Bowfingers große Nummer

"Bowfinger" is one of the funniest movies I have seen in years. It works because it allows the laughs to build from the way the characters play off each other's personalities, without becoming puppets of the script. It is for people who love the movies as well, because that's what it's really about; how the movie industry works on such unlikely coincidences, and how the truly desperate are sometimes successful against their own natures.

The movie is basically about a group of folks who want desperately to make a movie, to break into the big time. They are led by Bobby Bowfinger, of "Bowfinger International Productions", a hack film "studio" in a ramshackle office in an L.A. suburb. Bowfinger is the right man to head this team; he's unscrupulous, infinitely resourceful, and isn't daunted by the fact that his budget will come from the dollars he saved up each week since he was a kid, stashed in a box in his attic. He collects his film crew from illegal immigrants trying to cross the border.

His accountant has just written a script about aliens hiding in raindrops. Don't ask, just watch the movie. The movie is called "Chubby Rain". Bowfinger wants Hollywood's leading action star, Kit Ramsey, to play the lead. As Ramsey, Eddie Murphy turns out one of his best performances. Ramsey is wildly egotistical and emotionally unstable to a fault. He is a member of "Mind Head", one of those many Scientologist-like groups, where he goes often to discuss his many insecurities and paranoid fears, like that of, of course, aliens.

Naturally, Ramsey refuses to be in the picture. That doesn't stop Bowfinger. He comes up with a clever, if risky, idea: follow Ramsey around, shoot him surreptitiously from a distance, using his own actors to play their parts with him, without Ramsey's knowledge. This leads to many very funny scenes in which Ramsey comes to believe his paranoid fantasies about aliens are in fact real, while the actors in the movie praise Ramsey's "style".

Eventually, a stunt double is needed for certain scenes, and a Ramsey look alike, named Jiff, is brought on board. Jiff is an entirely unique character, played also by Murphy as a slow-witted innocent with a sheepish grin and a nasal voice. He is lovable and yet annoying at the same time, to Murphy's credit, and a great movie character.

I liked a lot of things about the movie, especially the eye it has for the way Hollywood works. I really enjoyed a scene early on where Bowfinger stages a phony call with a car phone in a restaurant to create an opportunity to pitch his script to a high-powered executive played by Robert Downey, Jr. Downey is surprised to see the cord dangling from Martin's phone; he may not take him seriously, but he's not likely to forget meeting him.

I also liked the way Ramsey complains to his agent about not having a catch phrase the way white action stars have. His agent points out a scene where he pushes a guy named Cliff off a cliff. "That's too cerebral for an audience," shouts Ramsey. "We're making a movie, not a film!" He points out that in the script he is reading, the letter "k" appears a number of times that is exactly divisible by three, so "KKK" appears "486 times!"

What is best about the movie is the way Bowfinger goes for broke, improvising all the way. He proceeds with a determination fueled by the insane notion that this scheme could actually work. You have to respect the chutzpah of someone who wants to succeed that badly, even if he bends a few rules along the way.

Steve Martin, the funniest man alive in the 80s, lost his way in the 90s with the likes of "Leap Of Faith" and "A Simple Twist Of Fate". Now, after sterling work in David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner", Martin's return to writing and acting in straight-up comedy is surprisingly, reassuringly good. "Bowfinger" is a movie about movies, with all the potential for in-jokery and self-indulgence that brings, but for the most part dispenses with the clever-clever, isn't-Hollywood-shallow stuff to deliver laughs.

Martin's Bobby Bowfinger, a struggling producer desperate for a hit before he reaches the 'unemployable' age of 50, hits on the idea of putting action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) in his new sci-fi film "Chubby Rain" without the star knowing anything about it. Consequently, Bowfinger's inept crew follows Ramsey around in increasingly crazy and surreal fashion, utilising everything from 'Will Work For Food' signs made of foil to cranes mounted on trucks to get the shot they need. When Bowfinger stumbles across a Kit double (Murphy again) who will do anything the director asks including fetch the coffee, he starts to think all his birthdays have come at once. Meanwhile, the neurotic Ramsey, never that stable to begin with, begins to lose it altogether as he becomes convinced that sex-crazed pod people are stalking him.

It's a simple plot and, while the script throws a few barbs at Hollywood, it's played mainly for big laughs - and gets them. Heather Graham is spot-on as the ingenue literally just off the bus from Ohio who is prepared to sleep with anyone to get longer scenes, and Jamie Kennedy is all laconic wit as Bowfinger's long-suffering assistant. Really, though, it's Martin and Murphy's show. The original wild and crazy guy shows he hasn't lost all his manic energy in the title role, nor his wit with the sharp script. Surprisingly enough, though, the standout performance is Murphy's; he is brilliant as both the paranoid, highly-strung Kit and his dumb-but-sweet double Jiff. This might even be a career-best.

It's simple, lightweight and throwaway of course, but comedies that try to SAY something, even if they're good, often just don't make you laugh that much. Bowfinger will.

Steve Martin scored a bullseye with BOWFINGER, a smart and cleverly mounted comedy, which Martin also wrote, which stars Steve Martin as Bobby Bowfinger, a down and out Hollywood producer on the verge of going out of business who gets hold of a script to produce and wants big time action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) to star in it. When Ramsey won't give Bobby the time of day. Bobby decides to shoot the film without Kit's knowledge or consent. This premise is a wonderful set-up for some very funny sight gags. Eddie Murphy is on target as Kit Ramsey and as a milquetoast lookalike hired to do Ramsey's stunt work and close-ups. Murphy delivers one of his funniest performances as the lookalike and there are other effective contributions from Heather Graham, Jamie Kennedy, Christine Baranski,Terrence Stamp, and Robert Downey, Jr. A smart and winning comedy about the inner workings of modern Hollywood with a great screenplay and starring performance by Martin and Eddie Murphy in the dual role of a lifetime.

Steve Martin has made some fine comedy movies - 'The Man with two Brains' 'All of Me' 'Dirty Rotten Scoudrels' and 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' to name just few. He has also made some wonderfully touching movies like 'A Simple Twist of Fate' where his acting ability really shows through. Unfortunately he does have a knack of making too many films that are merely mediocre or worse; films like 'Mixed Nuts' 'Sgt. Bilko' 'Bringing down the House' and 'Cheaper by the Dozen'

I am pleased to say that Bowfinger shows us Steve Martin close to his best; he plays the lead role and he also wrote this totally crazy, unbelievable and madcap comedy; and it is genuinely funny for all the right reasons. It is cleverly written and has a really interesting storyline. I thought it was brilliant fun, and well worth watching.

Steve Martin Fans will love this one 7/10

Bowfinger How does Bobby Bowfinger, Hollywood's least successful director, get Kit Ramsey, Hollywood's biggest star, in his ultra low-budget film? Anyway he can. With an ingenious scheme and the help of Kit's eager and nerdy brother, Jiff, an ambitious and sexy wanna be actress and over-the-hill diva. Bowfinger sets out to trick Kit Ramsey into the performance of a lifetime.

To describe Bowfinger, it is a stupid idiotic film, which works. I thought it was terrific. Steve Martin (who wrote the film) plays the part of a hopeless director perfectly. While the other main star Eddie Murphy, again pulls off another great double as both Kit and Jiff Ramsey. Is there an end to this guys talent? i look forward to seeing Nutty Professor 2 soon. Heather Graham was again at her sexy best as Daisy. The other stand out actor for me in this film was Terrence Stamp. Can you remember him from Superman 2? That's right he was General Zod and in Bowfinger he is Terry Stricter, Kit's Councillor. His role was also well done. A final mention to one star, but with four legs, Mindy (aka Betsy) who was used perfectly. Animals who star on any movie or TV show have a special talent, this dog is no exception. Bowfinger is also a movie within a movie, which at any time must be hard to shoot, but thanks to Aussie director Frank Oz, Bowfinger comes out beautifully. Bowfinger Scores 3.5/5 Stars or 7/10. If you want a laugh see this wild, funny comedy!