BOWFINGER (1999)
Rating: 3 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Frank Oz
Written by Steve Martin
Starring: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham
Synopsis: In this comedy small-time moviemaker Bowfinger (Steve Martin) dreams of creating his first movie but is locked out by the big entertainment monopolies. One day Bowfinger is 49 years old and still hasn't accomplished his dream, so he pulls out his live savings, grabs a B-movie script about aliens taking over the world, assembles a no-pay crew of misfits, dreamers, and illegal immigrants and takes the plunge.
When paranoid big-name action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) refuses to do the film, Bowfinger hits upon a novel solution: to film Ramsey without his knowing it and use a geeky double named Jiff (also played by Eddie Murphy) to act the rest of the scenes. Will Bowfinger's alien film CHUBBY RAIN ever make it out of production?
Opinion: Amazing. What a great week for movies! Whether you see THE IRON GIANT, DICK, DEEP BLUE SEA, THE SIXTH SENSE or BOWFINGER you can't lose. They're all good.
Steve Martin is known by his fans as a comedian, but in this one Martin plays the straight man while the comedy is left to Murphy and jibes at the Hollywood moviemaking system. It works. Murphy is hilarious both as paranoid star Kit Ramsey, who thinks he's seeing aliens in the corners of his eyes, and as Jiff, the dimwitted video renter who must try to appear like an action hero.
Heather Graham does a realistic job portraying an actress who can't act. Federal Express, and Starbucks also make noticeable appearances.
BOWFINGER is funny. Whimsical, yes, but get ready to chuckle your socks off and smile for a good 90 minutes.
Reviewed by David Sunga August 15, 1999
Copyright © 1999 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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