By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * )
Jerry Springer would be proud of this idea. Two lowlifes videotape themselves committing murder and try to sell the tape to a news show for $1 million. They will get off the murder charges by pleading that they were abused as children. Why?
Because in this celeb-obsessed, reality TV-crazed world, they want the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol promised them.
Robert De Niro stars as a NY detective who has become a celebrity, Edward Burns as a fire inspector and Kelsey Grammer as ... well, Jerry Springer.
Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov are Emil and Oleg, East European refugees who rob an electronics store as soon as they get off the plane. Emil wants to be rich and famous through violence — it's the American way, he's seen it on TV at home — and Oleg videos his crimes.
Through Manhattan they go, attacking friends, call girls, passers-by. The fire inspector finds that a blaze was lit to conceal a murder and the cop pushes his way into the media spotlight because he wants the credit. He's helped by his friendship with the reality TV host and his affair with a TV reporter (Melina Kanakaredes).
Okay, so it doesn't quite come off. The ending in particular lets it down. But it should make you think about what you're watching on some of those cop shows, trash talk shows and tabloid documentaries.
You might even wonder: hey, if we watch people like Emil and Oleg and the Jerry Springer guests, are we actually helping to create them?
Rental video, DVD: Today
• DVD features: Audio commentary by director/writer John Herzfeld; deleted or extended scenes (12 mins); unedited video shot by Oleg Taktarov for two murder scenes (10 mins); music video, Fame by God Lives Underwater; theatrical trailer; cast and crew filmographies; 15 Minutes of True Tabloid Stars documentary, with comments from Maury Povich, Deborah Norville, Sally Jessy Raphael, Jerry Springer; Does Crime Pay? (21 mins) panel discussion on crime in America and whether criminals profit from their notoriety; Fact Track details about actors, locations and real-life influences of the film.
