Bowfinger (1999)
Director: Frank Oz
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Martin reminds us why he was once considered the funniest white man in America with this silly, savvy satire on Hollywood's lunatic fringe. He's Bobby Bowfinger, a producer/director with no credits and no credit. Even the self-deluded BB knows it's now or never time when his accountant gifts him a screenplay, the alien invasion story 'Chubby Rain'. Bobby rounds up the best cast and crew $2,100 can buy, and convinces them he's landed action superstar Kit Ramsey (Murphy) for the lead. His conceit has an oblivious Ramsey re-acting for hidden cameras in a vérité action movie. 'Cinéma nouveau', Bobby calls it. Directed by Frank Oz from Martin's own laugh out loud script, this endows showbiz stereotypes with a hardbitten narcissism that doesn't preclude a certain innocence. The supporting turns are generous by any standards, with Murphy near his best (he doubles as his own stand-in), and Graham having a ball as the world's worst actress. Preposterous and utterly self-absorbed, this has la-la land down to a tee.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Frank Oz
Producer: Brian Grazer
Cast: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Christine Baranski, Jamie Kennedy, Barry Newman, Adam Alexi-Malle, Kohl Sudduth, Terence Stamp, Robert Downey Jr full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 97 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.



What do you think?
Post your review now