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| Steve Martin returns to the L.A. he knows
and loves so well with his new, self-penned comedy Bowfinger. While L.A.
Story hobnobbed in the inner circles of successful Angelenos, Bowfinger
skirts the fringes of showbiz society. Directed by Martin's frequent collaborator
Frank Oz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Housesitter) and co-starring a rejuvenated
Eddie Murphy, Bowfinger marks a hilarious return to form for the original
Jerk after last year's lackluster Out-of-Towners. Martin plays down-at-his-heels
producer/director Bobby Bowfinger, desperate for one last chance at a
big Hollywood score as he rapidly approaches 50. When he gets ahold of
a potboiler alien invasion sci-fi script called Chubby Rain, Bowfinger
thinks he's got the perfect property for action icon Kit Ramsey (Murphy).
That fact that neither producer Jerry Renfro (Robert Downey Jr.) nor Ramsey
will give him the time of day doesn't faze Bowfinger in the least; the
hack helmer simply resolves to film the reluctant star without his knowledge.
With only cameraman Dave (Scream 2's Jamie Kennedy) in on the scam, Bowfinger
gathers together a crew of illegal aliens and surreptitiously inserts
the rest of his cast -- studmuffin Slater (54's Kohl Sudduth), imperious
Carol (formidable character actress Christine Baranski), and ingenue Daisy
(Heather Graham) -- in Ramsey's path. What Bowfinger doesn't know is that Ramsey is completely paranoid and under the control of the Scientology-like organization MindHead and its director Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp). Confrontations with Bowfinger's cast reduce Ramsey to a quivering wreck, sending him straight into the bowels of MindHead's cult compound for mental adjustment. Desperate to keep shooting, Bowfinger replaces Ramsey with a mentally challenged look-alike, Jiff (Murphy again), for the film's more hazardous scenes. When Ramsey eventually resurfaces, Bowfinger strikes again, leading to a wild climax atop the Griffith Observatory made so famous in Rebel without a Cause. Like Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Bowfinger is a warmhearted paean to bad moviemaking. Martin and Oz tell their story with the utmost affection, and the cast responds in kind: Murphy looks like he's having more fun than he did while making The Nutty Professor, Dr. Dolittle, and Holy Man combined, and Graham appears far more comfortable than she did in Austin Powers. What we see of Chubby Rain itself is both terrible and terribly funny, with bad dialogue and cheesy effects in abundance. The acting is worse. Carol is all flared nostrils, while Daisy's repertoire consists of grating accents and wild gesticulations. As in L.A. Story, Martin's script is packed with little touches that add to Bowfinger's merriment. The illegal immigrant crewmembers start out befuddled by director Bowfinger's film lingo, but are soon spied reading Cahiers du Cinema and discussing the career of Orson Welles. Chubby Rain's guerrilla shoot is portrayed semi-realistically, with a panhandler's sign used to bounce light on the unknowing Kit's face. In the movie's funniest scene, even Bowfinger's dog, Betsy, manages to spook tough-guy-with-a-streak-of-yellow Ramsey with an outlandish getup straight out of Monty Python. Bowfinger's story won't stand up to much scrutiny. As Carol says at one point, the plot is merely "a beautiful lie" -- look too closely and it all falls apart. But as a collection of intertwined sketches, this comedy works brilliantly. Martin and Murphy fans, Bowfinger is the comedy you've been waiting for. |
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