Bowfinger

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with Bobby Bowfinger sitting alone in his office reading a script. As he finishes reading the script, he gets a twinkle in his eye, believing that he's found the perfect movie moment. The next day he gathers his staff and actors and tells them about the brilliant script called "Chubby Rain" that was written by his very own accountant Afrim. They then figure that this is their only shot at making a movie. So Bobby gets out his life savings - some $2200, and they start getting the equipment and the crew that they need to make the movie.Bobby then goes to meet executive agent Jerry Renfro at a chic Hollywood restaurant. He slips the maitre d' $20 and asks to be seated at the table next to Renfro. As he pretends to be an elite movie producer and fakes his way into having a conversation with Renfro about the script for Chubby Rain. He hands the script to Renfro and he reads through it, eventually agreeing with Bobby about the script's final moment which has the hero screaming "Gotcha suckers!!" that that is a great catch phrase. Bobby tells Jerry about the plans to get Kit Ramsey in the film's lead role. He then agrees that if Bobby gets Kit Ramsey, they've got a go picture.In Kit's mansion, he is unloading at his agent, telling him about how there's no good Hollywood moments and no good catchphrases anymore, that it's all style and no substance. The agent tries to tell him that the script he's just read is good and this movie has that moment, but it's not the moment that Kit is looking for. Kit then heads to his weekly appointment at Mindhead, a psychological collective that has obtained cult-like status among the Hollywood elite. Bobby has managed to sneak past the gate and heads to talk to Kit, now pretending to be a script delivery guy for a major Hollywood agent. He and Kit are having what appears to be a civilized conversation, and Bobby tells about how he's about to go for his appointment at Mindhead. Kit offers Bobby a ride to Mindhead, but when Bobby reveals who he really is, Kit goes ballistic and has him thrown out of the car.Back at the office, Bobby comes up with another idea - they film the movie without Kit knowing that he's going to be in it. His producer Dave thinks this is a bad idea but Bowfinger decides to pursue it anyway. We then see a young woman named Daisy, who is looking for work, getting off a bus. She goes to Bowfinger's "studio" where he has her audition for the female part in the movie. Daisy is a naive Midwestern woman who is a first time actress seeking fame and fortune.Kit goes to his meeting to meet Terry Stricter, who is the head psychiatrist at Mindhead for his weekly meeting. Kit talks to Terry about how he's better when he goes to his happy place and that he heavily believes in aliens and conspiracy theories. Dr. Stricter then reassures Kit that he will not do the one unforgivable action - show "it" (meaning his male organ) to the Lakers cheerleaders.Back at Bowfinger Films, Bobby is giving a pep talk to his staff about how this is the opportunity that they've been given to finally make a motion picture. And that once they're famous and successful, that Fedex truck will be making multiple stops at their studio with future projects, and that will be the day that they truly know they've made it. Bobby then wonders what exactly they're really in for with no star.Day 1: Bowfinger tells Dave to supply the equipment. He does so by checking out a camera from his day job at Universal, and using the van with S&Y Construction painted on the side. The first shot of "Chubby Rain" is Daisy chasing Kit's limo as it leaves his mansion for Mindhead. Kit has no idea what's going on as he looks out his window and sees the action behind him. Back at Bowfinger films, they are reviewing the first shot of the movie and Bowfinger realizes that this movie is going to work.Day 2: Kit and his agent are having a meeting at another chic Hollywood restaurant. Bowfinger and his crew are going to be there. Bowfinger cleverly disguises his crew to look like homeless people as they shoot the first scene of dialogue involving Carol and Kit. But Kit still has no idea what's going on, and Carol's approach and the dialogue about the movie - which discusses alien love, has made him even more paranoid than normal. Kit is resuming the conversation that he had with his agent about how there are no good scripts out there. Kit then heads to an emergency meeting with Terry Stricter. Kit then reveals to Dr. Stricter about his plans to show "it" to the Laker cheerleaders.Day 3: Daisy and Slater are discussing that they both need some more scenes with Kit, and are discussing the best course of action to take as far as getting some actual screen time with Kit. Although no one still has any clue as to the fact that Kit doesn't know that he's in the movie. Afrim even has written some extra scenes with Kit to incorporate into the movie.Day 4: Dave has tracked Kit to Mindhead. In the parking lot, they film the climactic scene in the movie where Carol confronts Kit in the parking lot. Kit, still unaware of his involvement in the film, thinks that someone is actually following him through the parking lot and begins to freak out. It's then revealed that Bowfinger has his dog wearing a pair of high heels following Kit through the parking lot. Back at the offices, they review the film and Carol is completely in awe of Kit's professionalism. Afrim is bragging about his screenwriting abilities to Daisy, who then sees an opportunity to get some more screen time in the film.Day 5: Kit is heading to an upscale department store to buy some new clothes. The store offers him the clothes for nothing if Kit makes an appearance outside their store. Kit demands $1000. Carol decides to confront Kit and then begins to talk about their screen time in the film. That makes Kit even more paranoid than usual. At Kit's mansion, Terry Stricter makes a house call and Kit talks about how the aliens might be following him. Dr. Stricter then offers to let Kit stay in Mindhead's special "celebrity quarters". Back at Bowfinger films, they're wondering what to do now that Kit's out of the picture. Bowfinger then instructs Dave to hold auditions to find anyone that even remotely looks like Kit to get the shots for the scenes that they need. He then settles on a guy named Jiff.Day 6: Bowfinger's first day of shooting with Jiff. who bears an unbelievably striking resemblance to Kit, has him running across US-101 in Los Angeles. Jiff fears for his life running across the freeway but Bowfinger assures him that the stunt isn't for nothing.Day 7: Bowfinger is realizing his cash supply is dwindling at an extremely rapid rate. Thankfully he has a date with Daisy that night, who's manipulating Bowfinger into getting some more screen time and time with Jiff / Kit. Bowfinger then catches a break when Daisy leaves her wallet unguarded and then takes advantage of her "lost" credit card and uses it to purchase tons of equipment that they then use to shoot additional scenes with.Day 8: The new equipment that Bowfinger purchased allows them to shoot some indoor scenes for the movie, and Daisy and Jiff have their on screen romantic moment together.Day 9: Just as no one knows where Kit is, Carol stumbles upon an opportunity to shoot the next scene for the film - Kit is appearing at the department store that he was in just days before. They borrow Renfro's one of a kind 1946 Buick to use to shoot the scenes with. This scene they approach Kit (or Keith Kincade) in the department store, once again freaking him out. Bowfinger is approached by a cop who stops him and asks for a film permit. Bobby instead offers him a part in the movie. As the scene unfolds, it freaks Kit out to the point where he does anything he can to run from what's happening.Day 10: While sitting at a diner eating breakfast, Jiff reveals that he's in fact the biological brother of Kit Ramsey - not just some guy who really looks like Kit Ramsey. This causes Bowfinger to have a change of heart as to how Jiff is being used in the film. But Jiff really likes working for Bowfinger and is excited to be a part of cinema where before he was working at a fast food restaurant.Day 11: A security guard discovers the "found footage" of Chubby Rain locked up with all the rest of the equipment that Dave was borrowing and reports it to Mindhead, causing Terry Stricter to become suspicious about what's really going on. Meanwhile, they're getting ready to shoot the film's big ending scene at the Griffith Observatory. Dave checks out a crane truck and then they disguise it to shoot Kit's car from overhead. The final scene begins to play out and Kit is heading to the Griffith Observatory as originally planned. Afrim disguises himself as a mutated alien causing Kit to really freak out and get in the car, Daisy follows, and then Slater follows with Jerry Renfro's car. Just as Kit is about to say the film's signature catch line "Gotcha Suckers", Bowfinger is discovered by Terry Stricter who was proven right about how the paranoid some times are actually being followed.Back at Bowfinger Films, the group is completely defeated and begins to wonder how they're going to turn their careers around - if they have a shot at all. That is until Dave comes back with the crew and tells Bobby about how they followed Kit around to obtain some extra shots for the movie. The footage proves to be useless until one piece catches Bobby's eye. They now have the permission they need.Bobby heads to Mindhead to show Stricter the footage they recorded of Kit. It turns out that he did in fact show "it" to the Laker Cheerleaders - only to be met with hysterical laughter. Bowfinger tells Stricter that they could use this and it'd make a great ending for Chubby Rain, but it would also ruin Kit's career. Stricter confers with his council and agrees.We are then shown the premiere of Chubby Rain. Bowfinger gets a front row seat and is stunned to watch his vision become a reality. Back at the offices, he's greeted with a standing ovation. Then - just as he predicted - the Fedex truck shows up at his door and hands Bobby an envelope. What's inside is a contract for Bowfinger films to make a Kung Fu movie in Thailand starring Jiff Ramsey. The movie ends with the opening of the newest film from Bowfinger Productions called "Fake Purse Ninjas".

Tags: comedy, satire, entertaining

Review:
Given Tom Cruise's recent unstable behavior, it might be the right time to revisit 'Bowfinger,' Steve Martin and Frank Oz's highly under-appreciated satire of the side of Hollywood we mere mortals aren't supposed to see.In Hollywood, there are no secrets--everyone knows who's secretly gay or insane, and who's slept with who, when, where, and what they got out of it.
But no one wants powerful enemies, and in the quickly shifting landscape of stardom, where one can transform almost overnight and with no apparent or predictable logic from b-list character actor or teen idol into a-list mega-star and Oscar-caliber actor who can open hundred-million dollar movies and make or break the careers of his/her friends and acquaintances, no one wants to be the one who spills the scandalous beans.For this reason, 'Bowfinger'--the 'Spinal Tap' of contemporary Hollywood--was barely made, and upon its release was greeted with a politely, barely restrained gasp of horror from everyone on the inside who recognized Martin's unusually liberal borrowings from the gossip files to construct this smart, dry, tastefully executed comedy about a has-been-before-he-ever-was actor/director who concocts a scheme to sell his hopelessly bad sci-fi action film project to a major studio by surreptitiously following and filming a major action film star, manipulating his behavior when able, and then later patching a film together with the clandestine footage and a few shots with a body-double.
Little does Bowfinger (the loser, played with typical charm and intelligence by the great Steve Martin) know that the film star he means to exploit--Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy)--is a paranoid, delusional basket case of psychological problems barely being held together (though, one suspects, also being held at the edge of sanity) by his mentors at MindHead, a bizarre, cultish, mind-controlling religion obviously meant to stand in for the Church of Scientology, the increasingly infamous faith/life method of numerous Hollywood stars, most notoriously Tom Cruise and John Travolta (musician Beck has allegedly also recently joined the ranks of Scientology, at the behest of his father and his girlfriend, the sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi, also a Scientologist).Bowfinger assembles a motley crew of Hollywood wannabes, which include the fabulous Christine Baranski as Carol, an aging stage actress who drives around town listening to old recordings of herself singing show tunes; Heather Graham as Daisy, a presumably naive young beauty who steps off the bus in L.A. and immediately sets about trying to sleep her way to the top (Daisy is based on nutso actress Anne Heche, who exploited Martin before moving up the food chain to a public lesbian affair with Ellen Degeneres, whose sit-com was then at peak popularity); Adam Alexi-Malle as Afrim, Bowfinger's corpulent Pakistani accountant and the author of 'Chubby Rain,' the ludicrous alien invasion script which Bowfinger believes will catapult him to fame and respectability; Jamie Kennedy as Bowfinger's camera operator, who smuggles equipment out of the studio lot where he works as a low-level crew man; and Kohl Sudduth as Bowfinger's sweet but vapid excuse for a heart-throb.
This gang of misfits works well together in various gags lampooning the film industry.But the film is stolen entirely by Eddie Murphy, first as Kit Ramsey, whose paranoid rants include the observation that a script his agent has offered him must be racist because the letter 'k' appears in it a number of times divisible by three ('KKK' appears in this script 111 times!) and the twisting of a remark made by the agent about a script--'it's not Shakespeare'--into a racist slur ('Shakespeare?!?
You callin' me a spear-chucker!?!), and later as Jiff, Kit's nerdy and socially inept twin brother, who unwittingly stumbles into Bowfinger's scheme and agrees both to serve as a stunt/body double and errand boy for the film ('Running errands would be a real boost for me!' he gleefully remarks).One of the great things about 'Bowfinger' is the opportunity to see Eddie Murphy create two ridiculous characters the way he once did so frequently on Saturday Night Live, before 'Bevery Hills Cop' send his ego to Mars.
Together, Martin and Murphy remind us how comedy should be made: with intelligence, humility, generosity--and, most importantly, scathing wit.Scientology gets fairly merciless treatment in the form of MindHead, a cult-like corporate religion led by Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp), who soothes the paranoiac Kit with new-agey acronym lessons (K.I.T=Keep It Together) and chastens him not to 'show it to the Laker Girls' when he hears the voice of Teddy Kennedy instructing him to 'bring the Laker Girls down a peg or two.' Given Tom Cruise's recent weirdness and the fact that he openly travels with a cadre of Scientologists who function like a Secret Service detail, it's not hard to suspect that Kit Ramsey was written with Tom Cruise in mind (the role was originally written for Keanu Reeves but was ultimately changed and offered to Murphy).Murphy's presence, ironically, may have undermined this film in its initial release, as audiences many audiences left theaters disappointed, having expected more of a traditional slapstick comedy with Murphy in a larger role (his scenes are easily the funniest, but Kit and Jiff or secondary characters).
After seeing how good the combination of director Frank Oz and actor Steve Martin was in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," I wasn't surprised that the two would make "Bowfinger" interesting, too.
It's not the caliber of "Scoundrels," but it's still fun to watch.Eddie Murphy, as usual, is responsible for a lot of laughs as he plays two characters: this paranoid New Age-type follower and a very nerdy stand-in actor.
"Bowfinger" is a movie about movies, with all the potential for in-jokery and self-indulgence that brings, but for the most part dispenses with the clever-clever, isn't-Hollywood-shallow stuff to deliver laughs.Martin's Bobby Bowfinger, a struggling producer desperate for a hit before he reaches the 'unemployable' age of 50, hits on the idea of putting action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) in his new sci-fi film "Chubby Rain" without the star knowing anything about it.
Steve Martin scored a bullseye with BOWFINGER, a smart and cleverly mounted comedy, which Martin also wrote, which stars Steve Martin as Bobby Bowfinger, a down and out Hollywood producer on the verge of going out of business who gets hold of a script to produce and wants big time action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) to star in it.
Murphy delivers one of his funniest performances as the lookalike and there are other effective contributions from Heather Graham, Jamie Kennedy, Christine Baranski,Terrence Stamp, and Robert Downey, Jr. A smart and winning comedy about the inner workings of modern Hollywood with a great screenplay and starring performance by Martin and Eddie Murphy in the dual role of a lifetime..
Stage actor turned Grade Z amateur filmmaker:Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) is Hollywood's least successful director.
When Bowfinger decides to make an ultra low-budget film with the hottest action star:Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy).
For Bowfinger's ingenious scheme, he decides to use a double for Rasmey, a nerdy look-alike (Also played by Murphy).Directed by Frank Oz (HouseSitter, Little Shop of Horrors-1986, The Stepford Wives-2004) made an wildly funny comedy that is actually based on a real incident in the late 1920's with actress Mary Pickford, which it's hard to be believe.
Good supporting cast includes:Heather Graham, Christine Baranski, Jamie Kennedy, Terence Stamp, Adam Alexi-Malle, Kohl Sudduth and Robert Downey, Jr. Murphy is fun in is dual role (especially in the role of the nerdy look-alike).
This leads to many very funny scenes in which Ramsey comes to believe his paranoid fantasies about aliens are in fact real, while the actors in the movie praise Ramsey's "style".Eventually, a stunt double is needed for certain scenes, and a Ramsey look alike, named Jiff, is brought on board.
He is lovable and yet annoying at the same time, to Murphy's credit, and a great movie character.I liked a lot of things about the movie, especially the eye it has for the way Hollywood works.
While the other main star Eddie Murphy, again pulls off another great double as both Kit and Jiff Ramsey.
Unfortunately he does have a knack of making too many films that are merely mediocre or worse; films like 'Mixed Nuts' 'Sgt. Bilko' 'Bringing down the House' and 'Cheaper by the Dozen'I am pleased to say that Bowfinger shows us Steve Martin close to his best; he plays the lead role and he also wrote this totally crazy, unbelievable and madcap comedy; and it is genuinely funny for all the right reasons.
Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) is a Z-list producer who lies, steals and schemes to make a movie out of a script written by his accountant.
He gets A-list Hollywood producer Jerry Renfro to greenlight the script if he could get superstar Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) to do the movie.
We see the story of a bankrupt would-be director (played wonderfully by Steve Martin) trying to make a scifi/action picture with a big star (Murphy) who doesn't even know he's in the film.
I also loved the way that by the end of the film, Martin's illegal aliens were the most professional and competent members of his staff.Bowfinger did manage to make a small profit at the box office, by many people have obviously forgotten about it.
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy work as an excellent comic duo and sometimes overshadow the witty material of the movie.
was actually surprised that BOWFINGER got a mere average rating of 6.4 on this site because the IMDb is full of wannabe film makers who are gonna love a movie satirizing the Hollywood studios , a film both cruel and amusing in turn and it would be very interesting to see how the votes panned out .
I was very happy that the movie did relatively well on its initial release in 1999 because it certainly had the potential to be a flop at the cinema The premise is very simple: Film producer Bobby Bowfinger ( Martin ) has a knock back from Hollywood star Kit Ramsey ( Murphy ) so Bowfinger decides to secretly film him anyway and edit it into his movie .
Bobby Bowfinger himself seems to have been based on the infamous Ed Wood while watching Kit attend the MindHead classes one is perhaps reminded of John Travolta or Tom Cruise and I don't care what the critics say - Some of the gags like the scene with the dog in the underground car park are laugh out loud funny without ever going OTT All in all a fairly amusing satirical comedy that enjoys taking pokes at the American film industry and certainly one of the better films that have either starred Martin or Murphy.
And while the cast is good, this is all just an excuse to see Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy ply their comedic talents.
I love that even though Murphy's got his own signature laugh (Axel Foley, anyone?) he comes up with something completely new.This is a great comedy, beautifully paced and very funny.8/10.
The cast does justice to the brilliantly simple concept of a bunch of loser Hollywood misfits led by arch-producer Bowfinger (Martin) who want to make a film so badly that they film their 'lead', the A-list Kit Murphy (played by Eddie Murphy) without him knowing it.
Eddie Murphy is equally funny as both Ramsey twins, finding new and fresh ways to play paranoid and nerdier.
One of Steve Martin's best movies, and one of Eddie Murphy's best too.
This has several laugh out loud moments.Plot In A Paragraph: Hollywood, today: Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) a down on his luck actor-producer-director, has a script which a friend has written.
A famous producer(Robert Downey Jr) promises him to do it, but there is one condition: Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) Hollywood's number one star, has to be in it.
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy team up to bring us this quirky comedy that's short on story but big on laughs.
First of all, while Eddie Murphy is in the film quite a bit, this is definitely Steve Martin's movie.
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.
Steve Martin (who stars) wrote the script and has a ton of little "extras" built in (no--not actors but nuances).Beyond those little tosses of "gravy," just when you think you're getting a little bored and know where it's all going, this film tosses in turns that would make Bruce Willis jealous off the "Die Hard" series.
The problem is that in order to get this movie noticed by Robert Downey Jr's character, he has to get Eddie Murphy's character to play the lead role.
"Bowfinger" is brilliant with SNL's famous Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy.
These two just work on so many levels with another comedic genius, Frank Oz, the director.The plot is that Steve is a struggling director who finally gets a break for a motion picture, but when the star he promised everyone turns down the leading role, he starts to film Eddie, the star Kit, without him knowing it.
It's like this: Steve Martin hasn't done a funny role in a long time, and people want very much to see him do that again.
I'm no huge fan of Steve Martin, maybe even the complete opposite but I've liked some of Eddie Murphy's earlier movies for example "Nutty Professor".
The movie is very entertaining and it makes you laugh out loud several times, it shows off two of the most famous comedians Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy from a very good side.
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy are a nice couple and they play pretty good.
To fans of both Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, this movie promised to be the pinnacle of comedy entertainment, and fell short.
Although both actors are very funny in the film, they're rarely funny together.Despite what the previews allow you to believe, Murphy spends much more time in the movie playing Kit Ramsey (the actor) than Jiff Ramsey (the oafish brother).
If you enjoy a little silliness to go with your movie, then this should redeem most of the low-points.Overall, this movie is more like watching two screens, one with a Steve Martin movie and one with Eddie Murphy.
Bowfinger is an underrated movie- few if any comedy fans have heard of it but this gem starring Steve Martin and an excellent Eddie Murphy is a great film.
Eddie Murphy proves why he is one of the finest comedic talents and side actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham are quite good.
Bowfinger is a hilariously charming film starring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy set in the heart of Los Angeles.
There are great side roles for the likes of Heather Graham, Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Stamp but the film belongs to Martin and Murphy.
Continuing my plan to watch every Eddie Murphy movie in order, I come to Bowfinger (1999)Plot In A Paragraph: 
Murphy looks like he is having fun playing dual roles, which he filmed in six weeks between finishing Life and starting Nutty Professor 2.
Which is a shame because it may be the last really funny movie either Murphy or Martin ever starred in.Bowfinger grossed $66 million at the domestic box office (on a $55 million budget) to end the year, the 35th highest grossing movie of 1999..
Steve Martin's story is the necessary plot bones that enable Murphy's comic star turns throughout this movie.
This very funny film, does owe a lot to Eddie's place in the movie, doubling as a geek brother of a block buster movie star, Kit Ramsay (the other Murphy role) who refuses to be in Mr Bowfinger's (Martin's) film.
It's Murphy's geek character scenes I loved the best, a great contrast to his serious, movie star brother who's not having the best of days.
There are some great lines too, ala: Steve Martin, who even wrote that Guy Pearce thriller, Traitor years later, although I've really never thought much of him as an actor, where he did show some great character work in some films, but like Sandler, they were slapstick, comedy based, which demanded that style.
Bowfinger (1999): Dir: Frank Oz / Cast: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Heather Graham, Terrence Stamp: Hilarious romp becomes one of Steve Martin's best and most creative comedies.
When grasping director Bobby Bowfinger finally finds the 'perfect' script, a cheesy sci-fi story called "Chubby Rain", he decides to put everything on the line and give it a shot.Gathering together an ambitious young Ohio actress, a melodramatic stage actress and a laid back male hopeful.Armed with a handful of illegal immigrants for a crew, a tiny budget, and equipment stolen from a nearby studio, Bowfinger lacks just one thing, Hollywood's hottest action star, Kit Ramsey.Refusing to give up when Kit doesn't take the part, Bowfinger and his crew do whatever it takes to complete the flick - secretly filming Kit without his permission and using his nerdy look-alike brother to fill in for remaining scenes....Just as it was looking like there was no coming back for the two comedians, Murphy and Martin hit us with this.It's one of the best satires of the Hollywood machine in years, and precedes the awful Tropic Thunder by nine long years.There is a lot of fun to be had here.
It is so muddled that I believe the actors got confused and Frank Oz forgot to help them keep it together.As a desperate movie producer, Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) must get a movie going, or go under.
Steve Martin is the producer and Eddie Murphy is the star (as well as the star's goofy double) and when 'Bowfinger' came out, it seemed like a dream come true, two great comedic talents joining forces to make what would surely be a comedy classic.
*Special Stars- Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Jamie Kennedy, Christine Braranski, Adam Alexi-Malle, Terance Stamp, Robert Downey Jr. DIR- Frank Oz.*Theme- Team work can overcome all odds.