Story Line: A hot-shot New York detective (De Niro) teams up with shy fire inspector (Burns) go to take down two Eastern European thugs (Taktarov, Karel Roden) who go on a violent rampage in hopes of gaining fame and fortune from their notoriety.
Bottom Line: This clunky mix of police procedural, media satire and serial killer thriller doesn't even attempt to mix its disparate genres smoothly and careens all over the place, eventually turning into a cartoon. This wouldn't be bad if the film's tone stayed in a lighthearted mode, but extremely violent and unsettling altercations just don't work next to scenes of over-the-top anti-TV ramblings that could have been excised from Network 25 years ago. Major plot holes and strange continuity don't help either. Although De Niro is fine as the world-weary cop, the media-obsessed killers Taktarov (a former Ultimate Fighting champion) and Roden sure are reprehensible. Despite mixed reviews, the film made $25 million in theaters and is poised to have more than 15 minutes of fame on video shelves. --Irv Slifkin