Showtime (film)

Showtime is a 2002 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Tom Dey. The film stars Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy in the lead roles alongside Rene Russo, William Shatner, Pedro Damian and De Niro's real life daughter Drena De Niro. The film was released in the United States on March 15, 2002. The film received generally negative reviews, with critics lamenting its lackluster humor and poor attempt to satirize the buddy cop genre. It received two nominations at the 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Actor (for Murphy), and Worst Screen Combo (for Murphy and DeNiro).

Plot
Two LAPD cops, Detective Mitch Preston and Officer Trey Sellars, both from the Central Division, are paired for a reality police show and run into real trouble with a crime lord. Mitch shoots a news camera after a failed confrontation with local drug dealer Lazy Boy, who escapes by using a custom-built gun. Maxxis Television, the fictional network that employed the cameraman, decides to sue the police department for $10 million, but will drop the lawsuit if Mitch agrees to star in a reality cop television show, which Trey later calls Showtime!.

Trey enters the picture shortly after, as an LAPD officer who actually wants to be an actor while also trying to become a detective. He pays a friend to snatch the purse of the show's producer, Chase Renzi, and then retrieves it after a staged fight scene. Even though the deception is embarrassingly revealed, Chase is impressed and signs Trey on anyway. It is quickly revealed that the show's producers have little interest in filming an actual police officer's existence; they build a mini-movie set in the middle of the station, and replace Mitch's nondescript personal car with a Humvee, while Trey drives a C5 Corvette. They also hire William Shatner (who once played T. J. Hooker) to give both men tips on how to act; while Trey is eager to learn, Mitch is merely annoyed.

Despite all this, Mitch tries to investigate the mysterious supergun, which is subsequently used by arms dealer Caesar Vargas to kill the drug dealer and his girlfriend. Through a clever ruse by Trey, they are able to get the arms dealer's name from Re-Run, the dead dealer's henchman. However, Vargas is less than cooperative, which causes a brawl at his nightclub. Trey and Mitch are able to defeat him and his henchmen, and subsequently have a relatively friendly conversation on their way home. However, Mitch's good humor evaporates when he finds that, in his absence, the Showtime producers have drastically remodeled his house and given him a retired K-9 dog as a pet.

Vargas and his squad assault an armored car and kill the crew, then devastate the police who respond. Trey and Mitch arrive and are pulled into the shootout. When the attackers flee in a garbage truck, Mitch gives chase in a police car. In the ensuing mayhem, the car is rammed by the garbage truck, which winds up crashing into a construction site. Mitch survives by jumping from the police car to Trey's sports car (he had previously denounced "hood-jumping" as a useless skill). In the wake of the disaster, the police chief pulls the plug on the show, suspends Mitch from duty and demotes Trey back to patrol.

With the show ended, Mitch's car is returned and his apartment restored (but he refuses to return the dog, of which he has grown fond). While watching the final episode, Mitch calls Trey and apologizes for his actions and even offers him to help ask questions on the detective exam. But while doing so, Mitch sees one of his police colleagues at Vargas's nightclub. He and Trey investigate, finding that Vargas is selling the weapons at a gun show at the Bonaventure Hotel. Vargas flees with one of the weapons, taking Chase hostage in the process. The duo is able to rescue her, via a pocket pistol concealed in a Maxxis camera, but the ceiling of the room is shot. It is located just below the pool, so it floods, and Vargas is washed out the window to his death, Trey manages to save himself and Mitch by handcuffing them together. They wind up suspended from a broken beam outside the hotel.

Trey is promoted to detective, and he and Mitch are now partners and still working together with a new case, and there are hints of a romance between Chase and Mitch. Showtime is revived and in its second season, this time with two young and attractive female officers, who are just as antagonistic as Mitch and Trey were.

Cast

 * Robert De Niro as Detective Mitch Preston, a pragmatic LAPD detective who is easily annoyed with the show's basis
 * Eddie Murphy as Officer Trey Sellars, an LAPD patrol man who is dying to become an actor
 * Rene Russo as Chase Renzi, the shows director
 * Pedro Damian as Cesar Vargas, the owner of an illegal gun
 * Mos Def as 'Lazy Boy'
 * Frankie R. Faison as Captain Winship
 * William Shatner as himself
 * Nestor Serrano as Ray
 * Drena De Niro as Annie, Chase's coworker
 * Linda Hart as Waitress
 * TJ Cross as 'Re-Run'
 * Judah Friedlander as Julio
 * Kadeem Hardison as Kylee
 * Peter Jacobson as Brad Slocum
 * Ken Campbell as Cop in Gym
 * John Cariani as Charlie Hertz
 * James Roday as Showtime Cameraman
 * Rachael Harris as Teacher
 * Alex Borstein as Casting Director
 * Marshall Manesh as Convenience Store Owner
 * Johnnie Cochran as himself
 * Joy Bryant as Lexi
 * Maurice Compte as Chili
 * Freez Luv as Freez
 * Merlin Santana as Hector
 * Julian Dulce Vida as J.J.
 * Angela Alvarado as Gina Reyes (as Angela Rose Alvarado)
 * Larry Joe Campbell as Locker Room Cop #2
 * Henry Kingi as Garbage Truck Driver

Soundtrack
From And Inspired By The Motion Picture Showtime, a soundtrack album composed of thirteen songs, was released on March 19, 2002 through MCA Records. Recording sessions took place at "The Boxx" and Main Street Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, at the Idea Lounge, The Ranch, Big Yard Studio and HC&F Studio in New York, at Iguana Recording Studios in Toronto, at the Tracken Place and Brandon's Way Studio in Los Angeles. Production was handled by Dave Kelly, Babyface, Christopher Birch, Gordon Dukes, Kardinal Offishall, Richard Browne, Shaggy, Sting International, Tommie "Bishop" McLaughlin, Tony "CD" Kelly, and Robert Livingston, who also served as executive producer together with Joel Sill and Michael McQuarn. It features contributions from Shaggy, Alias Project, Babyface, Bounty Killer, Brian & Tony Gold, Gordon Dukes, Howzing, Jully Black, Kardinal Offishall, Latrelle, Marsha Morrison, Prince Mydas, Rayvon, Rik Rok, Rude, Sean Paul and T.O.K.

Other songs
These songs did appear in the film but were not released on any soundtrack:
 * "So What", written by Tommie McLaughlin and Devon Fredrick Dowdell, performed by Mr. Wrong a.k.a. Bareda (2002)
 * "Rueda de fuego (Ring of Fire)", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore, performed by Mingo Saldivar (1992)
 * "Snatch It Back and Hold It", written by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, performed by Junior Wells (1965)
 * "I Got You (I Feel Good)" written and performed by James Brown (1964)
 * "What'd I Say" written and performed by Ray Charles (1959)
 * "Que Ganas", written by Jorge Luis Piloto and Sergio George, performed by Charlie Cruz (2001)
 * "Jumpi", written by Sergent García, Pierre-Luc Jamain, Liván Núñez Alemán, Vincent Jogerst and Simon Andrieux, performed by Sergent García (1999)
 * "Ballad of the Green Berets", written by Barry Sadler and Robin Moore, performed by Barry Sadler (1966)
 * "Hands Up", written by John E. Rhone, Ontario Haynes and Rodney Price, performed by Bounty Killer

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 25% based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Showtime starts out as a promising satire of the buddy cop genre. Unfortunately, it ends up becoming the type of movies it is satirizing." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

The film was nominated for two Razzie Awards, for Worst Actor (Eddie Murphy) and Worst Screen Couple (Murphy and Robert De Niro).