This review contains some minor spoilers for the feature film "Bulworth," but I promise not to give away any major revelations concerning the plot.
Nutshell: A smart, funny, and pointed political satire that takes some risks.
----- Bulworth (USA, 1998)
R, 112 minutes
Cast includes: Warren Beatty (Jay Bulworth), Halle Berry (Nina), Oliver Platt (Dennis Murphy), Don Cheadle (L.D.), Paul Sorvino (Graham Crockett), Jack Warden (Eddie Davers), Christine Baranski (Constance Bulworth)
Distributed by 20th Century Fox (USA) Screenplay by Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser Produced by Warren Beatty and Pieter Jan Brugge Directed by Warren Beatty
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan Rating out of 4: ***1/2 -----
The central figure in "Bulworth" is a man who is fed up with the pointlessness and nonsense of the system. The problem is, he's part of the system--a U.S. senator who plays the political game not unlike, we may suspect, every other person in American politics. He's trapped in a world where words and image mean everything and in-practice policy and true intentions mean virtually nothing.
The man is democratic Senator Jay Bulworth, portrayed by Warren Beatty in a hypercharged, madcap performance that borders on the surreal, which is perfectly appropriate, since "Bulworth" is a film that exists in a sort of surreal state. This isn't a film about realistic events or circumstances; it's all about attitude. The movie is a commentary that takes situations and twists them into exaggerated parodies of the American political arena.
As the movie opens, Bulworth, the incumbent up for re-election, sits in his office in a trancelike state, staring blankly at footage from his own TV campaign ads. He hasn't eaten or slept in days, but instead has been pondering the nature of his political existence. He's disgusted to the point of catatonia. He has reached a point in his career where everything he does exists simply to serve his own campaign's interests. Why is he even in office? All of his advertisements and speeches begin with the same sound bite: "We stand at the doorstep of a new millennium." But just what does that mean? It's an irrelevant line of hogwash--frosting that just sounds good. When you think about it, it doesn't serve any useful purpose.
One of his wealthy campaign contributors (Paul Sorvino) is a powerful corporate influence in the insurance industry--a right-winger who is happy that Bulworth's new platform takes a more conservative slant than in the past. Sorvino's character is the type whose opinion of blacks boils down to being a fan of Colin Powell and Michael Jordan, but not at all sympathetic where black poverty and crime are concerned. So the fact that Bulworth's new policy is to step away from social programs and aid is a big plus in his book.
But Bulworth doesn't seem very interested with the issue at all. He wants out--now. So he hires out a hit on himself. Set to travel to California for his campaign, he expects to be dead before he returns. ("If I'm not dead by Monday, I'm going to stop payment on that check.") Once he gets to California it seems like campaign business as usual, until Bulworth realizes that he might as well make the best out of knowing he's not going to see the end of next week.
>From here, Bulworth ceases all self-censorship and simply says what's on his mind. When he gives a speech early in the film in front of an African-American community, he says the only reason he made any promises to black voters is so that he could garner their votes. Sure, we've seen this "tell all truth" slant on such material before, but the difference in "Bulworth" is that all of the film's points eventually turn inward to stare the political machine straight in the eye.
A big part of the movie's comedic sell is the way Bulworth's newfound cavalier attitude leads him into a techno-rap dance club, where he jams the night away with Nina (Halle Berry), a young black woman from South Central L.A. who proves with each succeeding scene that there's more to her than anyone might suspect.
As a satire, "Bulworth" is often scathing and always pointed, and it's interesting to ponder the intended audiences of a film starring and directed by a 60-year-old white guy and featuring a soundtrack that's wall-to-wall with youthful hip-hop. After his night in the club, Beatty's character incorporates rap into his political campaign, much to the bewilderment of his campaign manager (Oliver Platt). Scenes where Bulworth "rhymes" his speeches to a well-to-do audience or on a TV broadcast could've been hopelessly silly, but Beatty pulls it off, finding the balance between zany, tongue-in-cheek farce and blunt social commentary. Beatty's decision to push the envelope pays off; I was constantly interested in where the movie would go next, and was glad that it pulled few punches.
As the plot unfolds and Bulworth careens from one campaign site to another, he finds himself in an enigmatic relationship with Nina, who has some interesting political views of her own. Bulworth, of course, also realizes he has been freed from his burden of politics and thus no longer wants to die, so both he and Nina find themselves on the run from the apparent hitman whom Bulworth hired. The chase takes on a life of its own.
In the process, the movie devours cliches just as fast as or faster than it acknowledges them. The irony of the movie's use of rap music in juxtaposition with politics is interesting; some politicians frequently target rap as a social problem, but Bulworth's answer to the accusation that rap is "obscene" is particularly interesting. In a world with so many tangible problems, blaming the entertainment industry seems more than just a little ridiculous.
As a comedy, "Bulworth's" laughs are generated through witty social mockery as well as the plot's obvious sight and dialogue gags. The pace is fast and furious; one of the film's biggest appeals is the high-energy buzz generated by the rapid-fire dialogue. You have to listen fast in many scenes, because the film is a constant earful. Many characters serve to unleash snippets of the screenplay's points of view, and some have entire speeches that add to the film's canvas (particularly an interesting drug dealer character played by Don Cheadle, whose exploitative use of his advantages is compared to the methods of politicians). Such speeches are sudden an lengthy--yet remain just far enough outside the confines of sullen seriousness--that we always know "Bulworth" is a comedy, but also that it is an angry comedy with a lot on its mind.
The topics range anywhere from big-business economics versus government spending, the plight of forgotten minorities in the inner-cities, the inefficient use of media to cover politics, and the fact that drug use isn't limited to back alleys (Bulworth's campaign manager snorts cocaine whenever his stress levels breach their limits)--really, anything is fair game. Essentially, the movie is an argument for socialism. But it's worth noting that a man like Bulworth could never maintain a plausible existence in our mainstream political system, which is perhaps why the film's closing scene is all the more honest and true.
Perhaps everything about "Bulworth" can be summed up in that first scene, where the "doorstep of the next millennium" is uttered over and over again until it becomes its own useless cliche in the sea of political cliches. Maybe, the film argues, that's what politics is all about: It's all window dressing used to spice up a process that doesn't serve its people nearly as adequately as it should. "Bulworth" offers little in terms of realistic solutions to the problems it points out; it is, essentially an angry farce that is willing to tackle anything and everything it can muster. But it's so much smarter and fresher than the average movie. It may not know exactly how the world can be fixed, but it certainly knows that there's more broken with America than the people in Washington would likely be willing to acknowledge.
----- Copyright (c) 1998 by Jamahl Epsicokhan, all rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this article is prohibited.
Star Trek: Hypertext - http://www.epsico.com/st-hypertext/ Jamahl Epsicokhan - jammer@epsico.com
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