Review of 15 Minutes (2001) by Stuart K — 28 Apr 2014

Written and directed by John Herzfeld, (Two of a Kind (1983), 2 Days In The Valley (1996)), this thriller grew from a character in The Preppie Murder (1989), a TV movie Herzfeld directed, this character inspired the lead in this film, which is intended to be a dark satire on the media, but most of it is unintentionally funny, and it is a sleazy and dirty film which will leave it's viewers feeling very unclean indeed.

It begins with Eastern European convicts Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov) coming to New York to collect money from a bank heist they committed in Russia. While in New York, they steal a camcorder, and when their contact Milos Karlova (Vladimir Mashkov) admits he's spent the money, they kill him and film it, and they burn down the apartment to make it look like an accident.

Arson investigator Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) and NYPD detective Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro) arrive on the scene, and deduct it was no accident. Meanwhile, slimy TV news anchor Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer) wants the video of the crime commiitted.

There's too much going on in the film, and it jolts between storylines and it would have been boring if it had been a longer film. It could have benefited from a tighter, leaner script with more focus on the heroes and less on the nasty villains, who are loathsome.

Plus, there's a shocker of a killing half way through which brings the film down.