Zone's Eye View of "15 Minutes" 

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Synopsis of movie, courtesy of New Line Cinema:

Never before in history have fame and the law been so closely, and so dangerously, aligned. With today's insatiable demand for high-octane television news, everyone from criminals and cops to lawyers and politicians has joined the ranks of attention-grabbing celebrities and hype generators. Murderers hire spin doctors and share their confessions in prime time. Meanwhile, everyone from thieving low-lives to the President's lawyers vie for their shot at the limelight. Crime, tragedy, chaos: we might fear them, but there's no denying that in today's world, they bring ratings, money and power. 

So just how far will society's most desperate people go in order to get their "fifteen minutes"? And just how willing is the public to watch? These questions come hurtling to the fore in John Herzfeld's smart, searing thriller 15 Minutes, which brings the edge-of-your-seat thriller into the in-your-face Media Age. Herzfeld's fresh and original take on urban life-and-crime is laced with dark humor, riveting action and incisive social commentary about the troubling crossroads where cops and criminals meet the all-powerful television cameras. 

At the center of 15 Minutes is a New York City double murder that must be solved. But the fast-paced story isn't so much about figuring out the truth of the murder, as following who controls that truth. This is the thriller as seen through an eye-popping new lens - that of the media's hunt for shocking imagery, no matter the cost. In 15 Minutes, as the cops chase the murderers, the media chases the cops, and the whole thing fuels an escalating firestorm. 

Two-time Academy Award-winner Robert De Niro stars as superstar homicide detective and People Magazine cover boy Eddie Flemming, who knows how to handle high-profile homicides. But now, with a crime that has ended in a grisly fire, Flemming must team up with a rival: the low-key, media-despising Arson Investigator Jordy Warsaw, played by Ed Burns. As they track down a pair of Eastern European killers on a rampage across the city, they wrangle with each other over how or whether to use the media. But Eddie and Jordy soon fall one step behind the ferociously unpredictable and clever men they are after - because these criminals have learned how to spin their own stardom into an explosion of media and judicial madness.

Kelsey Grammer, Melina Kanakaredes, Avery Brooks, Karel Roden, Oleg Taktarov, Vera Farmiga and John DiResta also star in 15 Minutes, a New Line Cinema presentation of an Industry Entertainment production in association with Tribeca Productions. John Herzfeld directs from his original script. The producers are John Herzfeld, Nick Wechsler, Keith Addis and David Blocker. 

Now for The Zone's Eye View

By Laura Alber

Most of the critics won’t agree with me on this movie. I have seen review after review just chopping it to shreds, all because “it’s not reality”, it wouldn’t really happen this way. Well, my opinion there would have to be, “Of course it’s not ‘reality’, it’s a MOVIE!” So, take whatever critics words to heart that you wish, but I have quite a different view of “15 minutes”.

“15 Minutes” is one of the better slams at the media that I have seen since “Natural Born Killers”. Though not up to Oliver Stone’s par at all, it definitely gets the same point across.

After my disappointment with “The Score”, I was reluctant to see Robert DeNiro so soon after that bomb (in my opinion).  After loving DeNiro’s performances in the past, I didn’t want my “bubble burst” with another bad flick. I’m glad I gave this one a chance; he definitely redeemed himself in this movie.

Edward Burns who co-stars is also outstanding. Though the idea they conjured up to get these two working together as a team is a little far fetched, so what? It works.  Kelsey Grammer who convincingly portrays the malevolent TV tabloid reporter. Kim Cattrall plays the editor that’s growing a conscience. I was a bit disappointed that she wasn’t in the movie more, but her role was still very effective. Even Charlize Theron makes a cameo.

“15 Minutes” centers around two foreign criminals Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov), who decide America really is the “land of opportunity”. After watching many TV talk shows, they devise a plan to become “famous”. (Hence the name 15 minutes, from Andy Warhol’s theory that everyone will get their 15 minutes of fame in their lifetime)

Oleg is the movie buff who admires director Frank Capra and is obsessed by the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Emil is the ruthless heavy. Together they realize that killing people can make you famous, and what a better way to do it than have it all on film. They’ve even learned from the talk shows how to be acquitted from any future indictments. They use the media for their exposure, and the media takes the bait. (Just as Robert Downey Jr. did in Natural Born Killers)

Robert DeNiro is a highly publicized and loved homicide detective and Edward Burns, an arson investigator team up to solve the first murder, only to get tangled in the spider web of the two filmmakers’ later ‘adventures’. (Like I said, it is a bit far fetched that they would work together, but they do actually work well together)

There are plenty of twists, turns and surprises to keep you glued. The clever and vivid characterizations continue throughout the movie, so you are never lost with any character. This was done seamlessly and so discretely that it never took away from the plot at hand. Many kudos to the writer/director John Herzfeld.

I give “15 Minutes” an 8 for excitement and the “rush”.

A side note: Be sure to watch after the end credits on the video, for Oleg’s hand held camera footage uncut on one particular important scene of the movie.