Despite some of
the negative reviews that I read, I watched SHOWTIME ($27) with
an open mind and found that the movie generated a whole lot of laughs.
Taking the cop/buddy movie comedy formula in a slightly new direction,
SHOWTIME pokes fun at a ratings obsessed media that would take
a set of mismatched cops, and stars them in their own Reality TV show.
Robert De Niro stars in SHOWTIME as Detective Mitch Preston, a
cranky, nonsense cop, who shoots a television camera when it gets in his
face during an investigation. To avoid a ten million dollar lawsuit,
the city orders Mitch to appear on a Reality TV police show for the media
company whose television camera he shot.
Of course, Mitch
wants no part of the show, or the cameras that will be constantly in his
face. Making matters worse, Mitch is teamed with Officer Trey Sellars
(Eddie Murphy), a publicity seeking wannabe actor, whose police work takes
a back seat to his thespian aspirations. Mitch and Trey mix like oil
and water, but the cantankerous detective and the hot shot beat cop prove
to be a ratings hit- much to the delight of Chase Renzi (Rene Russo),
the TV producer who put her career on the line when she pitched the concept
of Showtime to her boss at the network. Things are further
complicated when Mitch and Trey are called upon to investigate the origins
of a new, high-powered weapon that has just shown up on the streets of
Los Angeles. The cast of SHOWTIME also includes Pedro Damián,
Mos Def, Frankie Faison and William Shatner- who does a hilarious turn
portraying himself.
Warner Home Video has made
SHOWTIME available on DVD in a 2.35:1 wide
screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9
displays (a separate full screen version is also being released, but I
wouldn't waste my time with it). As I've come to expect from any new,
big budget from Warner, DVD quality is absolutely first rate. The wide
screen image is wonderfully crisp and incredibly well defined. Colors
are vibrant and flawlessly reproduced. Flesh tones are natural, but certainly
more appealing than they appear in real life. Blacks are pure, whites
are very clean and the film contrast is incredibly smooth. Additionally,
the picture has excellent depth and rather impressive shadow detail.
The film element used for the transfer displays virtually no blemishes,
although there is an occasionally noticeable grain structure.
Unlike a typical
comedy, SHOWTIME has enough action elements to warrant an impressive,
directional Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound mix. There is plenty of gunplay
in the movie, as well as the expected car chases and helicopter fly bys.
All in all, this is a fairly aggressive sound mix that produces a believable
and cohesive sound field, with clean panning of sounds between channels.
Dialogue always completely understandable and the actors' voices always
sound natural. The bass channel is solid and a very punchy anytime there
is weapons fire in the movie- especially those sequences involving the
high powered gun that I mentioned above. A French .1 channel track is
also encoded onto the DVD, as are English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Music
underscores the basic interactive menus, which provide access to the
standard scene selection and set up features as well as the DVD's
supplements. Director Tom Dey and
producer Jorge Saralegui are on hand for a running audio commentary.
Also included on the DVD is the fourteen-minute HBO First Look:
The Making of Showtime, as are nine Additional Scenes/Extended
Scenes are provided with the option of director's commentary.
A theatrical trailer and cast & crew filmographies close out the supplements.
SHOWTIME is
also DVD-ROM enabled, which offers various web links.
It may not be
the greatest comedy of all time, but SHOWTIME is a funny movie
that will appeal to De Niro and Murphy fans. Warner's widescreen presentation
looks and sounds great; so if you have any inclination to see SHOWTIME,
don't wait for pay-per-view, watching the film on DVD is going to be so
much better.
Despite some of
the negative reviews that I read, I watched SHOWTIME ($27) with
an open mind and found that the movie generated a whole lot of laughs.
Taking the cop/buddy movie comedy formula in a slightly new direction,
SHOWTIME pokes fun at a ratings obsessed media that would take
a set of mismatched cops, and stars them in their own Reality TV show.
Robert De Niro stars in SHOWTIME as Detective Mitch Preston, a
cranky, nonsense cop, who shoots a television camera when it gets in his
face during an investigation. To avoid a ten million dollar lawsuit,
the city orders Mitch to appear on a Reality TV police show for the media
company whose television camera he shot. 
Of course, Mitch
wants no part of the show, or the cameras that will be constantly in his
face. Making matters worse, Mitch is teamed with Officer Trey Sellars
(Eddie Murphy), a publicity seeking wannabe actor, whose police work takes
a back seat to his thespian aspirations. Mitch and Trey mix like oil
and water, but the cantankerous detective and the hot shot beat cop prove
to be a ratings hit- much to the delight of Chase Renzi (Rene Russo),
the TV producer who put her career on the line when she pitched the concept
of Showtime to her boss at the network. Things are further
complicated when Mitch and Trey are called upon to investigate the origins
of a new, high-powered weapon that has just shown up on the streets of
Los Angeles. The cast of SHOWTIME also includes Pedro Damián,
Mos Def, Frankie Faison and William Shatner- who does a hilarious turn
portraying himself.
Warner Home Video has made
SHOWTIME available on DVD in a 2.35:1 wide
screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9
displays (a separate full screen version is also being released, but I
wouldn't waste my time with it). As I've come to expect from any new,
big budget from Warner, DVD quality is absolutely first rate. The wide
screen image is wonderfully crisp and incredibly well defined. Colors
are vibrant and flawlessly reproduced. Flesh tones are natural, but certainly
more appealing than they appear in real life. Blacks are pure, whites
are very clean and the film contrast is incredibly smooth. Additionally,
the picture has excellent depth and rather impressive shadow detail.
The film element used for the transfer displays virtually no blemishes,
although there is an occasionally noticeable grain structure.
Unlike a typical
comedy, SHOWTIME has enough action elements to warrant an impressive,
directional Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound mix. There is plenty of gunplay
in the movie, as well as the expected car chases and helicopter fly bys.
All in all, this is a fairly aggressive sound mix that produces a believable
and cohesive sound field, with clean panning of sounds between channels.
Dialogue always completely understandable and the actors' voices always
sound natural. The bass channel is solid and a very punchy anytime there
is weapons fire in the movie- especially those sequences involving the
high powered gun that I mentioned above. A French .1 channel track is
also encoded onto the DVD, as are English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Music
underscores the basic interactive menus, which provide access to the
standard scene selection and set up features as well as the DVD's
supplements. Director Tom Dey and
producer Jorge Saralegui are on hand for a running audio commentary.
Also included on the DVD is the fourteen-minute HBO First Look:
The Making of Showtime, as are nine Additional Scenes/Extended
Scenes are provided with the option of director's commentary.
A theatrical trailer and cast & crew filmographies close out the supplements.
SHOWTIME is
also DVD-ROM enabled, which offers various web links.
It may not be
the greatest comedy of all time, but SHOWTIME is a funny movie
that will appeal to De Niro and Murphy fans. Warner's widescreen presentation
looks and sounds great; so if you have any inclination to see SHOWTIME,
don't wait for pay-per-view, watching the film on DVD is going to be so
much better.
