15 Minutes
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''15 Minutes'' is a 2001 American
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
buddy cop
action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
directed and written by
John Herzfeld John Herzfeld (born April 15, 1947) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, actor and producer. His feature film directing credits include '' Two of a Kind'' (1983), '' 2 Days in the Valley'' (1996), '' 15 Minutes'' (2001) and ...
and starring
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
and
Edward Burns Edward Fitzgerald Burns (born January 29, 1968) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director best known for appearing in several films including ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), '' 15 Minutes'' (2001), ''Life or Something Like It'' (200 ...
. Its story revolves around a homicide
detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
(De Niro) and a
fire marshal A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a state, provincial or territorial government, but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually in ...
(Burns) who join forces to apprehend a pair of Eastern European murderers (
Karel Roden Karel Roden (born 18 May 1962) is a Czech actor, popularly known for his roles in ''Hellboy'' and '' The Bourne Supremacy'', and his voice work in ''Grand Theft Auto IV''. Life and career Roden followed his father and grandfather into acting. ...
and Oleg Taktarov) videotaping their crimes in order to become rich and famous. The title is a reference to the
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
quotation, " In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."


Plot

Ex-convicts Emil Slovak and Oleg Razgul arrive in the United States to claim their part of a bank heist in
eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
. Oleg steals a video camera from an electronics store. At the rundown apartment of their old partner, they are denied their share of the spoils, so Emil fatally stabs the partner and his wife as Oleg tapes it with the camera.
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
immigrant Daphne Handlova witnesses the murders from the bathroom, then escapes before Emil and Oleg can kill her as well. To hide the crime, Emil burns down the apartment. Jordy Warsaw is a New York City
arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...
investigator assigned to the case. Also at the scene is Eddie Flemming, is a high-profile detective who is followed by his girlfriend Nicolette Karas, a reporter from the tabloid TV show ''Top Story''. Flemming and Warsaw agree to work the case together. While checking out the crowd, Warsaw spots Daphne trying to get his attention, but she disappears. Meanwhile, Emil calls an
escort service An escort agency is a company that provides escorts for clients, usually for sexual services. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room (outcall), or at the escort' ...
and asks for a "Czech girl." Oleg tapes Emil as he kills the escort and learns the address of the escort service. Oleg continually films everything, claiming he wants to be the next
Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...
. Flemming and Warsaw investigate this murder and visit the escort service. The madam, Rose Hearn, tells them that the girl Warsaw described doesn't work for her but rather a hairdresser. She mentions a couple of other guys having just asked her the same questions. Flemming and Warsaw arrive at the hair salon just after Emil and Oleg have warned Daphne to keep quiet. Flemming notices Oleg filming them from across the street. In the ensuing foot chase, Flemming's regular partner Leon Jackson is hit with a glass bottle and his wallet and gun are stolen. Emil finds a card with Flemming's name and address. He becomes jealous of Flemming's celebrity status and is convinced that anyone in America can get away with anything. On the night Flemming plans to propose to his girlfriend Nicolette Karas, Oleg and Emil sneak into his house and bind Flemming to a chair. While Oleg is recording, Emil explains that he plans to kill Flemming and sell the tape to ''Top Story''. After getting himself committed to an
insane asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
, Emil will declare that he is actually sane. Since he can't be tried again, he will get off, collecting
royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
from books and movies based on his crimes. Flemming attacks them with his chair (while still taped to it), but Emil gets the upper-hand and stabs him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Emil then suffocates and kills Flemming with a pillow. The entire city is in mourning. Emil sells the tape of Flemming's murder to ''Top Story'' anchor Robert Hawkins in exchange for $1 million, outraging Warsaw and the entire police force. Emil and Oleg watch the tape's broadcast on ''Top Story'' inside a Planet Hollywood; customers realize that Emil and Oleg are sitting with them and panic. Police arrive and arrest Emil, while Oleg escapes. Warsaw takes Emil to an abandoned warehouse to kill him, but other police arrive just in time and take Emil into custody. Everything goes as planned for Emil, now a celebrity who is pleading insanity. His lawyer agrees to work for 30% of the royalties Emil will receive for his story. Meanwhile, in hiding, Oleg becomes jealous of the notoriety that Emil is receiving. While the lawyer is leading Emil away in court, Warsaw provokes an argument, with the ''Top Story'' crew recording the whole thing. Oleg quietly approaches Hawkins and hands him the tape of Emil explaining his plan to Flemming, proving he was sane the whole time. Hawkins shouts out to Emil about the evidence in his possession. Emil grabs a policeman's gun, shoots Oleg and grabs Nicolette, threatening to shoot her. Against orders, Warsaw shoots Emil a dozen times in the chest to avenge Flemming's murder. Hawkins rushes to Oleg's side as he dies. He attempts to get a comment from Warsaw, who punches him and walks away as the police all smile with approval.


Cast

*
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
as Detective Eddie Flemming *
Edward Burns Edward Fitzgerald Burns (born January 29, 1968) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director best known for appearing in several films including ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), '' 15 Minutes'' (2001), ''Life or Something Like It'' (200 ...
as
FDNY The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...
Fire Marshal Jordan Warsaw *
Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...
as Robert Hawkins *
Avery Brooks Avery Franklin Brooks (born October 2, 1948) is an American actor, director, singer, narrator and educator. He is best known for his television roles as Captain Benjamin Sisko on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', as Hawk on '' Spenser: For Hire'' ...
as Detective Leon Jackson * Melina Kanakaredes as Nicolette Karas *
Karel Roden Karel Roden (born 18 May 1962) is a Czech actor, popularly known for his roles in ''Hellboy'' and '' The Bourne Supremacy'', and his voice work in ''Grand Theft Auto IV''. Life and career Roden followed his father and grandfather into acting. ...
as Emil Slovák * Oleg Taktarov as Oleg Razgul *
Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films ''The Conjuring'' (2013), ''The Conjuring 2'' (2016), ''Annabelle Comes ...
as Daphne Handlova *
John DiResta John DiResta is an American former New York Transit police officer turned comedian, and actor. Career He was the title star of a short-lived UPN sitcom called '' DiResta'' from 1998-1999. He has appeared in several films, including '' Miss Cong ...
as Bobby Korfin * James Handy as Deputy Chief Declan Duffy *
Darius McCrary Darius Creston McCrary (born May 1, 1976) is an American actor, rapper, singer and producer. McCrary is known for his role as Edward "Eddie" Winslow, the oldest child of Carl and Harriette Winslow on the ABC/CBS television sitcom '' Family Mat ...
as Detective Tommy Cullen * Bruce Cutler as Himself *
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...
as Rose Hearn * Kim Cattrall as Cassandra *
Paul Herman Paul Herman (March 29, 1946 – March 29, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for playing Randy in David O. Russell's dramedy '' Silver Linings Playbook'' (2012) and Whispers DiTullio in Martin Scorsese's crime epic ''The Irishman ...
as Detective Paulie *
David Alan Grier David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1956) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work as Bernard on ''Damon (TV series), Damon'' (1998), as David Bellows on ''Life with Bonnie'' (2002–2004), as Joe Carmichael on ''The Carmic ...
as The Mugger *
Vladimir Mashkov Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov ( Russian: Владимир Львович Машков; born 27 November 1963) is a Soviet and Russian actor and director of cinema, known to Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film '' Behind Enemy Lines'' and 2 ...
as Milos Karlov * Irina Gasanova as Tamina Karlova * Noelle Evans as "Honey" * Tygh Runyan as Stephen Geller * Ritchie Coster as News Stand Vendor *
Gabriel Casseus Gabriel Casseus (born April 28, 1972) is an American actor and screenwriter from Roosevelt, New York. Biography Casseus, born in New York City, is of Haitian descent. Casseus was nominated for the 1995 Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut ...
as Unique *
Anton Yelchin Anton Viktorovich Yelchin ( rus, Антон Викторович Ельчин, p=ɐnˈton ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtɕɪn; March 11, 1989 – June 19, 2016) was an American actor. Born in the Soviet Union to a Russian Jewish family, he emigr ...
as Boy In Burning Building


Production

The film was shot on location in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
from May to July 1999. It was originally slated to be released by
New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...
in the spring of 2000, with theatrical trailers appearing in late 1999. For reasons unknown, the film was pulled from the spring 2000 schedule and then delayed until the following year, on March 9, 2001.


Reception


Box office

The film grossed $24,403,552 domestically in the United States and Canada. It made a further $31,956,428 internationally, for a worldwide total of $56,359,980 against a production budget of $42 million.


Critical response

Review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
gave the film an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 125 critics, with an average rating of 4.42/10. The site's consensus reads, "As critical as it is about sensationalism in the media, ''15 Minutes'' itself indulges in lurid violence, and its satire is too heavy-handed to be effective." It currently holds a 34 out of 100 rating on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, based on 32 critical reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...
'' gave it three out of four stars, calling it "a cynical, savage satire about violence, the media and depravity." Ebert felt "It doesn't have the polish of " Natural Born Killers" or the wit of "
Wag the Dog ''Wag the Dog'' is a 1997 American political satire black comedy film produced and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. The film centers on a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer who fabricate a war in Alb ...
," but it's a real movie, rough edges and all, and not another link from the sausage factory." On the negative side, Stephen Hunter of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' wrote:
Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' stated: "At the movies, we’re now bamboozled into expecting not drama but sensation, and so it’s no surprise that the plot of a movie like ''15 Minutes'' is less an end in itself than an excuse, a jumping-off point for showy, contrived, borderline-exploitation sequences that fail to tie together because they’re not really there to do anything but sell themselves as money-shot thrills. ... ''15 Minutes'' is a glum and sadistic mess."


References


External links

* * * * {{John Herzfeld 2001 films 2001 crime thriller films 2000s serial killer films American action thriller films American satirical films American crime thriller films American buddy cop films Camcorder films Films about television Films about firefighting Films directed by John Herzfeld Films shot in New York City Films set in New York City Films scored by Anthony Marinelli Films scored by J. Peter Robinson English-language German films German action thriller films German crime thriller films German satirical films German serial killer films New Line Cinema films American police detective films American serial killer films 2000s buddy cop films 2000s police procedural films New York City Fire Department 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s German films