies, but he's done better things than Showtime and Robert DeNiro certainly has.
I guess Murphy wanted a chance to work with DeNiro and DeNiro must have gotten one hefty paycheck to do this film.