BOWFINGER RATING: 7.5 / 10 --> Very good movie
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Eddie Murphy is back and I for one am glad for it! Who can blame the guy for straying towards a couple of kiddie flicks that garnered him millions in cash ($17M for DR. DOLITTLE), while slowly losing his real fan base of people who grew up with him on TV's "Saturday Night Live", and his earlier "funny" movies? I certainly did. But with his two superb performances in this film, and the wonderfully original script written by Steve Martin, it doesn't look like I need to worry so much anymore...at least...for now.
PLOT: Down-and-out producer of films, Bobby Bowfinger, has a good script written by his Indian accountant, and he wants one of the biggest Hollywood stars, Kit Ramsey, to star in it. When Kit turns him down flat, Mr. Bowfinger decides to shoot the movie anyway, by secretly following Kit around with cameras, and shooting his scenes without his knowledge.
CRITIQUE: A very entertaining and inventive script tagged alongside some fresh and revived performances by Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, turn this film into an enjoyable time at the cinema. This movie is based on a very funny premise, features plenty of laughs, great acting and a fun soundtrack. I had recently given up on Eddie Murphy and his capacity to make me laugh in his latest pictures, but boy was I wrong, as this humorous film quite clearly indicates. Murphy apparently improvised some of his lines in this film, and he is just a wonder to behold. He is perfect as the over-the-top paranoid superstar Kit Ramsey, and just as hilarious in his other role as Jiff, the nerdy looking loser who is hired to shoot Ramsey's wide shots. The rest of the cast is also diverse and a joy to watch, with writer Martin holding them all together with his absolutely patheticly charming character.
The one reason I didn't score this film any higher than I did was because the premise of the film is essentially the whole film. There isn't much more to it than that, and despite never being bored, I did find myself wanting a few more surprises than I ultimately received. That being said, I am happy to report that the chuckles did not cease spewing out of my mouth during this film's entire run, with many potshots at Hollywood types sprinkled throughout, and a surprisingly sweet ending. Certainly the most original summer comedy of this hum-drum season, with the prime return to form of Eddie Murphy, an inventive and Tinseltown-skewering script by Steve Martin, and an overall fun time at the movies.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: The part of the stalked actor, Kit Ramsey, was originally written for a white actor, but with Murphy's help, Steve Martin rewrote the script, and turned his neurotic thespian into an action star, who is an angry black man with a doozy of a conspiracy complex. Steve Martin dated actress Anne Heche for two years before she turned into a lesbian and began dating comedienne Ellen DeGeneres. Up 'til now, actress Heather Graham has dated director Stephen Hopkins, actors Elias Koteas, James Woods, and is currently snuggled up to actor/director Edward Burns. The Eddie Murphy "running across the freeway scene with zooming cars flying by" was actually not as scary as it looked in the film, since many of the speeding autos were actually added later in digital mode. Despite that, the scene still took months to be approved by leery L.A. highway officials. Eddie's real-life middle name is Regan. Now despite brewing up the idea for this film about 10 years ago, according to Steve Martin, the script for BOWFINGER grew our of his recent playwriting success with "Picasso at the Lapin Agile". It is only after he had written "Picasso", that he thought about writing a screenplay in that same spirit, where he would not care or think about anybody ever seeing it. I don't think he has to worry about that with this film! Director Frank Oz is also known throughout the universe as the eternal voice of "Yoda" in the STAR WARS movies. His full name is Frank Oznowicz. Actor Jamie Kennedy, who plays Dave the movie-camera-stealing friend of Bowfinger in this film, may be remember by some of you from his quirky roles in the two SCREAM movies. Robert Downey Jr. is a very good actor with serious drug problems (but I guess that isn't really a "little known fact", eh? :)
Review Date: August 4, 1999
Director: Frank Oz
Writer: Steve Martin
Producer: Brian Grazer
Actors: Eddie Murphy as Kit Ramsey/Jiff
Steve Martin as Bobby Bowfinger
Heather Graham as Daisy
Genre: Comedy
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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