BOWFINGER
Rated PG-13
Starring Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham and Robert Downey, jr.
CineSight Rating ** 1/2
Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) is a wheeler-dealer, a visionary, a single-minded hustler who doesn't know the meaning of the word quit. In other words, he's an independent filmmaker.
Bowfinger International Pictures (Bobby and a handful of starry-eyed hopefuls) have a script for a science-fiction action movie called CHUBBY RAIN. Now they just need some money to produce it. Bowfinger arranges an accidental meeting at lunch with a studio exec (Downey) who agrees to back the project IF he can get top action star Kit Ramsey (Murphy). After an unsuccessful attempt at meeting the actor, Bowfinger comes up with a plan for Ramsey to be in the picture without even realizing it. He secretly films his own actors just walking up to Ramsey on the street and delivering their lines. Of course, Ramsey doesn't know what to make of these strange encounters. His paranoia grows worse, he starts cracking up, and finally takes refuge with his new-age positive thinking guru, played by Terence Stamp.
With a sharp script by Steve Martin, and the two stars on top comedic form, BOWFINGER emerges as both a send-up and a tribute to the unpredictable off-the-wall art of moviemaking. Martin's producer/director is both deperate and inventive - which he plays to the hilt; Murphy goes to town in his dual role of the insecure paranoid Ramsey and as Bowfinger's awkward intern, Jiff. This is truly a movie buff's movie, spoofing the industry, the star system, and even the influences of scientology over several major stars (who shall remain nameless).