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Bowfinger
(***1/2)
Films like Robert Altman's "The Player" always show us what it's like to be at the top. There's heartless men who made it to the top by stepping on the little guys. But never have we seen what it's like to be at the bottom. Not until now. Bowfinger shows us exactly what it's like to have a dream, but no real talent to back it up.
Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) seems to be Hollywood's unofficial "least successful director." We meet him in his studio/apartment, a bungalow that seems to have been built by a bunch of zealous 8 year olds as a fort. Most directors would have something of interest on their answering machine; Bowfinger has guys from the phone company threatening to shut off his lines if he doesn't pay the bill.
But all at once, none of his troubles matter. He's just read what he thinks is the best script of all time; a screenplay written by his Iranian accountant. Here, Bowfinger knows that, for the first time, he's actually going to make a movie. All he needs is a star.
That star is Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy), in one of the best roles he's ever done. He's Hollywood's biggest star, and he's also the most paranoid person walking the earth. Counting K's in scripts to find out how many times KKK appears, he regularly visits Mindhead to try and straighten up. And he wants nothing to do with a loser like Bowfinger.
So what's a director to do? Why, he simply shoots around Kit. With the aid of an aging Diva (Baranski) and a young fresh face willing to sleep her way to the top (how was she to know she'd have to start so close to the bottom?)(Heather Graham), Bowfinger starts having the cast walk up to Kit and just say their lines. Soon, however, Kit goes completely off the deep end (he was pretty close before) and Bowfinger needs to find a way to shoot the movie without Kit Ramsey.
He finds that in Kit's brother Jiff (Murphy again). While Kit Ramsey is one of Murphy's best roles, playing Jiff IS Murphy's best role. There really is no difference physically between Kit and Jiff, it's all in the mannerisms. For that matter, everything strong about the movie isn't really about what you can see; it's more about the attitude, the style. Seeing Bowfinger driving up to a restaurant in a broken down van is funny; seeing him pull off a false ponytail is hilarious.
It's for those reasons that "Bowfinger" works so well. It's all a state of mind. Sure, Bobby Bowfinger isn't really being very moral in his decision to lie to his cast, but he's keeping alive the dream to maybe get close to the top he's always wanted. And hopefully that FedEx guy will come in.