'Bowfinger' disappointing despite Martin, Murphy

"Bowfinger"

Directed by: Frank Oz

Starring: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham

Rated: PG-13

He wore the fake arrow through his head. He actually made balloon animals seem funny. He took clich?s, stood them on their heads and became the defining comedian of his generation. And when Steve Martin turned to film, he pushed all the right funny buttons.

His first effort, still his best, was "The Jerk," a film he wrote and had one of his heroes, Carl Reiner, direct. It was a huge success and played out all of Martin's comedic angles.

It also proved that besides being a great stand-up comic, Martin was a fairly gifted actor.

He's since done comedy, drama, romantic comedy and serious parts, all to good effect. For me, he hit his stride in Ron Howard's "Parenthood" and then in 1997 played his best dramatic role in David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner," one of the best written films of the '90s.

With his role here he proved he could really do things other than goofball comedy.

As a proven commodity, Martin has been successful enough to pretty much have his way in Hollywood. That kind of power is nice, but it also can lead to serious misfires.

His latest effort falls rather flat, and it's made all the more sad by knowing "Bowfinger" was a labor of love for Martin who wrote the screenplay and stars in the title role.

The premise which involves a big-hearted, shy-on-talent, movie (not film) director and his latest pie-in-the-sky-project starts out fairly funny, but even with the star power of Martin and Eddie Murphy, it fizzles rapidly.

Too many other films, from Mel Brooks' "The Producers," to Tom DiCillo's masterpiece "Living in Oblivion," have covered this ground before with much greater effect.

Martin plays Bobby Bowfinger, a Hollywood wannabe producer and director who's not ashamed to hang the one sheet for his film "Yugo: The Practical and Affordable Car of the '80s" prominently in his office. He also has a permanent sign outside advertising Talent Auditions. Price, $25.

To his credit, Bowfinger has gotten his hands on a great script. Outside of the fact that it has the unlikely title of "Chubby Rain," it's a workable screenplay and one that Hollywood will eat up, especially if it stars Kit Ramsey (Murphy), the hottest action hero in the business.

The big problem lies in the fact that Ramsey is big time and Bowfinger isn't. This doesn't deter the director, though.

Bowfinger concocts a scheme to make the film starring Kit Ramsey without the actor's knowledge.

"Did you know that Tom Cruise had no idea he was in that vampire movie until two years later?" he asks his incredulous crew.

This crew includes people Bowfinger has acquired by hanging out at the Mexican border, rounding up illegals crossing over and running for the nearest exit to American prosperity.

This scene is set up by Bowfinger announcing he wants "... the best crew money can buy."

So Bowfinger and company go about making a film without the knowledge of its leading man.

When the director realizes he's going to need some close-ups, he holds auditions for Kit Ramsey look-alikes.

The guy they ultimately hire (also played by Murphy) is a good-natured goofball who turns out to be Kit's brother. Murphy, decked out in braces and with a totally goober attitude, pulls this role off fairly well.

The fact that Murphy's second character is related to the world's biggest movie star just happens to come up in conversation and is one of the strangest bits of writing in Martin's funny, but rather disjointed, screenplay.

There's also a fairly funny subplot that's a jab at Hollywood's infatuation with Scientology. It could have been taken a lot further.

As mentioned, "Bowfinger" is a project that seems very personal to Steve Martin. I think he also felt that way about "Pennies From Heaven," a film I disliked more than most critics.

I suppose you've got to hand it to people who have the money and wherewithal to get these personal projects green-lighted, but I really wish they'd be better pieces of work.

To be fair, I must note the fact that there was a large crowd of people in the audience ("Rush Hour Show" on opening day) and they seemed to laugh a lot more than I did.

As the movie-going public so often asks, "What do the critics know?"

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)