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Bowfinger (1998): 8/10


Poster (c) Universal Pictures

Movies about movies is like adding ice cream to more ice cream. It just keeps getting better and better no matter how many times you do it. You may get sick at the end from too much of it, but it's a fun ride while it lasted. A movie with just enough ice cream without getting sick is Bowfinger, a low-key comedy from the minds of on-off director Frank Oz (who's responsible for the genius Little Shop of Horrors and the idiotic The Stepford Wives) and the always great Steve Martin (well, not always great-he was in Cheaper by the Dozen). It's always on key, en route to greatness, and barely gets bogged down by sentimentality.

Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) is a filmmaker who has fallen on hard times. He has a few constant actors at his helm, including Carol (Christine Baranski) and Dave (Jamie Kennedy). He gets a script for a horror movie called "Chubby Rain", and is able to make it if they can get huge action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) in the picture. Kit refuses, but Bowfinger and co. film around Kit so he doesn't even know he's in it. Kit has his own mental troubles, including delusions of paranoia and exposing himself to the Lakers cheerleaders. Meanwhile, Kit look-alike Jif (also Murphy) is hired for a stand-in. Of course, things soon get out of hand.

Put simply, Bowfinger is a hilarious movie. Martin hits a home run again with this movie. Considering he wrote it also, he knew exactly how to do each line, and his almost dead-pan performance fit into the humor of the role. Murphy plays two very different roles here, both to perfection. Kit is almost like Chris Rock in one of his movies, while Jif is at the completely different end of the spectrum. He's a low-key guy, and Murphy did a great job with that character. All of the other actors added to the humor of the script. There's not really much more to say about Bowfinger except that it's very funny. And that's all I have to say about that.

Rated PG-13 for sex-related material and language.

Review Date: July 1, 2004