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15 Minutes

15 Minutes (2001)

March. 01,2001
|
6.1
|
R
| Action Thriller Crime

When Eastern European criminals Oleg and Emil come to New York City to pick up their share of a heist score, Oleg steals a video camera and starts filming their activities, both legal and illegal. When they learn how the American media circus can make a remorseless killer look like the victim and make them rich, they target media-savvy NYPD Homicide Detective Eddie Flemming and media-naive FDNY Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw, the cops investigating their murder and torching of their former criminal partner, filming everything to sell to the local tabloid TV show "Top Story."

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Reviews

Onlinewsma
2001/03/01

Absolutely Brilliant!

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Beystiman
2001/03/02

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

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Baseshment
2001/03/03

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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Tayyab Torres
2001/03/04

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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Faris Ahmad Raza
2001/03/05

I just watched this movie lately and was pretty impressed. Robert De Niro plays the role of a detective and his acting like always was strong. He is one of the best actors and he surely proves it by doing a very fine job in this one. Edward Burns playing a Fire Marshall shows good acting skills. It is a unique movie quite different, good action,shows the relation between crime and media,the villains put up a good show,sharp,thought provoking, some would say a bit predictable but 15 min is a full package of action,drama,thriller,fun and what else do you want? TRUST ME A MUST WATCH THE CAST AND TAGLINE SAYS IT ALL! So go for it you'll surely have a good time. :)

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richard-regan-349-758478
2001/03/06

This movie is not that bad! I thought it was neat how in the storyline a NYC fire marshal was included. People don't on average realize NYC fire marshals have full aresst powers and do carry side arms. Also they carry a unique skill as they are both firefighters and a cop all in one and also as of late the FBI has special training grants for NYC fire marshals to cross train them in explosives due to constant threats of terrorism and fire marshals can respond to emergencies fairly quickly and the 2 people to make it make it to the top of the impact zone in the first tower hit on 911 was none other than 2 NYC fire marshals the brave and finest all in one! So back to the movie! It got the job done and I was entertained! I thought it was a soild acting from edward burns! Yes its true it was not the greatest movie ever but worth watching!

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Chris Haskell
2001/03/07

There is a ton I was offended by watching this preach-a-minute, vapid attempt at an intelligent action/political film. Here are the main things, lest I begin to ramble:1. Ethnocentric World View - This is supposed to be an indictment of American media? Message movies that play to cultural stereotypes drive me crazy. These two Eastern European thugs come to America, watch a show about forgiveness, and decide that they're going to teach America a lesson by embarking on a murderous rampage? If this was made a few years later it would have been two Muslim men instead of Russian. This is terrible, mainly because the writer is trying to present these lofty ideas about humanity and the immorality of American media, all the time while playing to cultural stereotypes that do nothing but reinforce racism. The low-brow stereotypes don't stop there either, David Alan Grier has a cute part where he is an angry black guy in the park who tried to rob the wrong guy. His relevance to the plot? Nothing but to add a little touch of humor ... seriously? 2. Hypocrisy - This film was distributed by New Line Home Video, an 'indie' subsidiary of Warner Bros. Super progressive Warner Bros. who are major players in the empire 15 Minutes is coming out against. Why would Warner Bros, or New Line, put out a movie that could incite a revolution and cause millions of people to reevaluate the way they watch media? Well, Bobby De Niro's in it, so you know it's good for at least breaking even ... plus the movie is no good, so no one will really talk about it.The real crime, however, and the major reason I believe it didn't work, it that it is just so incredibly smug. There are other 'message' movies that exist that all fall into the same pitfalls as I discussed above, but 15 Minutes is so smug and pretentious about it's message that it falls flat.Rating: 16/40

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moviesleuth2
2001/03/08

The hook that New Line Cinema is using to draw people into "15 Minutes" is that people are addicted to sensationalistic violence, and as one character puts it, "If it bleeds, it leads." The draw here is that there are two psychopaths who are using this known fact to bring themselves fame by documenting the gruesome murders that they commit and selling them to the media. While this is true, the social satire of the film is really only visible during the beginning and at the end. The bulk of the film is a standard order police procedural, but it's still engaging.Two immigrants, Emil (Karel Roden) and Oleg (Oleg Taktarov) have come to the United States to collect their share of a bank robbery they committed. When their cohort had spent their share of the loot, Emil kills him and the guy's girlfriend, while Oleg captures it on the camera he just stole. It doesn't take long before they realize the potential of filming their violent crimes. Hot on their trail are an alcoholic cop named Eddie Fleming (Robert DeNiro), who is the famed "pet" of tabloid guru Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammar, and arson investigator Jody Warsaw (Edward Burns).The film is a mixed bag. There are some good things about this film, and there are some that are awful. I'll give it credit for taking some chances and going in unexpected directions, but it also has some moments of jaw-dropping stupidity. And while there's some genuine tension in the film and the premise is interesting, I felt a little let down. Not only isn't the social satire original, it's not even effectively wedded into the main story. Also, I felt betrayed by the advertising of this film; I was expecting a cat-and-mouse type thriller between the cops and the criminals, and the media who is exploiting it. However, seeing as writer/director John Herzfeld wasn't trying to go for this angle (at least I hope not...), I can't really blame the film for this, just the studio.The acting is adequate. Eddie is a role that Robert DeNiro could do in his sleep. It doesn't require to stretch his range, but then again, DeNiro is still highly enjoyable to watch when he's not really trying, so it doesn't matter. Edward Burns seems a little out of his element, but his performance isn't a complete bust. The villains are the stars of the show. If you want a frighteningly psychopathic Russian villain, they don't come any better than Karl Roden. Emil is one nasty piece of work whose logic to his plan is frighteningly plausible. His counterpart, Oleg Takratov, isn't as smart and too starry-eyed by fame to be as dangerous as Emil, but he's not everything he seems to be. The part of Richard Hawkins deserves to be played in an over-the-top manner (is there any other way to play a Jerry Springer/Geraldo Rivera clone?), but Grammar doesn't go far enough to be truly vile, though I liked the fact that he gave Hawkins a small dose of humanity (whethere it was genuine or not is up for debate). Small parts by Melina Kanakaredes (who is wasted as Eddie's girlfriend), Vera Farmiga, and Charlize Theron (in a blink and you'll miss it appearance) are great.This isn't an especially bad film, but I don't know if there's enough good stuff to outweigh the bad.

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