Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy as a pair of police officers in a reality TV show...it's Lethal Weapon meets Beverly Hills Cop meets Big Brother. Well, more accurately it's
HIGH CONCEPT: Gleeful Weapon.
PLOT: Hard-bitten cop Mitch Preston (Robert De Niro) takes umbrage at a TV cameraman and shoots his camera. As punishment he's forced into participating in a reality cop show with rookie Trey Sellars (Eddie Murphy).
PIG AND HAM: Preston is utterly unimpressed by Sellar's cop procedure, most of which he's learnt off TV. On seizing a shipment of drugs, Sellars tastes it to confirm it's cocaine. "But what if it had been cyanide?" despairs Preston.
BUDDY DOUBLES: The movie's directed by Tom Day, whose previous film was Shanghai Noon, a reluctant-buddy movie starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson.
ISN'T THAT TJ HOOKER? Making his umpteenth cameo appearance as himself is William Shatner, who shows Eddie Murphy's Sellars how to raise an ironic eyebrow. He should know.
BUSY BOB: De Niro's currently very active, making about four films a year. With massive commitments to production (his TriBeCa company has a hand in About A Boy and upcoming Queen musical We Will Rock You), he probably needs the cash.
VERDICTS: "De Niro and Murphy make Showtime the most hilarious gulity pleasure of many a recent movie" - Detroit News "Ninety punitive minutes of screeching-metal smash-ups and flaccid odd-couple snipings" - Village Voice.
