AMERICA LIKES TO WATCH.
Arson investigator Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) and cop Eddie Fleming (Robert De Niro) go after two murderous immigrants who’ve watched too much American television. There are those who feel that this exciting, media-bashing thriller is too overblown. I disagree; the critique of America’s unfortunate infatuation with guns and violence is better presented here than in Oliver Stone’s headache-inducing yet boring Natural Born Killers (1994). The story stretches its limits, some of the characters are just silly, but De Niro’s part, a likable cop who has learned to handle media to his advantage, is well written.
2001-U.S. 120 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Keith Addis, David Blocker, John Herzfeld, Nick Wechsler. Written and directed by John Herzfeld. Cast: Robert De Niro (Eddie Flemming), Edward Burns (Jordy Warsaw), Kelsey Grammer (Robert Hawkins), Avery Brooks, Melina Kanakaredes, Karel Roden… Charlize Theron, Kim Cattrall.
Last word: “I knew when I made the movie, since a central figure was a member of the press, that some people in the press would be offended but I had a point I was trying to make and I felt strongly about it and hope the balance would be shown. Melina Kanakaredes plays a reporter and so does Kelsey Grammer and there’s two sides to every coin. Some got it and some didn’t. The other day I was in a restaurant and Larry King came up to me and said ‘I spoke to a number of people in the press about your movie, the real hardcore journalists, and they said you were dead on’. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated hearing that since there was a controversy over the movie.” (Herzfeld, IGN)
