Rating: 
Summary: To what Length Will the Media Go for Ratings
Review: This is the premise of this movie. An interesting idea given today's mad obsession with "reality" tv. The cast is well directed, feeding off Dr Niro's exceptional talents. A good flick but disturbing. THe end is anti-climatic, though.It's okay but I wouldn't show it at a party.
Rating:
Summary: De Niro dies a bit early this time
Review: I don't know why they killed him in the middle of the movie. I think he should live a bit more. May me it is to finger-point the justice system in US. Who knows? Content is good. Acting is good. I liked this movie even De Niro got killed so early.
Rating: 
Summary: A faliure on virtually every level.....
Review: If Fifteen Minutes wasn't so chokingly self-important, so grandiose in its scope and ambition, and so downright nasty in its execution, it might just be possible to right it off as as bit of a turkey. But no such luck...... An allegory about media exploitation, a damning expose of the culture of voyeurism in the US, a gripping character drama - these are all things 15 Minutes wants to be and fails. Director John Herzfeld never misses a chance to take a trite side-ways snipe at media hysteria - principally through Kelsey Grammer's character, and ends up indicting himself in the process. There is a nasty streak of voyeuristic sadism running throughout this movie and its there for nothing as noble as to tell us something about ourselves. Ed Burns and Robert De Niro are a pairing with possibilities, and give the film what little gravitasse the film possesses, but their attempts to give credibilty to the enterprise is thwarted at everyturn by the films ponderous violence, unbelievably demented villains, and the cloying sense that the director genuinely believes that there is insight and enlightenment to be had in this toxic cocktail of faliures. In future years, 15 Minutes may well be remembered as one of those films in which almost everything seems to misfire. In the meantime, best to chalk it up as another nail in the coffin of De Niro's career......
Rating:
Summary: 15 Minutes? Feels like 15 Hours
Review: If there is one sure way to obtain your straight-to-hell one-way ticket, study Robert DeNiro's career very carefully. DeNiro started out in the late sixties with outstanding performances in indie fare such as "Hi, Mom!" and "Mean Streets." He then moved on to a passionate and amazing career with such groundbreaking cinema as "GoodFellas," "The Godfather Part II," "Taxi Driver," and who could forget his flawless performance in "Raging Bull?" But after years of immaculate performances, but never-quite-there salaries, he finally sold out and mailed in his performance with this piece of **bleep**, along with his other recent popcorn fare (ie; Meet the Parents and Analyze This). (....). This pretentious film goes from worse to damn worse. Please, Robert, please please please do a movie with Scorsese again, even if it's "Bringing Out the Dead 2." Try to revitalize your passion...haven't you made enough money already? And to all Amazon customers...AVOID "15 Minutes" at ALL costs!!! Unless, of course, you like bad movies that try to teach you a lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Cool Mystery Movie
Review: 15 Minutes was an interesting movie. Good plot and excellent developed criminals. The detectives were also developed very well also. The only thing I didn't like was the killing but that was okay because that was the reason why the criminals must be stopped. There's been an ironic thing in the movie which makes it well developed but it has a bad effect to the protagonists in the story. The irony is somewhere after the middle of the movie but I don't want to spoil it for you. People want to kill for 15 minutes of fame but doing so would be foolish. That's how these two Eastern European criminals manipulate U.S. law by using some parts of the system to get them free from their crimes. It's up to a homicide detective and an arson investigator to save the day. The action is good as for the developed criminal psychology but the irony had an effect making the movie you'll either love or hate.
Rating:
Summary: SILLY
Review: I found the Cz national's need to video tape everything, including his own death, silly and annoying. The plot, such as it is, did not hold my attention and I'm glad I just rented the film instead of buying it.
Robert DeNiro has seen better pictures than this and I'm surprised he consented to be in this one.
Rating:
Summary: I'd rather give it no stars...
Review: What should've been an interesting high concept satire along the lines of Natural Born Killers was botched and fumbled like a chimp holding a champagne tray. Actually, I shouldn't insult chimps, like that, to compare them to Herzfeld's direction. What really tickled my funny bone was the Behind the Scenes. If you watched it before the feature, you would think they were making an important movie with very timely commentary. Network, made over 20 years ago, had more to say than this steaming pile of dung. Apart from De Niro, the performances in this movie are so far over the top. Completely card board characters. I had to switch off the film the first time through when the Russian girl and Ed Burns are riding along in the car after a very tense scene at her salon where she's just confronted the serial killers. She turns to him and asks if he's married... How blatant can you get with exposition? She might as well have just stripped down naked. I turned it back on and predictably, the two killers are negotiating with network tv anchors for airtime and notoriety. This territory has all been covered and covered well by Natural Born Killers. And please don't blame Hollywood for the terrible choices some filmmakers make. Hollywood is a very big system with thousands of filmmakers and some are making great films. For every Michael Bay there is a Robert Zemeckis, Steve Zaillian, Scorsese... Not everyone can hit like Barry Bonds from the leadoff to 9 spot.
Rating: 
Summary: Scandal and the Media
Review: I fell asleep the first time I watched it, but when I watched it again for a class on 'Scandal and the Media', I found it really relevant to my studies. We live in a country that fosters the 15 minutes of fame lie with inane shows like Survivor and Temptation Island, and we only push the media to go farther with our hunger for more and more titilating tales of gossip and woe.
My advice to the naysayers: Take a second look. You might see more truth there than you care to find.
Rating:
Summary: If You Must Buy This Film, Try Not To Watch It
Review: Fifteen Minutes? If only! Tragically this worthless slop goes on for two hours. And if you get the InfiniFilm DVD version it will last even longer! Quickly: Ed Burns and Robert DeNiro make an unbelievable team (that's a team *without credibility*) of Fire Marshal and Homicide Cop trailing two Slavic killers. Okay, so there's a whole bunch of good acting talent in front of the cameras here: Avery Brooks, Kelsey Grammar, etc. Well, they can't save this stinker. Bottom line, it's just another long list of plot-contrivances: buddy-movie clichés, howling Police Chiefs, rabid TV Media types, a booby-trapped apartment, and a couple of non-romances. After watching the last year of Studio released flicks I've developed a theory: the more stuff on the DVD, the worse the movie will be. I watched Woody Allen's "Love And Death" the other day and laughed myself silly - not even a cast list on the DVD! Now check out the added features "15 Minutes" gives you! You see, now that the studios have learned the importance of the "added value" package in luring the unwary, you also get a Director's commentary, A Rock Video, and a Panel Discussion (featuring Marc Furman among others) about the perception of media and crime called "Does Crime Pay"? Frankly, unless these puppets appeared for free, the answer must be "yes", because I'm pretty sure this whole DVD constitutes some kind of crime. This InfiniFilm DVD "with compelling features" places "you in control of a unique experience". Of course a really compelling experience would be the ability to inflict RETALIATORY PAIN on writer/director/producer John Herzfeld. I guess the technology isn't quite there. Yet. But the worst part of this trash is it's hypocrisy. If you're going to make gestures implying satire about the media's sensationalism of violence, the cynical posturing of tabloid journalism, and the celebrity of evil, then do the audience the courtesy of TAKING A POSITION! This is a cesspool of the worst liberal clichés muddled up with the dopiest and most gratuitous (and ineptly recorded) right-wing revenge violence. It makes a Rambo flick look like Bill Moyers documentary. Listen to the dialog and you can practically see the New Line Studio committee sitting around "developing" this nonsense: "something about the media", "yeah but with action", "we need a spokesperson maybe", "yeah, a girl with heart who suffers", "and a car chase", "like TV is out of control", "but the bad guys die, right", "yeah, but it's a statement about something", "we could have a scene with that woman", "something more proactive"... Every scene in this film is an act of placation, a desperate attempt to mollify one of the umpteen demographic groups this tripe is ultimately marketed to. Well, on behalf of the demographic of ME, I got a gesture for ya'. Of course some people will love this film: after all it's almost as good as "Hannibal", almost as plausible as "The Negotiator", almost as rich in character as "Enemy At The Gates", almost as realistic as "Absolute Power". Now if those aren't good enough references, you're on your own.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Entertaining
Review: How do you get your 15 minutes of fame? Invent something? Win the lottery? Kill a celebrity and film it? The last choice is the idea of a Czech national who comes to America with his partner from Russia, looking to receive his share of loot from thief #3, who escaped. Thief #3 has spent the money and is now a plumber, so after dispatching him and burning up the apartment, Emil (Czech) and Oleg (Russian) begin looking for a new cash source. Oleg happens to steal a video camera, dreaming of making movies, and Emil decides that by pretending to be insane they can be acquitted of murder, and then slip out through the double jeopardy law. (You can't be tried for the same crime twice.) Enter quasi-celebrity homicide investigator Eddie Flemming, played by Robert De Niro, and arson investigator Jordy Warsaw, played by Edward Burns. Complicate with a witness to the aforementioned double homicide, Flemming's girlfriend and news reporter, a TV executive who doesn't know the meaning of "ethics", and the mentor/older brother to student/young kid relationship between De Niro and Burns, and you have 15 Minutes. Some argue that the killer's scheme is implausible and no one would try it. I think there are plenty of people who would. The movie's stand on people who manipulate the media, mainly through that magic phrase "Low Self-Esteem" is one of its strongest points, and by the end I was almost off my chair cheering for the good guys. Several of the scenes are filmed almost perfectly; one of the most exhilarating takes place in a burning building, with two characters trapped and no apparent way out. The fourth and final murder comes to mind also; I won't reveal details, but consider afterwards the last time a scene had you that close to the edge of your seat. Performances are good all around; De Niro is perfectly cast, as always, playing a cop who's been around a few times, and isn't quite sure why he's taken Burns under his wing. Emil (Karel Roden) and Oleg (Oleg Taktarov) are both excellent. The former virtually exudes despair and then superiority in his scheme; he is pure evil. Oleg, in contrast, is naïve and to a degree, likable. His scene at the end of the movie is especially potent. I hope to see both of them more often in the future. The movie has some funny moment also, the best being how Burns deals with a man who tries to rob him right after his pager goes off and he has to report to a crime scene. Overall, 15 Minutes is definitely worth seeing once, and quite possibly several times afterwards. You'll laugh, you'll tense up, you'll cheer, and you'll think. Because Emil's scheme isn't that far fetched.
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