Bowfinger Review
by John Sylva (dewyngale AT aol DOT com)August 16th, 1999
Bowfinger by John Sylva Rating: C
http://hometown.aol.com/DeWyNGaLe/MoviePED.html
Bowfinger, a Frank Oz film, stars two of today's Kings of Comedy, Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin. Murphy has been in a slump lately, as his last three films, Life, Holy Man, and Dr. Doliitle, have come no where near where Murphy's comedic talents were in 1996's The Nutty Professor. Martin has been in a comedic slump, as his last two mainstream comedies, The Out of Towners, and Sgt. Bilko, are nowhere near as funny as Martin is in 1979's The Jerk, or his Saturday Night Live performances. Both actors are trying to redeem themselves here with Bowfinger, but although their performances are hilarious, Bowfinger, for the most part, fails to do so.
Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin), founder and owner of Bowfinger International Films, is pushing 50, and still hasn't gotten his big break in the film business. After his accountant, Afrim (Adam Alexi-Malle), feeds him a screenplay, entitled "Chubby Rain," in which aliens come down to earth in raindrops, Bowfinger is determined to get Hollywood's top action star, Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy), in the lead role. After Kit declines any involvement with the film, Bowfinger, with cast, including Daisy (Heather Graham), an Ohioan who came to Hollywood to pursue acting, Carol (Christine Baranski), who is still trying to get her big acting break, crew members Dave (Jamie Kennedy), and a few Mexicans that he rallied up, decide to film around Kit, having his actors walk up to him, rehearse their lines, and hope to get the right lines back out.
Love the setup- Too bad the Steve Martin screenplay can't sustain the cleverness it starts out with. As Bowfinger is just getting started, while the cast and crew follow Kit around constantly, the film is at its best, bringing strong laughs, and snappy dialogue- but this is where everything tumbles downhill. Bowfinger realizes that he can't get Kit for the closeups, so therefore hires a look a like, Jiff (also Eddie Murphy). Jiff is a nice, innocent guy, whose only experience in the film business is renting actively at Blockbuster and attending the cinema.
Eddie Murphy works well in both roles, but the film doesn't have room for both. The film, at a short running time of 95 minutes, could work better if only Jiff or Kit were the main focus, but the limited plot isn't strong enough for both story lines. If the main focus was filming Kit the entire time, without him knowing it, Bowfinger could have been one of this year's funniest films. It's not that the character of Jiff isn't funny, it's that the two storylines running against each other are uneven, and don't particularly work. Now, maybe if Jiff was there from the start, Bowfinger could have worked better, but once Jiff enters the picture, the screenplay, and film, becomes a total mess.
Martin's screenplay works at times, as it pokes fun at Hollywood producers and the entire Hollywood style. Yet at other times, the screenplay has its major difficulties, as it continuously throws lame jokes at you. For example- Daisy is supposed to spoof Hollywood actresses, and their disposable boyfriends, but soon after weare informed of Daisy's sleazy ways, the character becomes obnoxious, as jokes of Daisy's fall flat.
Bowfinger never seems to take off, as the entire film seems to hit the same notes, repeatedly. The only times we get variation from these notes is when Christine Baranski is present, whose character in Bowfinger is completely clueless as to why she can't meet Kit Ramsey, and in Chubby Rain is a knife wielding alien who gives the film's best lines. Baranski overdoes all of her Chubby Rain lines, with extreme exaggerations in her voice, making for the funniest character of the film. Baranski is the standout here in Bowfinger, as she turns the character that is given only two dimensions by the screenplay, and forces it to three.
Heather Graham attempts comedy again here, after giving an applaudable performance in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and succeeds once again. Although the screenplay gives her an annoying character to work with, Heather Graham makes the most of the it, and she delivers some big laughs as acting in Chubby Rain, but when she isn't, she is simply a background image.
Eddie Murphy is stuck in another mediocre movie, but in this one, Murphy gives an over the top, hands down hilarious performance. Bowfinger isn't the usual Eddie Murphy material, as Steve Martin is the main focus, but Murphy does his share to add to the mediocrity of the film. It's not fair to call Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy a comedic duo, for the two barely have any screen time together, but both give funny, credible performance as their developed characters.
The screenplay uses many characters as Daisy does boyfriends, one after another, for basically no reason. Jamie Kennedy's talent goes to waste, as he is used simply used to locate Kit at all times, or to obtain camera equipment. If the screenplay is going to bring characters like Kennedy's Dave in, it could at least give personality/character development. In another example, the entire cheap/Mexican crew idea brings laughs at first, but did the film have to carry them along the entire way?
Some of the gags in Bowfinger work, as the dog walking in high heels in an empty parking lot, scaring Kit senseless, comes to mind, but many of the jokes that have potential to be funny are dragged out, as we are supposed to be laughing hilariously, but only a small grin may appear across your face. Frank Oz and Steve Martin have a good idea going for them, and a great cast, but Bowfinger succeeds about as much as Bobby Bowfinger and crew do while trying to film Kit Ramsey- Only somewhat.
The Bottom Line- Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin continue their slump of mediocre films- But at least this one carries a few big laughs.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
