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:

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

There was a scene that was filmed, but cut out to better explain how Mitch could take on Trey as his new partner. In the beginning the film, Mitch goes on an undercover sting with another cop. That was Mitch's partner. He was wounded during the shootout with Lazy Boy. In a scene that followed, Mitch is visiting his partner in the hospital who is in recovery and contemplating retirement.

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Goofs

When Mitch Preston is chasing Vargas in the cop car, crewmembers are reflected in the window of a building, as are the truck and trailer pulling the cop car along.

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Quotes

Chase Renzi: That's great TV!

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes are played before the closing credits

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Connections

Spoofs Hawaii Five-O (1968)

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Soundtracks

I Got You (I Feel Good)
(1964)
Written by James Brown
Performed by James Brown
Courtesy of Universal Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

A decent show by two well intentioned leads

Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy star in Showtime as a couple of cops- a quiet, efficient Dirty Harry-like cop and a cop who is deep down an actor, respecively, who are brought together by an accident and forced to take part in a cop-buddy reality TV show for a hungry for ratings producer (Rene Russo). For the first two acts, it delivers a good time in parodying old cop/buddy movie cliches and shows how De Niro and Murphy have some intelligent chemistry in a comedy, but the third act dips by leaving the parody and becoming what it's making fun of. In all, a conventional and surely enjoyable escape on a weekend day. B+