FIFTEEN MINUTES review

I'm going to be writing a lot of reviews tonight, so I'm going to be keeping them short and sweet (a good test run of the skill prior to SXSW film fest starting today).

First up tonight is FIFTEEN MINUTES, the follow-up theatrical film by John Herzfeld (who made Charlize Theron famous with TWO DAYS IN THE VALLEY, that damn white outfit of hers was astounding), and like TWO DAYS IN THE VALLEY it is a film that is far better than it probably should be given its ultimately unsatisfying final act.

I went into this one kind of expecting to hate it based upon the trailer, which alternately thrilled and bored me. The trailer seemed to be laying out a film where a journalist (played by SideShow Bob) was hiring a pair of 'wacky Russian' criminals to commit crimes and give him exclusive footage for on-air broadcast. It also looked like Ed Burns and Robert DeNiro had something to do in the film, but I was really unsure what that was.

We had some mixed reviews, positives and negatives, so I figured the movie would be a mixed bag, but while my review is definitely mixed, the parts are very separate.

I don't know how long the film is, but let's say it is 2 hours long. Now if the film is two hours long, one hour and thirty minutes were excellent, followed by a pedantic seemingly wrapped up by committee of monkeys ending (sorry to offend monkies everywhere).

FIFTEEN MINUTES attempts to be a black black satire of modern fame / predatory violence / media starved culture. And for that first three quarters of the film it delivers in spades. But then... inexplicably, the entire tone shifts into some run-of-the-mill victim masturbatory wish fulfillment that just enraged me. Holier than thou speeches... And happiness throughout the crowd.

Admittedly the audience applauded at the end, but I think it probably came because there is so much good here, that they didn't mind finishing their cinematic meal with a ketchup covered pickle on banana nut bread. It was literally that obscene to me. For the majority of this film Herzfeld has his story, pacing and actors in perfect form, but the derailing is a near traumatic event. So close. So very close. This movie cried to be non-resolved by the end. It wept to leave loose ends, not for a sequel, but to disturb.

The film lacked committment and courage to finish out what it started, instead they took the lid off the pressure cooker and left me with nothing but angry frustrated thoughts about what might've been... Where they could have gone.... How it should have ended... But no... we have to let the audience be happy and safe when the film goes off. Travis Bickle can't be loose on the streets thought of as a hero... Oh no, our test screenings clearly prove that the audience would have preferred that Bickle end up in a padded cell in an insane asylum being visited by the cleancut ex-prostitute played by Jodi Foster... who wasn't really a prostitute, Bickle was to be her first client, cause otherwise the film would sponsor child pornography... AAAACKKKK!!! Literally, the last 30 minutes or so of this movie feel like that... Imagine TAXI DRIVER in the test screening world.... ya know... it would almost be worth it to test screen the film in mid-america or burbank somewhere to see what would have to be done to it.

Don't get me wrong, this movie was never in danger of being on par with TAXI DRIVER, but it was entertaining with a bite, but at the end it turned out they were just gumming us... that the teeth had been pulled.

Ultimately, though I love the first 2/3rds, I can't recommend that you see this in a theater.... it is a rental all the way. Well, I've gotta go, another review coming soon...