Showtime

A hardnosed veteran cop (Robert De Niro) is forced to star in a reality-TV series, in which he is teamed with a fellow officer desperate to be an actor (Eddie Murphy). Somebody at Warner Bros. (and De Niro’s Tribeca Productions) had one genuine inspiration: casting Murphy and De Niro together. It gives the movie comfy echoes of 24 Hrs. and Midnight Run, not to mention odd-couple buddy movies like the Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour series. But they should have followed up by writing a script; the numerous references to other movies only show how uninspired this one is. Murphy is funny, De Niro a game straight man, and Rene Russo tags along as their producer. But the movie never really gets rolling and unravels completely in the last half hour. William Shatner does an amusing turn as himself.