Bowfinger
I'm not sure why I wanted to see this movie. Maybe I figured "Murphy hasn't been funny for a long time; maybe he's due!" Perhaps I wanted to laugh at a Steve Martin movie again, because The Jerk was a long time and a lot of failed movies ago. What I ended up doing was enjoying the supporting cast and wanting to sneak into another movie to feel like I got my money's worth.
The idea behind the movie is that a down-and-out director comes across a script he thinks is a winner, but can't get studio backing unless he gets a big name cast in the movie. Failing in his attempts to recruit Murphy's spoiled movie star, Bowfinger (Martin) convinces all the other actors Kit is just eccentric and improvisational. He then hides the cameras to catch Murphy going about his normal life, then has the other actors walk up and say their lines. After Kit breaks down (he's paranoid and gets freaked out by the actors), a lookalike is hired to perform more scenes; by happenstance, the double turns out to be Kit's brother Jif. Eventually the movie is completed, but not without great difficulties.
I didn't really enjoy Martin too much in this, and Murphy was only periodically funny, but the supporting cast carried this film to a mediocre finish. Heather Graham plays a farm girl trying to make it big who will sleep with anyone who can further her career; lots of fun with this little sidebar. But the show was stolen by Christine Baranski, who plays the only theatrically trained member of the cast, an aging actress still waiting for her big break. I've been a fan of hers for a while now, and her appearance in this is almost as good as her role in my favorite Christmas classic, The Ref. If you see this movie, you'll understand what I mean.
Overall, I was unimpressed but not disappointed. It's a mediocre movie with some really funny parts and some really stupid stuff. Worth checking out as a matinee, but not the best movie in theatres right now.
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