It's safe to assume that "Showtime" was once a much longer movie than the one that's now playing on the big screen. There seem to be whole portions of story and character development missing from this sporadically amusing action-comedy, which attempts to combine a parody of "reality television" with the buddy comedy vibes of the "Rush Hour" movies.

To be more specific, there are several too-abrupt changes in character behavior and an absence of scene transitions that indicate the film was drastically trimmed back. Not that any of us should be complaining when a film clocks in around 90 minutes these days, but the plotting here leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, there's no denying that the offbeat pairing of Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy works better than many of us might have expected, and there's just enough character humor to make the whole mess watchable.

The film's title refers to a catch-phrase uttered by camera-hungry beat cop Trey Sellars (Murphy), who gets his chance at stardom when television producer Chase Renzi (Rene Russo) casts him in her new reality program. Unfortunately for Trey, her choice for the show's "lead" is Mitch Preston (De Niro), a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense detective who is currently tracking drug dealers who are using lethal new weapons that can fire shells through steel.

Mitch wants nothing to do with Chase or her television show, but after a costly P.R. gaffe, he's pretty much got no choice in the matter. Worse, he's paired with Trey, with whom he's butted heads on at least one other occasion.

The film is at its best when it's doing light comedy and leaving the violent cop stuff alone, such as the bits in which William Shatner (playing himself with fairly funny results) tries to teach the two officers how to "act."

And to his credit, director Tom Dey ("Shanghai Noon") valiantly tries to keep the material from getting too dark (for a PG-13 movie, it's surprisingly violent; there are times when it gets to be a bit much).

As for his stars, both Murphy and De Niro give performances that are much better than the material itself. In particular, De Niro seems to be having fun spoofing his too-serious image, though he's not given enough time with Russo to make their characters' tentative romance work.

"Showtime" is rated PG-13 for violence (gunplay, fist-fighting and explosive mayhem), occasional use of strong profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), crude sexual slang terms and brief drug content (a transaction involving cocaine). Running time: 92 minutes.

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