Showtime (2002) Critic Reviews

From frame one Showtime displays an ingenuity, cleverness and briskness that never flags.Read the full review

What the movie lacks in coherence it makes up for in zest, well-founded self-delight and a sharpshooter's eye for the absurdities of reality TV.Read the full review

Would seem to be surefire casting. The catch is that they're stuck with a script that prevents them from firing on all cylinders.Read the full review

De Niro's scowl and Murphy's sass are inherently funny, though in this case both actors are forced to call in moviegoers' long-established goodwill.Read the full review

The movie's funny in the opening scenes and then forgets why it came to play.Read the full review

So pleased with its own spoofy conceit it stays in annoyingly self-amused, predictable mode.Read the full review

The moment Showtime begins to take itself even remotely seriously, it loses whatever edge it might have had -- and that occurs less than 15 minutes into the proceedings. The best time for Showtime is no time.Read the full review

Plays every convention twice, once as parody and once by the book, but the movie, trying to be two things at once, fails at both.Read the full review

De Niro and Murphy are visibly uncomfortable with each other. Their improvisation seems chaotic and mismanaged, and the movie follows in kind.Read the full review