Bowfinger (1999)

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Bowfinger (1999) Director: Frank Oz Watched: 7/18/18 Rating: 5/10 Pony-tailed Steve Martin, Murphy's needless hyperbolic acting, Graham as wannabe actress slut trying to sleep the way to the top, a young Robert Downey Jr. cameo. "Chubby Rain" is the name of the game, and "Gotcha, Suckas!" the winning ticket. Surreptitious filming with ingenuous methods, film crew picked up from border run, a lead actor who does not know he is an actor, dog in high heels Foley artist. Alien madness, frenzied paranoia, campy over-the-top histrionics, MindHead New Age therapy with coned patients, racial slurs, Hollywood's oldest archetypes magnified, stupidity overload. Martin's writing is stellar as always, shining with scintillating wit- but becomes grating when in excess. Solution for a more entertaining, less wearisome watching experience? Definable separation between the film being filmed and the film. And less of everything else. Absurd characters, Hammed Hollywood satire, Ingratiating. Haibun is a prosimetric (written partly in prose and partly in verse) poem in which most commonly one haiku (5-7-5 syllable format) is included after the prose, serving as a climax or epiphany to what came before. #Haibun #PoemReview #ConArtistry #Hollywood

I hated this movie when I first started watching it. I warmed to it as it went along and left the theater in tears with my stomach aching from laughing so much. This film actually inspired me to got to film school. All the clichés, the stereotypes, the allusions to actual people were appreciated little by little each time I watched it. With each viewing I caught something I missed before. I can see how Hollywood would hate this film; there's a little too much truth in it but it's hilarious to the end.

One of the best mainstream comedies I've ever seen, this also seemed one of the smartest, and that generally is an oxymoron.Essentially a movie-within-a-movie being made by an unflappable character, the earnestness of everyone involved (pitch-perfect acting to assure the audience that they're not 'IN' on the joke) allows us to buy into the premise, always a hard thing, and then reels us in; hook line and sinker.Curious as to why it did not translate to better/heavier movies for it's pedigreed cast (Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham and Terence Stamp), who went back to slumming in insipid commercial fare after this (other than Stamp, of course, who's been alternating good fare with bad regularly).Could watch this over and over, and introduce this to folks who've unfortunately been forced to put up with the dredge that both Martin and Murphy are otherwise now known for, and it's not like Heather Graham has set either her fan world, or the critics or the box office on fire since, and it's definitely not for a lack of talent, since that's one commodity the ensemble has in abundance.Here's to hoping someone watching this decides to do it better, perhaps with the same ensemble, or with newer faces/characters...however it works.

Bowfinger is brilliant and under-appreciated. While Groundhog Day has justifiably gone down in history as one of the best comedies of all time Bowfinger is just another flick, one all too frequently ignored. (Though when I think about it I left it off my Top 10 Comedies of All Time list also.) Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) is a struggling filmmaker who tires of missing the big projects, of being ignored and unknown by the big names, and of being doubted by those loyal to him… and perhaps a little tired of doubting himself.So as another project threatens to slip through his fingers Bowfinger decides that he will make his magnum opus entitled 'Chubby Rain' – a film about an alien invasion with the invaders smuggling themselves to our planet in raindrops – around Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy), the biggest movie star in the world, by filming non-Kit scenes as normal and having his own actors approach an unaware Ramsey and deliver lines while the camera crew hide remain secluded.Bowfinger convinces his rag tag crew of aspiring wannabes and impressionable yet deluded staff that Kit Ramsey is merely '100% method', and is so consumed with his performance that he will not acknowledge or interact with them outside of his scenes.It helps both Chubby Rain and the film that Kit Ramsey is especially paranoid and delusional in all respects, on the verge of cracking altogether and constantly in touch with a Scientology-styled wellness centre called MindHead, run by Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp).At first things go reasonably well, experienced ex-stage actor Carol (Christine Baranski) is impressed with Ramsey's realism as he appears genuinely believable in scenes that require him to be caught offguard and confused, and aspiring straight of the bus actress Daisy (Heather Graham) takes any action necessary to further her role in the film and her fledgling Hollywood career.Things look pretty rosy, but when Ramsey checks himself out of society for a while to deal with his paranoid thoughts that aliens are trying to make contact with him of all things that the production grinds to a halt and a plan B must be hastily devised.Plan B is named Jiff (also Eddie Murphy), a nerdish but keen as mustard man who looks remarkably like Kit, enough at least to pass for him in glimpses and action scenes. Bowfinger works because Steve Martin takes nothing too seriously, he expertly lampoons Hollywood's ridiculous self infatuation and vacuousness (Robert Downey Jr has a brief role as a pompous producer).But this is another example of just how funny Eddie Murphy really was in his prime, his dual roles as Jiff and Kit Ramsey are expertly played and quite frequently hilarious, a scene in which Jiff is asked to run across a busy freeway for an action sequence never fails to floor me, and the scenes that show Kit's emotional and mental fragility are also excellent. This film should stand proudly alongside Coming To America as high water marks in comedic acting, a reminder of a time when playing multiple roles wasn't merely a lazy excuse to ham it up and trade fart jokes.Bowfinger isn't as deep as Groundhog Day or perhaps quite as funny as Coming to America, but it is masterful comedy and remains highly rewatchable. In fact with Eddie Murphy's career long since deceased aside from donkey dialogue it's good to acknowledge the once-genius of Ed, and the excellence of Steve Martin.Final Rating – 8.5 / 10. Bowfinger might not be the best comedy of all time, but it stands head and shoulders above anything passing for comedy over the last few years.