What in the world has happened to Robert DeNiro.  The great actor, he of Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and so many other memorable roles, has now lowered himself to one of the cinematic signs of the apocalypse, starring in a buddy cop movie.  The catch, I guess, is that this is supposed to be the anti buddy cop movie, mocking it at a few turns, but shamelessly following its rules as well. For a movie that tries so hard to be an unofficial spoof and satire of these movies and reality television, Showtime ironically falls victim to the devices of both mediums.  It has some funny moments, some funny lines, and some interesting action sequences, but humor and stunts cannot mask a thin story, and typical plot lines.  DeNiro gets reduced to the haggard straight man, to Murphy’s over the top showmanship.  Now Robert can do this, when given a good script (see Analyze This), but in Showtime, the laughs are few and far between, leaving the same old antics to once again come shining through.  You could almost make a list of the situations, and check them off as they happen, and that my friends, is a sign of desperation on someone’s part.  Dey, who turned Shanghai Noon into a guilty pleasure Western spoof, has lost his touch somewhere, and we are his unwitting victims as he spends 99 minutes taking us on his journey to find it.

In the guise of mocking the reality television that has inexplicably gripped America, Showtime treads unsteadily on ground that was solidified by films like The Truman Show, EdTV, 15 Minutes, and even Series 7.  A desperate TV network believes they have stumbled across a goldmine when a renegade detective shoots one of their video cameras.  In order to avoid a costly lawsuit, the police chief agrees to allow the loose cannon cop Mitch Preston (DeNiro), to be followed around by video cameras, and partnered with a bumbling wannabe, Trey, who has definitely seen one too many episodes of TJ Hooker and Cops. Tying them together, is the presence of the coolest thing in this movie, a very powerful gun, that shoots 12-gauge bullets with depleted Uranium inside (puts those infamous “cop killer” bullets to shame).  The gun is owned by a bleached bad guy, Vargas (Damian), who taunts the police, and even pulls off using this thing in broad daylight, because of its power.  This was a nice touch, to a story that deserved more thought.  Whoever came up with that aspect, should have been given license to do the rest of the script.  They miss several instances of humor, while occasionally lacing some zinging one-liners “Tell Don Johnson we’ve found his apartment” is one, during the movie’s shining scene as the producer, Chase Renzi (Russo), has redone the cops apartment to fit their “research”.  Somewhere in this script lay a decent story.  People who have seen too many of these kind of movies, tailoring a television show about following cops to feed the public’s desire to have their fantasy and reality worlds melded together.  Unfortunately, that idea, is better than the execution of the majority of Showtime.  The action sequences, save one, are straight out of any of the Lethal Weapon movies, and though they kept the story simple, they still followed the tried and true path which, as it usually does, leads us to mediocrity, safe complacency, and dooms the film to the role of not just has been, but what could have been.

Heading into the twilight of his career, DeNiro is tailor made to play the kind of role this should have been, one that balances his intense fiery persona and sarcastic nature behind that squinted sneer.  However in Showtime, he is reduced to straightman to Murphy, with neither of them clicking or hitting with any kind of consistency.  Murphy overacts in parts, as he should, but tries too hard in others and by the time his trademark laugh comes in, its almost too late for any kind of redemption for the film.

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