15 Minutes (2001)

Director:

John Herzfeld

Writer (WGA):

John Herzfeld (written by)

Release Date:

9 March 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

America likes to watch

Plot:

A homicide detective and a fire marshall must stop a pair of murderers who commit videotaped crimes to become media darlings.

Plot Keywords:

Media | Detective | Fire Marshal | Murder | New York City

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Detective Eddie Flemming
Edward Burns	...	Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw
Kelsey Grammer	...	Robert Hawkins
Avery Brooks	...	Detective Leon Jackson
Melina Kanakaredes	...	Nicolette Karas
Karel Roden	...	Emil Slovak
Oleg Taktarov	...	Oleg Razgul
Vera Farmiga	...	Daphne Handlova
John DiResta	...	Bobby Korfin
James Handy	...	Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Declan Duffy
Darius McCrary	...	Detective Tommy Cullen
Bruce Cutler	...	Himself
Charlize Theron	...	Rose Hearn
Kim Cattrall	...	Cassandra
David Alan Grier	...	Mugger in Central Park

Also Known As:

15 Minuten Ruhm (Germany)
Fifteen Minutes (USA) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Czech | Russian | Greek | Afrikaans

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36845) | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Singapore:R(A) | Brazil:16 | Singapore:M18 | Philippines:R-18 | South Korea:15 (cable rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Singapore:PG (censored version) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The film was originally slated to be released in the Spring of 2000 by New Line with theatrical trailers appearing in the fall/winter 1999. For reasons unknown, the film was pulled from the Spring 2000 schedule and then delayed. The film was finally released in March of 2001. A similar situation would happen with Knockaround Guys which was slated to be released that Spring only to be yanked and delayed. That film would finally be released in late 2002.

Goofs:

Continuity: The bandage on Jordy's hand jumps back and forth between being neatly fastened and slightly unraveled between shots as he paces in his apartment. In one shot the bandage actually disappears completely, as he raises his hand to finish a drink, we can see the injured hand without a bandage. In the next scene, the bandage re-appears.

Quotes:

Emil Slovak: [Slovak is washing his wound in the sink while Razgul films, then he cuts the lights] What are you doing?
Oleg Razgul: I'm cutting the lights to make it more dramatic, just like the movie "Silence of the Sheeps".
Emil Slovak: Shut up!

Movie Connections:

References The King of Comedy (1982)

Soundtrack:

Fundal

Surprisingly good

Considering the critical drubbing this movie received, not to mention the fact that it's by the writer/director of Two Days in the Valley, I expected it to be pretty terrible. Surprisingly it turned out to be an exciting and occasionally quite funny thriller about two media obsessed thugs from the former Soviet Union who decide to become celebrities by committing a series of murders and videotaping the crimes. The movie is definitely not without serious flaws: for instance, nobody ever points out that it's almost impossible to mount a successful insanity defense in the US legal system. In a land where Jeffrey Dahmer and New York's highly delusional subway shooter are certified as sane these guys wouldn't have a shot in hell of making their case, and an insanity defence is the linchpin of their whole plan to profit from their crimes. Movie also ignores the fact that laws have been on the books to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes by selling their stories since the 1960's. Also, given the legal and ethical ramifications involved it's hard to imagine any credible scenario under which a news program, even a sleazy tabloid news program, would pay a million dollars cash to an at large murderer for a videotape of one of his crimes and then broadcast the thing live on television. Obvious flaws aside, 15 Minutes has several shockingly well-staged action sequences, great acting (except for the guy who played Ed Burns' boss--his grating one note performance went way over the self-parody line) and occasional welcome touches of black humor, like the very funny death scene of the thug who fancied himself a film director and manufactures the final shot of his movie for maximum emotional impact. All in all 15 Minutes is a dark and funny thriller and certainly a lot better than most of the schlock Hollywood churns out.