Bowfinger
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Directed by: Frank Oz
Starring:
Steve Martin - Bobby Bowfinger
Eddie Murphy - Kit Ramsey / Jeffernson "Jiff" Ramsey
Heather Graham - Daisy
Christine Baranski - Carol
Jamie Kennedy - Dave
Adam Alexi-Malle - Afrim
Terence Stamp - Terry Stricter
For a film that stars Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, and Heather Graham (when she was popular), Bowfinger beautifully captures the excitement and wonder of guerilla film-making. Following the exploits of producer-cum-con-artist (or is it the other way around?) Bobby Bowfinger (Martin), a group of marginally talented actors and a crew comprised mostly of illegal immigrants try to make a sci-fi action film called "Chubby Rain" with only $2,184, "borrowed" equipment, and a whole lot of gumption. What they don't have is big-name star Kit Ramsey (Murphy) to play the lead. But for the ingenious Bowfinger, that's not a deal-breaker.
The film has enough sleaze and satire to have an edge but also can be quite sweet and times and it never begrudges its characters because at its heart, we see that they all want to make a movie. Yes, money, fame, and the opportunity to make more movies would be great, but they're caught up in the moment of getting that next shot and giving the film their all.
Oddly enough, Bowfinger marks a tremendous decline of its major players, almost like a Diff'rent Strokes of movies. Director Frank Oz goes on to do the wretched business of The Score and The Stepford Wives (although I hear good things about his latest film, Death at a Funeral). Martin (who also wrote the film), proceeds to demolish his credibility with two Cheaper by the Dozen movies, The Pink Panther (which has a sequel on the way), and Bringing Down the House. I'm convinced that his work in Shopgirl and Looney Toons: Back in Action are the only reasons he hasn't been dragged into hell. Murphy, who is so sweet and funny in this film, just made constant cinematic abominations (that's not hyperbole; I saw The Adventures of Pluto Nash and I have to live with that every day of my life) with Dreamgirls being his only redeeming film of the last seven years. And Graham? Well, she was eventually knocked all the way back down to doing television and then her show was cancelled after a massive marketing campaign and one episode that nobody watched. I note all of this because despite all of their massive flops, either critical, financial, or both, you can always point to 1999 and say, "Well, they did do Bowfinger".
I wonder if Oz, Martin, Murphy, or Graham understood that the pride of their characters wasn't making a shitty movie and getting it on screen, but that those characters struggled and fought to make a Hollywood blockbuster without the Hollywood. It's funny and triumphant and I would never apply either of those words to films like Daddy Day Care or Say It Isn't So. I'll take Chubby Rain over movies like those any day.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
1.1.08