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Frank Oz's "Bowfinger" |
"Bowfinger" Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment. Director: Frank Oz. Writer: Steve Martin. Cast: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Heather Graham, Terence Stamp, Jamie Kennedy, Adam Alexi-Malle, Kohl Sudduth & Robert Downey, JR. USA 1999. The long awaited teaming of Martin and Murphy brings many surprises not least of which is the astounding revelation that they are both still capable of being funny. It has now been 15 years since these two stand-ups turned thespians peaked in their respective comedy film careers, Martin with "All Of Me" and Murphy with "Beverly Hills Cop" both 1984. For these two stalwarts of American comedy it has been 15 years of increasingly variable shite with the occasional attempt to play it straight. Finally the writing talents of one Steve Martin have finally rescued the two stars from all that for this tale of an unscrupulous z-grade film producer Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) who plots to realise his dreams of producing a sci-fi blockbuster staring international movie star Kit Ramsey (Murphy). Bowfinger takes the script, by his own accountant Afrim (Alexi-Malle), to big time Hollywood producer Jerry Renfro (Downey JR.) who turns him down. So he goes direct to Kit, who turns him down a kicks him out. So he collect together his life savings, the princely sum of $2,180, and selection of misfits, including has-been wannabe Carol (Baranski), methodless actor Slater (Sudduth), recently arrived Ohio beauty queen Daisy (Graham), studio flunkey Dave (Kennedy), Kit look-a-like Jeff (Murphy again) and a selection of illegal Mexican immigrants and sets out to make his movie, starring Kit, without Kit knowing about it. Claiming that Kit prefers not to see the cameras or interact with the other cast members, Bowfinger sets about filming Kit secretly with the other performers wander up to him on the street and enunciate there apparently nonsensical lines. Kit is of course driven to the boundaries of paranoia and ultimately into the arms of weird Californian guru Terry Stricter (Stamp). The resulting movie "Chubby Rain" is of a quality that even Ed Wood would balk at, something that cannot be said of "Bowfinger" itself. Martin has already ably demonstrated his script writing ability through the likes of "Roxanne" and "LA Story" while one time Miss Piggy & Yoda puppeteer Frank Oz has proven his directorial talents with "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". The result is a laid back kind of movie that has wrongly been billed as a cynical satire on the film industry but is in actuality more of an affectionate parody. Even the two leads seem more laid back and at ease with the world than before with Martin in the non-egocentrically written lead given most of the laughs away to Murphy. Who in turn amiably accepts a lesser role or rather roles by playing two supporting characters. The rest of the cast is equally wonderful with Graham, as usual, playing a one-joke role that one suspects maybe Martin's final pot shot at his former significant other Anne Heche. This is a film that is fundamentally about its characters, and it is from them that the humour stems. In recent comedy films such as "The Wedding Singer" and "There's Something About Mary" the humour comes from a series of outlandish situations. While "Bowfinger" has these set pieces they are few and far between, giving the actors the opportunity to explore their characters for their full comedy potential rather than running pell-mell from one dues-et-machine gag to another. That result is a warm middle-aged kind of comedy that will leave everyone feeling good, thanks admittedly in no small part to it's brilliant closing Kung-Fu homage "Fake Purse Ninjas", but not exclusively. |