Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy team up to bring us this quirky comedy that's short on story but big on laughs. I attended a press screening of Bowfinger, not quite sure what to expect, and although I was amused by the silly antics, I felt as if the film's main goal was to make a statement or two about Hollywood and what it takes to get a movie made. First of all, while Eddie Murphy is in the film quite a bit, this is definitely Steve Martin's movie. I left the film feeling that Eddie was not much more than funny set dressing rather than being a star. Martin plays Bobby Bowfinger, a washed up film director who gets a script from one of his employees that he feels is great movie material. He soon realizes that the only way anyone will pick this film up is if he gets a big name star for the lead. His focus turns to Kit Ramsey, played by Murphy, who happens to be the hottest star in Hollywood. But Martin fails to get Ramsey behind the film, even though in some ways this is just the kind of script Ramsey wants. So Bowfinger decides he'll shoot the film's scenes with Ramsey, even though Ramsey doesn't realize he's in the shot, by having his actors walk up to him in public and say their lines as if they're playing out the scene. This works for a while, but soon Ramsey gets freaked out by all the strange behavior, and hides with his friends at the manipulative Scientology-like center, which is headed by Terance Stamp. In the meantime, Heather Graham's character, a struggling actress, begins to sleep with every member of Bowfinger's crew, including Bowfinger, in an attempt to increase the length of her scenes. With Ramsey in hiding, Bobby casts a look-alike to fill in for his scenes, only this guy, portrayed as the ultimate nerd by Murphy, can barely stand still much less play his scenes. The movie goes from one silly scenario to another without having much direction with the story, all the while keeping the audience amused. But I got the feeling I had seen all this before, with Tim Burton's Ed Wood, and once I reached the end of the film, I knew I had. So in closing, there's nothing really new here, and not a lot of story to analyze, but plenty of laughs. Bowfinger is an amusing and entertaining comedy, but I can't help but feel that it falls short of it's true potential. Not a bad film, but not a great one either.
