General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

15 Minutes

15 Minutes is a 2001 American crime thriller written and directed by John Herzfeld, starring Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, and Kelsey Grammer, released wide by New Line Cinema on March 9, 2001.¹ Its title refers to Andy Warhol's statement that "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," and the film follows two Eastern European criminals who videotape their murders in New York City and try to sell the footage to a tabloid television show.²

Key fact	Detail
Release	March 9, 2001 (wide), New Line Cinema; R rating; 120 minutes³
Writer-director	John Herzfeld, also one of four producers (with Nick Wechsler, Keith Addis, and David Blocker)¹
Lead cast	Robert De Niro (Detective Eddie Flemming), Edward Burns (Jordy Warsaw), Kelsey Grammer (Robert Hawkins), Karel Roden (Emil Slovak), Oleg Taktarov (Oleg Razgul)⁴
Box office	$24,375,436 domestic, $31,956,428 international, $56,331,864 worldwide³
Budget	$42,000,000 per The Numbers; $60,000,000 per Box Office Mojo³^•⁵
Critical scores	32% Tomatometer from 123 reviews; 37% audience Popcornmeter; Metascore 34 from 32 reviews¹^•⁶
Filming	May to July 1999, in New York City and Los Angeles⁷

Spoilers

Plot

Czech national Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and his Russian sidekick Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov) arrive in New York City to collect their share of a heist score from a former partner. Oleg steals a video camera and films their activities, and when Slovak kills the partner and his wife, Razgul records the murders.⁴^•⁸ Realizing that the American media can make a remorseless killer look like the victim and make them rich, they target the two investigators, filming everything to sell to the tabloid TV show "Top Story."⁹

The investigators are NYPD Homicide Detective Eddie Flemming (De Niro), a media-savvy celebrity cop, and FDNY Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw (Burns), described in promotional copy as media-naive.⁹ Kelsey Grammer plays Robert Hawkins, the anchor of "Top Story," a character Roger Ebert described as a cross between Jerry Springer and Geraldo Rivera.¹⁰ The supporting cast includes Vera Farmiga as a witness to a crime, Melina Kanakaredes, Avery Brooks, and Charlize Theron under a black wig as an escort service madam.⁴^•¹¹

Title and theme

Herzfeld wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the title refers to Warhol's prophecy of 15 minutes of fame, and that the film grew from his fascination with three cultural obsessions: celebrity, wealth, and violence. He described wondering how far people would go to become well known as the question that led him to write and direct the film.² Rotten Tomatoes' synopsis frames the story as being less about solving a double murder than about who controls the truth of it, with the cops chasing the murderers while the media chases the cops.¹

The film makes structural use of the criminals' video footage. Herzfeld "makes vivid use of footage shot on a video camera by one of the actors while in character," and the Moria review notes that some scenes were photographed in black and white.¹¹^•⁴ A Notre Dame Observer review found these early home-video shots visually interesting but judged that the film then settled into a run-of-the-mill action movie.¹²

Production

Filming ran from May to July 1999.⁷ Locations included New York City, with scenes at Battery Park in Manhattan and at the Planet Hollywood Restaurant at 1540 Seventh Avenue, where Emil and Oleg watch their video broadcast; the King Edward Hotel at 121 E. 5th St in Los Angeles stood in for Emil and Oleg's New York hotel.⁷ A chase scene required closing an avenue for six blocks, from 60th to 66th Street.⁹ Jean-Yves Escoffier was the cinematographer, with music by Anthony Marinelli and J. Peter Robinson.⁴

Reception

The film opened on March 9, 2001 in 2,337 theaters, grossing $10,523,154 on opening weekend, 43.2% of its $24,375,436 domestic total.³ Worldwide gross reached $56,331,864 against a production budget reported as $42,000,000 by The Numbers and $60,000,000 by Box Office Mojo.³^•⁵

Critical response was largely negative. Rotten Tomatoes records 32% on the Tomatometer from 123 reviews, with a critics consensus that the film, as critical as it is about media sensationalism, itself indulges in lurid violence and is too heavy-handed to be effective.¹ Metacritic gave it a metascore of 34 from 32 reviews.⁶ Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was an exception, rating it three stars and calling it "a cynical, savage satire about violence, the media and depravity" that is "a real movie, rough edges and all, and not another link from the sausage factory," while conceding that some getaways are unlikely and the ending is on autopilot.¹⁰ The Washington Post's Desson Thomson called Herzfeld a "secondhand-meister" regenerating themes audiences had tired of.¹ The Los Angeles Times review was warmer toward the casting, praising Roden, Taktarov, and Grammer, and noting the film's good use of underappreciated actors such as Vera Farmiga.¹¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2000–2004 films › Released 2000 to 2002

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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