15 Minutes (2001)
Written and directed by John Herzfeld

The action stops about an hour into the film, when the criminals tie DeNiro to a chair and, just when you think he's about to make an implausible escape, they actually kill him. This is the only moment I enjoyed, as it did exactly the thing I expected it not to do.

From there, it degenerates into a commentary on the media's complicity in glorifying crime. Natural Born Killers addressed the same point comprehensively enough a long time ago, and I see no need for a sub-par and more mainstream-leaning variation, especially one that plays like a late-period episode of "Homicide."

Melina Kanakaredes is nice to look at; Kelsey Grammer is hard to take seriously in a movie; Edward Burns is so blank he made me long for the scorching screen presence of, say, Casey Affleck.

The ending is just preposterous, making sure you get the "statement" of the film at the expense of anything believable happening. I should have known going in that 15 Minutes would be complete shit, as it can't be a good sign to come across a DeNiro movie and be like "When did that come out?"

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