Showtime (2002)

A spoof of buddy cop movies where two very different cops are forced to team up on a new reality based television cop show, while tracking down the manufacturer and distributor of an illegally made semi-automatic firearm.

Director:

Tom Dey

Writers:

Jorge Saralegui (story), Keith Sharon (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, Rene Russo

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

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
Holly Mandel	...	Producer
Marshall Manesh	...	Convenience Store Owner
Nestor Serrano	...	Ray
T.J. Cross	...	ReRun (as TJ Cross)
Yasiin Bey	...	Lazy Boy (as Mos Def)
James Roday	...	'Showtime' Cameraman
Joel Hurt Jones	...	Reporter #1
Chris Harrison	...	Reporter #2
Perri Peltz	...	Reporter #3
Amy Powell	...	Reporter #4

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

chase | police | lapd | buddy cop | drugs | 

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Taglines:

Lights. Camera. Aggravation.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for action violence, language and some drug content

Details

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 March 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Flics en direct

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$85,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,011,430, 17 March 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$38,082,712

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$77,741,732

Company Credits

Production Co:

Material, NPV Entertainment, Overbrook Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rene Russo's assistant "Annie" is portrayed by Robert De Niro's real life adopted daughter Drena De Niro.

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Goofs

(at around 52 mins) There is a photo of the gun marked as "booked evidence" but they don't know what the guns look like yet, all they have are shell casings.

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Quotes

Detective Mitch Preston: What are you gonna do, wrap me up in caution tape Top Cop ?

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes are played before the closing credits

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Connections

References In the Line of Fire (1993)

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Soundtracks

Que Ganas
(2001)
Written by Jorge Luis Piloto and Sergio George
Performed by Charlie Cruz
Courtesy of Warner Music Latina
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Funny Movie!

I don't care what some of the reviews said, this movie was funny. The thing with this film is that you can't expect anything else except to be entertained. This is not some intellectual comedy, this is a clever popcorn movie. The three main cast members are great and work very well with each other. Shatner is a standout in the supporting cast as himself, a former TV cop, brought in by Russo's character to coach the cops on how to be "TV cops." Those are by far the funniest scenes. If you want to be entertained and just sit back for a laugh, then watch this movie.