Robert Bowfinger finally decides that he has only one more chance at success. So, how does Hollywood’s worse producer get Kit Ramsey, Hollywood’s hottest star, to be in his film? Bowfinger's solution is to shoot Kit without his knowledge shoehorning in the final footage to make it look like Kit is in his science fiction extravaganza...

Bowfinger (1999. 1 hr, 32 min, 54 sec) is a comedy film, written by Steve Martin and directed by Frank Oz.

Oddly enough, the script is based on a true story. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were the toast of Hollywood when in 1927 they visited the Soviet Union. Filmmaker, Sergei Komarov took newsreel footage and a bit of secret filming with Pickford kissing stuntman, Igor Ilyinsky. The rest was cobbled together to create A Kiss From Mary Pickford. Martin took this slightly creepy and intrusive idea to write his screenplay.

Bowfinger enlists a ragbag of hopefuls, who all think they are making a real film, believing Bowfinger when he tells them that Kit wants no personal contact as part of his acting process. To this end he recruits his two leading ladies, the morally flexible Daisy (Heather Graham) who is looking for her big break and doesn’t mind who she sleeps with to fulfil her dream and diva, Carol (Christine Baranski) to play the alien villain.

With his camera crew of stolen Mexicans in place, Bowfinger and cast go about stalking Kit (Eddie Murphy) unaware that Kit has emotional problems of his own. His increasingly bizarre encounters with strangers push him to the edge, to the point that he seeks guidance from his guru Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp), a barely disguised dig at Scientology. The production gets a further boost when they hire a delivery boy as a stand in for Kit, also played by Murphy.

Overall the film works well, even though it fails to reach the quality of All of Me (1984) or the superb Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). It does contain a few laugh-out-loud moments, but for the most part these are provided by Eddie Murphy, with his portrayal of the increasingly paranoid Kit Ramsey, whose interaction with the other actors just get better as the film progresses.

For the most part Martin works well as the slightly scatological producer, intent on finishing his film at any cost; there is also a cameo from Robert Downey Jr playing a producer.

You get options for English or German spoken language, with eleven optional subtitle tracks. The DVD does well for extras, considering its age. Spotlight on Location (23 min, 27 sec) actually turns out to be a pretty good ‘making of’ documentary, involving the principle cast and crew. There is an informative full length commentary with director Frank Oz. Next up you get a bunch of Deleted Scenes (5 min, 22 sec) and Outtakes (2 min 51 sec). The disc closes with the Original Theatrical Trailer (1 min 03 sec).

While not Martin’s best film it’s still one of his better ones, add in the extras and it’s a good package.

7

Charles Packer