Bulworth (1998)
**1/2 out of *****
Cast: Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, Sean Astin, Christine Baranski, Laurie Metcalf, William Baldwin, Paul Mazursky, Larry King, Nora Dunn, John Witherspoon, Chris Mulkey Written by: Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser Directed by: Warren Beatty Running Time: 107 minutes
Bulworth is one of those films with great potential which it never manages to capitalize on. It's a brilliant idea that's destroyed by sloppiness and an awful final 10 minutes.
Beatty plays U.S. Senator Jay Bulworth, seeking re-election in 1996. As the film opens we see Bulworth in his office over a couple of days, first watching his own TV commercials over and over again, and then just flipping around from channel to channel. We learn that he hasn't eaten or slept in days. He's just lost a fortune in investments. He's just taken out a ten million dollar insurance policy on his life. And he's just hired a hit man to kill him within the next three days.
He goes to give a speech at a black church. Instead of giving his normal speech, he decides to start talking the truth. For example, when asked why he hasn't made good on campaign promises, he tells the crowd that it's because they haven't given any money to his campaign. This continues for the rest of the film, as Beatty goes around rapping about the "truths" of politics. Yes, you read that right, most of his dialogue from that point on is in rhyme.
Now all this would normally be fine and dandy. The plot seems to me to be a can't miss situation for comedy. And it does have it's share of laughs (a particularly funny moment has Bulworth stealing a hoodlum's car and then the car's hydraulics go berserk). But first of all, all of the good moments in the film are in the trailers. All of the highlights of Bulworth's truth speeches you've probably already seen. Then, the majority of the comedy just boils down to an old white guy dealing with young black people and suddenly acting just like them. There's nothing more to it than that. It had such promising potential.
We're supposed to think that Bulworth feels bad about his political career, that maybe once he entered politics to help people but got swept up into the system and lost his way. This is obviously what Beatty wants us to think about Bulworth. It's not how it comes across to me however. The point just isn't expressed very well. The way I see it, Bulworth hasn't eaten or slept in days and just snaps, as anyone probably would.
I was really looking forward to Bulworth this summer. Sadly, the truth about Bulworth is that it just doesn't come together. [R]
The Jacksonville Film Journal -- Film Reviews by Chuck Dowling URL: http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Email: chuckd21@leading.net
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