Load of rubbish!!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Showtime (2002)In 2002, Murphy tried to move away from the kid friendly movies to disastrous box office effect. He started off the year by teaming with Robert De Niro (who was reinventing himself as a comic actor) in this Buddy Cop Picture.Plot In A Paragraph: 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.It starts off well (especially the first 30 minuted or so) and I was enjoying myself. Sadly, it ends up becoming the type of movies it is making fun of. So it's early promise is not fully lived up to, but I still liked it.There is decent chemistry between the two leads. Every good scene in this movie features De Niro and Murphy. Usually without specially effects or action. William Shatner shows up to give Murphy and De Niro acting tips which is a lot of fun. All in all, it's an enjoyable action comedy for me. Showtime ended 2002 as the 70th highest grossing movie of the year, with a domestic haul of $38 million dollars. Against an $85 million budget.

SHOWTIME is supposedly a spoof of reality TV. It is about a pair of mismatched cops are made to join forces in order to participate in a reality TV show.The problem is that, whilst it is supposedly a spoof, it actually follows the conventions so closely that it just comes off as a rather dull buddy cop flick. This interesting angle on a familiar genre is lamentably under used, descending into a cameo by William Shatner full of poor jokes about T.J. HOOKER. Like THE LAST ACTION HERO, it actually metamorphasises into the very thing it is mocking. Unlike that film it isn't entertaining.Robert De Niro looks tired and old, clearly in it for the cash. Eddie Murphy continues to be the most annoying man on film. Rene Russo gives it her best shot but is let down by weak characterisation and a lack of anything to do.The film takes over half its running time just to get the two cops set up, leaving them very little time in the latter half. To keep the running time down the investigation is made absurdly easy. The baddie is utterly generic, as is the McGuffin and the stakes are non-existent. The screenplay must take a lot of the criticism for this, being poorly paced, characterised and unfunny. A good car chase and a single good stunt involving a flood in a penthouse apartment fail to redeem the film. A poor effort.

Two popular actors are paired in showtime like De Niro and Murphy playing a police and an actor. Although they share the most screen time together, they do not reach their expected performances such films like Analyse This, Meet the Parents, Dr Doolittle and Nutty Professor. The film starts interestingly but becomes a thin, ordinary comedy which is quite disappointing.It feels like especially De Niro doesn't enjoy being in Showtime. Thats a shame because he really shows his feelings thats what I think. Unfortunately, if the idea had been used cleverly this could have been a more interesting piece of work and could be followed with a sequel like any other popular Hollywood movie. Well, I don't think there would be a sequel to this at least casting De Niro and Murpy again. ** out of *****

This was a pretty good modern-day comedy with straight man Robert De Niro doing a good job with comedy and Eddie Murphy just playing his normal whacked-out character. You get a good combination of humor and action in here. It had the normal cliché the ending, the kind you can see coming a mile away, but it's okay; it didn't hurt the film.William Shatner was very entertaining in a supporting role and I think that was De Niro's real-life daughter playing Rene Russo's TV sidekick in the movie.A decent cop-buddy film that isn't memorable an entertaining way to kill an hour-and-a-half.