All That Glitters
Bowfinger Shows the Slimy Side of Tinseltown

Everyone knows there's a sleazy side to Hollywood. Stories of casting couches and underhanded deals have circulated since the first movie studio's inception. Now every cliche comes to life in the new comedy Bowfinger. Steve Martin plays the title role as Bobby Bowfinger, a small-time director who cons, schmoozes, and slimes the industry in an attempt to create his first blockbuster movie.

Early previews of Bowfinger didn't do anything for me. It appeared to be another Eddie Murphy movie in which he plays multiple characters. I haven't been too impressed by Murphy's latest outings (for example, Holy Man), so I took a "wait and see" posture. Later I learned that it had been written by Martin (last seen in The Out-of-Towners), and directed by everyone's favorite Jedi Muppeter, Frank Oz. While Martin's comedy can be hit-or-miss, I began to have high hopes for this movie.

As often happens, the reality of the movie did not live up to my expectations. Although the premise was pretty clever, and the comedy was often entertaining, the movie was predictable and not up to Martin or Murphy's standards.

In the beginning, Bowfinger shows promise. Martin, as Bowfinger, has a gem of a movie script, written by his accountant, Afrim (Adam Alexi-Malle). Bowfinger is convinced that he can sell it to a big studio, but to do it he needs star power. The studio execs want Kit Ramsey (Murphy), but a big box-office draw like that won't even speak to the likes of Bowfinger. So Bowfinger decides to make the movie anyway, without Ramsey's knowledge. It's a good idea, in theory.

But when Kit goes into hiding, Bowfinger has lost his main star and must look for a substitute. It's no surprise when a look-alike is found (Murphy, again), or that the young nerd Jiff turns out to be the brother of the super star.

As far as the supporting cast goes, Christine Baranski is wasted as an actress past her prime, and Heather Graham is reduced to a stereotypical "anything to get ahead" power-hungry vixen. Jamie Kennedy, who plays Bowfinger's studio connection and cameraman, is almost ignored.

The worst crime is reducing Murphy's performance as Jiff. Early scenes with him acting as a stand-in for his brother (all of which appear in the previews) are great, but then Jiff becomes as unessential as the scenery. He never interacts with his brother, nor does he get any additional scenes. The change in direction is never explained.

All in all, everything in Bowfinger is like the title character. There's a lot of charisma and glitz, but nothing of substance. As a comedy, it's entertaining, but even the comedy wears thin when it breaks down into repetitive jokes and silly antics.

MY RATING: 5 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 100 min.