For the uninitiated and unsuspecting, making it in Hollywood when you're a nobody is a lot like being a herbivore in some nature special on "The Discovery Channel." Unsure of what to do, those new to Tinseltown go there to test the waters, but inevitably get pounced upon by some veteran carnivore and are never heard from again. It's a brutal world, and newbies are clearly at the bottom of the entertainment food chain.
Yet for the hundreds or thousands of those who are consumed, every once in a while a story pops up about some resourceful performer, writer or filmmaker who bluffed their way into a meeting, were inventive in their pitch, or racked up their credit card debt -- while self-financing their spec film -- to equal or exceed that of a small third world country.
That said, this week's relatively big budget release of "Bowfinger," starring Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin and helmed by the director of "In & Out," certainly isn't about one of those cases. It is, however, an often hilarious look at such Hollywood wannabes and the efforts they'll make and the risks they'll take to play with the big boys.
Although the sheer billing of Murphy and Martin together is enough to get comedy fans drooling, I for one was somewhat skeptical about such a pairing and partially dreaded the thought of what flotsam it might produce. That's not to say that I find those actors unappealing -- in fact, I've usually enjoyed most of their films and other appearances.
It's just that while such stars shine brighter in Hollywood than anywhere else but the heavens, bringing two or more of them together often results in the magnitude of their combined luminance blinding them and everyone around them. One need look no farther than Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman in "Ishtar" or Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy in "Best Defense" for proof of that.
Thus, I'm happy to report that the two of them are quite funny in this film. That's despite the fact that they spend more time playing apart from one another than off each other, and that the plot never really develops much beyond the setup.
As written by Martin (who also penned "Roxanne" and "L.A. Story") and directed by Frank Oz ("In & Out," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"), the picture is filled with old-fashioned and zany, screwball humor that stems from the basic premise.
Having Martin and his cast & crew shooting their film guerilla style and without their star's knowledge is a fun satire of such hungry but audacious filmmakers. It also generates some quite hilarious scenes including one that involves a dog, a paranoid star and a pair of high heels, the combination of which has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.
While that's the best of a handful of clever comedic sequences -- that are accompanied by many other simpler, but still funny moments -- the film never goes much beyond repeatedly playing off the basic, underlying premise.
In fact, despite the hilarious moments and overall zaniness, Martin and company missed some opportunities to give the film an even sharper or more refined edge. While some of the humor stems from their script involving aliens that just so happens to make their unknowing star paranoid, this is just an accident.
Had the guerrilla filmmakers first researched Ramsey (which could have involved some funny covert fact collection), written their script to play off his insecurities, and then watched as their plan that initially worked then backfired for any number of reasons, the picture would've had more inspired substance.
That said, one must keep in mind that Murphy's egotistical, but occasionally practical, star character exclaims at one point that they're making a movie, and not a film. As such, this "picture" isn't striving for highbrow or otherwise sophisticated humor, but instead for silly laughs. Whether you agree with that game plan depends on your taste in comedy.
While I would have preferred some rough moments to be smoother (such as Martin being oblivious to the car phone connector cable dangling from the phone he's faking as a portable), the film does offer enough genuine laughs to make it worth recommending.
Although this clearly isn't either of the stars' better films or performances, both deliver amusing takes on their characters. Steve Martin (the "Father of the Bride" films, "The Out-Of-Towners"), who's always far better in his more "serious" comedic roles than the goofy ones, is appealing as the down-on-his-luck, last shot filmmaker. While he has to perform some undeserved, idiotic behavior (the above car phone scene and not realizing until late in the game that he won't be able to release his film until he gets Ramsey's permission), in general it's a winning performance.
The best moments, however, belong to Eddie Murphy ("Life," "Dr. Dolittle") and the two characters he inhabits. While he doesn't rely on the usual heavy prosthetic makeup effects to create character number two (some glasses, braces and an awful lot of facial contortions do the trick), the characters are still worlds apart.
From the paranoid delusions of aliens and racism of one character (at one point, he counts the number of times the letter K appears in a script, divides that by three, and then states that the script has several hundred references to the KKK) to the goofy but lovable down home qualities of Jiff, Murphy delivers some funny moments that shouldn't be missed.
Unfortunately, the supporting performances are much weaker and serve more as "filler" than comedy emitting beings. While Heather Graham ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," "Lost in Space") is easy on the eyes, Christine Baranski ("Bulworth," "The Birdcage") does her take of an aging, but undeserving diva and Terence Stamp ("Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace," the upcoming "The Limey") plays the cool and calculating leader of an organized Hollywood philosophy that's obviously aimed at Scientology, all of them and the rest are clearly overshadowed by their funny leading men.
All in all, the film could, and probably should have had a sharper or more clever script. That would have enabled it to transcend simply repeatedly playing off the basic premise and never advancing much beyond it. Nonetheless, the film offers enough funny moments to appease audiences hungry for some decent laughs. For that reason, we give "Bowfinger" a 6.5 out of 10.
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