Cinema Review

WHILE Scream was a parody of horror and Moulin Rouge was parody of the musical, Showtime has taken a huge stab at the action genre and reality TV, and with Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro in the roles of two mismatched cops, expectations are high.

When grouchy detective Mitch shoots a camera after a late night drug bust, he ends up being teamed up with useless, wannabe action hero beat cop Trey for a new reality TV police series. The pair end up on the case of catching a man in charge of illegal weapons, while the nation also watches.

Shanghai Noon director Tom Dey has done a really good job.

The film smartly piles up the action cliches although Alan Silvestri's score should have been much more over the top.

Apart from that, fans will love this as it cruelly takes off the likes of Lethal Weapon (ironic with Rene Russo in the cast) and just about every other action film. For Dey, it was either Bad Boys 2 or this, and he took the risk.

Murphy has really excelled here. He's wisecracking and energetic all the way through, but before you can say that that is what he always does, he exaggerates his character resulting in a brilliant performance. The same can be said for De Niro too, as he has comes back from last year's pathetic Fifteen Minutes with style.

Most reviews have generally been judgemental which is the fault with many of today's critics (oh the irony!), but please ignore those reviews and watch this lighthearted film with a lighthearted eye.

Overall, the script is smart, the direction is clever, the performances are perfect and the cliched characters, action sequences, dialogue and just about everything else pay off in an amusing treat.