Product Details

• Actors: Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, Rene Russo, Rachael Harris, Zaid Farid
• Directors: Tom Dey
• Writers: Alfred Gough, Jorge Saralegui, Keith Sharon, Miles Millar
• Producers: Bruce Berman, Channing Dungey, Eric McLeod
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: August 13, 2002
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000069I5W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,148 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Can a buddy-cop parody still qualify as a good buddy-cop movie? Showtime struggles to prove it's possible, and with a few solid laughs it almost succeeds. No movie starring Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro could be a total turkey, and their pairing--as (respectively) a brash patrol cop/wannabe actor and a seasoned detective with zero tolerance for showmanship--yields a few choice moments of slick, professional comedy. Still, most of Showtime represents a missed opportunity, squandering Rene Russo's talent as a TV producer who casts Murphy and De Niro in a buddy-cop reality show that turns them into overnight celebrities. In an effort to repeat the modest success of Shanghai Noon, director Tom Dey capitalizes on the casual chemistry of his leads (especially Murphy, who outshines his costars) until parody succumbs to routine action involving big guns and bad guys. With a sharper sense of satire, this passable entertainment could have been a comedy juggernaut. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Eddie Murphy, betraying his "Beverly Hills Cop" past, and Robert De Niro, continuing his comedic career swing, send up the buddy-cop movie. Although they click well in a few scenes, they're no Starsky and Hutch. After a botched drug bust, they get picked for a reality television show ("The Real World" meets "Cops"), and the script devotes a lot of time to the underwhelming observation that we act differently when we're on camera. Much of the humor is too self-referential-jokes with footnotes-and the whole production feels a bit halfhearted. The thugs are the movie's only real triumph: hirsute, club-hopping Eastern Europeans with guns that shoot bullets the size of soda cans. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Showtime!, September 4, 2002

By 

Ed Mich "Ed" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Showtime (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Showtime is you normal average buddy cop movie about two complete opposite cop's being parterned with each other againest there will.You've seen that already.Except this time it has two very funny actors(Eddie Murphey,and Robert De Niro)to double the fun.

The Plot:Mitch Preston is a police officer who is very serious about his work and doesn't mess around much.Trey Sellars is a cop who doesn't take his work that serious but he is a entertaining actor.When Mitch shoots a video news camera that is filming a wounded officer the Maxis tv network sues the precient if Mitch doesn't do a relaity tv cop show that Chase Rense a producer came up with.Mitch is stuck and has to do it.

Trey applies for the part as Mitch's partner and gets it.Mitch doesn't like Trey because he treats his job so easily.Mitch and Trey get camera tips from T.J.Hooker(William Shatner playing himself)and Mitch still doesn't take his acting seriouly.On the other hand Trey is doing wonderful and the public love him.

In just about every movie there is a bad guy and in this movie the bad guy has a gun that could do mass detruction.It is a custom made gun that Mitch and Trey have to track down before more people die.

The preveiws made Showtime look like fun movie which it is.Hignlights in the movie include a car chase,the Showtime TV show booth confessionals,and the William Shatner scene.If you think the Showtime commerical's look dumb and your expecting a dumb prediable comendy your wrong.So see Showtime now.

ENJOY!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars makes fun of typical cop movies and the media, February 11, 2003

By 

"joules202" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Showtime (Full Screen Edition) (DVD)

This movie is funny and entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously since it makes fun of other old tired cop movies out there, and surely pokes fun at itself. Murphy is a cop who wants to be an actor. Deniro is a detective who punches out a camera man and is forced to become part of a "cops" like TV show. Murphy auditions and gets the part as his partner and the two couldn't be more different. They rub each other the wrong way and while Murphy is trying to look good on the show to land a big acting job, Deniro is trying to be a typical cop. Its humorous to watch the interaction between the overacting murphy, who represents the typical police drama, and the serious Deniro who represents real cops. In one scene shatner is showing deniro and Murphy how to do some "hood jumping", Murphy pulls it off like a pro and deniro remarks that hood jumping never happens in real life, but later on we find him hanging on to the hood of a car in a high speed chase. I really like deniro and murphy together, and though murphy isn't the best actor, it doesn't really come out in the movie, because he's playing the part of a poor actor trying to act like a "TV" cop the whole time. The only problem I have with the movie is the ending with the camera since its not very believable. The acting is ok, the plot is interesting, but the humor and satirical irony are what kept me interested, and even if you don't "get it" and like simple movies, you'll enjoy and laugh at this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Crazy, funny and a bit wild!, September 29, 2002

By 

Todd E. Newman (Valparaiso, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Showtime (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

This was an interesting comedy that looks at how the media can overwhelm fighting crime. Deniro and Murphy are joined together to make a action-packed crime fighting television show that follows the pair on actual crimes and investigations. Eddie Murphy was very entertaining as usual and it was fun to see Robert Deniro take his well known 'serious side' and try to loosen up. Eddie Murphy in this movie tries to play to the camera while Robert Deniro can't stand being filmed or being on television which makes for a conflicting dual which puts the fun into this movie. I was impressed with this movie and liked the appearance from William Shatner which I thought made the movie even more funny! This movie never drags and there are many laughs that await you!