'Showtime' actors shine through tedious plotline

By Jeff Lowe
Staff Writer

In the vein of hit TV shows such as "Cops" and "Big Brother," the movie "Showtime" presents the idea of a new cop show that follows two mismatched partners as they try to investigate a murder.

The premise of the movie is actually very straightforward. Mitch, played by Robert DeNiro, is a detective who is trying to track down the dealer of a new advanced firearm. Trey, played by Eddie Murphy, is an actor-turned-LAPD patrolman who acts in movies during his off time. In essence, an all-business officer is paired with an all-fun patrolman and hilarity ensues.

In the course of pursuing a weapons dealer, Mitch becomes angry with a cameraman who gets in his way and shoots the camera. The corporation that owns the camera threatens to sue the LAPD until a savvy producer steps in with the idea to film the duo at work for a true crime TV show. The show will have cameras follow Mitch and Trey as they try to catch the weapons dealers. The director for the new show is William Shatner, who plays himself.

It is not the plot that is the strong point of this movie, but the actors who play off of it. Shatner creates one of the movie's funniest moments as we see him teach Trey how to perform in the manner of one of his old characters, and Murphy also gets a lot of laughs.

But it is DeNiro that truly makes this movie funny. His recent forays into comedy have paved the way for a whole new career for the Academy Award-winner. DeNiro's strong point is that he is the ultimate straight man to Murphy's wackiness. He simply cashes in on years of playing no-nonsense characters.

Highlights of the movie are scenes where the producers attempt to makeover Mitch's persona so that the audience will perceive him as a "true" cop. In the course of doing this, they replace his old car with a Humvee and redecorate his apartment to look like a New York bachelor's pad.

The movie's weak point is the two-dimensional villain and predictable buddy-cop movie formula. The detectives are taken off the case after a downtown shootout and, of course, decided to solve the case on their own.

"Showtime" doesn’t try to break new ground; it merely breathes new life into a buddy-cop movie formula that has been done too many times before.

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