Showtime

A supposed spoof of cop movies and reality TV, Showtime's first 20 minutes are ripe with glossy satire. Robert De Niro plays a no-nonsense Los Angeles detective forced to let TV crews follow him on and off the job so the department won't get sued for his assault on a network cameraman. He's stuck with a wisecracking, showboating, fame-seeking partner (Eddie Murphy) and coached on acting like a TV cop by T.J. Hooker alumni William Shatner (in a funnier than usual send-up of himself). But in Act Two, director Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon) utterly abandons the picture's fertile, sarcastic, "real cop" concept and allows Showtime to become a Lethal Weapon rip-off instead of a Lethal Weapon parody, as suddenly viewers are confronted with a bleach-blonde Euro-trash bad guy (Pedro Damián), customized über-machine guns and unmotivated car chases that end in slow-mo explosion-crashes. Even in Hollywood, which is built on insincerity and cheap contrivance, it's pathetically sanctimonious to make a satire that becomes, then grossly exceeds, that which it's meant to mock. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Tom Dey and writer/producer Jorge Saralegui, five additional scenes (one including five takes) totaling nearly 15 minutes, and a 14-minute "making-of" hosted by William Shatner. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing film.] (R. Blackwelder)