Bowfinger (1999)
A Film Review by Mark O'Hara
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Although Steve Martin's 'Bowfinger' is essentially a one-joke movie, it is very funny. Wait a minute, maybe I should call 'Bowfinger' a film and not a movie…
Slapstick and wit have always marked Martin's stuff. Some of the most hilarious scenes in 'Roxanne' , his best movie, come from C. D.'s physical humor, when he defeats bullies with a tennis racket, for instance; but he also defeats a bully in a bar with barbs! Steve Martin is, after all, an accomplished playwright. Wasn't that a Chicago style manual we glimpsed on C.D.'s shelf, as he waited for Chris to come over?
'Bowfinger' gives us more of the same heady and ridiculous stuff. One minute Bowfinger is tying his dog's hind feet together, the next he's talking his way out of a big-time ticket by enlisting the cop and his car in the movie being shot. This Bowfinger guy is charming because he's a con-man with a vision, a smart-ass who's sincere and dedicated to the art form he's been preparing for all his life.
Bowfinger is an extremely small-time producer and director. In the opening scene we see snapshots and posters decorating Bowfinger's deteriorating house: community theater productions and publicity stills. What excites the man now is a script written in two weeks by his accountant. It's a story about aliens that fall to Earth in precipitation, and it's called 'Chubby Rain'. There's little chance it will actually be made, except that Bowfinger cajoles a bunch of buddies - amateur actors, an accountant and a shady parking attendant - into devoting some time to the project. When a producer (Robert Downey Jr.) says that he will buy 'Rain' if it stars Kit Ramsey, Bowfinger has his mission. But how will he ever convince this action-movie superstar to star in 'Chubby'?
Ramsey is played by Eddie Murphy, and it's a superb performance. Murphy plasters the character with paranoia, exaggerated fits of neuroses blended with the egotism of a Hollywood icon. What fits into his condition perfectly is Bowfinger's outlandish idea: his actors approach Kit Ramsey anywhere he happens to be, and spout their lines at him. Of course this subterfuge ignites Ramsey's mental imbalance with hilarious results. Terrified of aliens and conspiracies, Ramsey flees to his rich, gray-suited guru (Terence Stamp), who runs a cult called 'MindHead'. The members of this organization, by the way, wear pyramidal hats and act overly calm. What Martin jabs at here is MindHead's apparent control over Ramsey's life; the suave big cheese offers Kit any services he might need to "keep it together," to resist the alien obsession and the urge to show "Mr. Weinie" to the Laker girls. We wonder how much of Ramsey's astronomical income goes to the white-haired pseudo-psychologist.
By now Murphy's used to playing multiple roles, and in 'Bowfinger' he also portrays Kit's brother Jiff, a look-alike whose personality differs drastically. His Jiff is a grinning milquetoast who sports glasses and braces on his teeth - a truly conventional but thoroughly funny nerd. Why the need for a double for Kit? Well, the celebrity has gone to MindHead's secret retreat for cases like his heavy-duty meltdown. Because Jiff is so gullible, Bowfinger and his crew have him dash across an L.A. freeway, and he makes it, twice! In a piece full of various takes on the motion-picture industry, it's Murphy who garners the best lines and scenes in 'Bowfinger'.
Steve Martin is the mind behind it all, and for most of the movie the joke works. In one scene we watch Ramsey's big Mercedes chased by an old black Riviera, an "alien" (Jiff in a tin-foil costume!) as both cars speed in reverse until a police cruiser puts a stop to it. But there are too many scenes that rely on the premise of Ramsey's shocked and frantic reactions to these filmmaker-stalkers. As an actor, Martin is outshone only by Murphy. We sense Martin's long experience, timing, and subtle brilliance in every scene he's in.
A sublplot that does not work fully involves Heather Graham as Daisy, a blonde from Ohio who gets off a bus in Hollywood and asks, "Where do I go to be a star"? Martin's idea of having this ingenue sleep with anyone who might kickstart her career is funny, but Graham seems to lack the calculation needed for more laughs; her sluttishness is too nonchalant. Christine Baranski as Carol, a stupendous over-actor, carries her role over-the-top. The audience guffawed every time Carol jumped out and spewed her nonsense at Kit Ramsey. I should also mention Adam Alexi-Malle as the accountant-turned-screenwriter Afrim. This man is pudgy and droll and expert at what he does. You will, I guarantee, lose it when Afrim does his bit as the cop! Finally, Bowfinger's dog Betsy is a big help in one scene in particular, when the director needs the sound of high heels (which are attached to the pooch's front paws!) in a scene in which Kit is being followed through a parking garage.
I look forward to any Steve Martin offering, and 'Bowfinger' once again shows the intelligence and risk-taking that are now trademarks of his comedy. If it's different, it's funny, Martin realizes, and this movie is different than most of the comedies released in the nineties. It's smart, it's silly, and best of all, it will get three or four belly laughs out of you.
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