Bowfinger Review
by "David N. Butterworth" (dnb AT dca DOT net)August 21st, 1999
BOWFINGER
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1999 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
The posters that adorn the walls of Bowfinger International Pictures aren't the kind that would inspire many aspiring actors to shell out $25.00 just to audition. When these very walls pronounce "The Yugo Story" (yes, the sassy little EEC compact) as the studio's top grosser, you have to wonder what kind of a two-bit, third-rate production company this really is.
Well, it's the raison d'être of Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin), a two-bit, third-rate movie director.
Bobby, not surprisingly, has had some difficulty competing with the Paramounts and the Universals until the day he reads a script that knocks his socks off. The treatment, not your typical alien invasion picture, is written by Bobby's accountant/receptionist following Bobby's encouraging "if you're as good with words as you are with numbers, well... I don't need to finish that sentence." In "Chubby Rain" (quite the best film title within a film since "Love and Death on Long Island"'s "Hotpants College II"), Bobby smells a hit.
Speed-dialing virtually everyone he knows, Bobby pulls his downtrodden, pessimistic employees together for a ten o'clock meeting, promising that this is finally It. If Bobby is good at anything it's the small-time scam, and he manages to swindle a respected Hollywood producer, briefly played by Robert Downey, Jr., into proclaiming "Chubby Rain" a "go picture," except for one minor caveat: the film must headline action superstar Kit Ramsey.
Bowfinger's subsequent efforts to sign Kit don't prosper, setting the master manipulator's wheels in motion again. How about this for film nouveau: shoot the entire movie without the star's knowledge or consent, but with all the bit players harassing the unsuspecting Ramsey at every possible opportunity.
As conceived and written by Martin, that turns out to be an absolute humdinger of a premise.
Some might gripe that Martin has almost written himself out of the picture, but that's a tribute to him and his craft, and it's partly why "Bowfinger" works; there's no bologna in the shoes here. Similarly, Eddie Murphy (who plays Kit Ramsey and his braces-wearing, errand-running dingbat lookalike Jiff) is near-on sensational in a demanding dual role, yet he doesn't steal the film either. After all these years, Martin and Murphy still have what it takes.
On the minus side, Heather Graham ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me") impresses in the early going as a just-off-the-bus Ohio hick looking for fame and fortune in Tinseltown, but she quickly loses her charm by forcing the issue. Rollergirl was clearly a fluke; since her prominent rise to stardom in "Boogie Nights," Graham has been very disappointing.
While there are some perfectly inspired bits in "Bowfinger" (e.g., the scene in which they recruit the best film crew they can afford), some scenes fall completely flat (e.g., Daisy's "hot chemistry" scene with Jiff). It's not clear whether the blame falls upon screenwriter Martin or director Frank Oz (working here with the comedian for the fourth time), but it makes for some uneven cinema. In the long run, however, these imbalances do little to harm "Bowfinger," a film that fans of Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, and skillfully written and performed comedy should enjoy.
--
David N. Butterworth
[email protected]
Got beef? Visit "La Movie Boeuf"
online at http://members.dca.net/dnb
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.
