on seeing the outrageous previews for bulworth one wonders what plot could possibly allow beatty get away with making those statements ( in case you missed it , warren beatty plays a politician on the campaign trail .
he says to a black congregation " . . .
if you ca n't cut down on malt liquor and chicken wings and get behind someone other than a running back who stabs his wife , you 're never gon na get rid of me . " )
well , there is such a plot , and
it works very well in this comedy .
beatty plays jay billington bulworth , a long - time democratic senator from california .
the movie opens on a painfully repetitious montage of bulworth 's latest commercials condemning affirmative action .
the montage is ironically intercut with pictures of martin luther king and bulworth in his youth working with jack kennedy .
when we finally lay eyes on bulworth he is morosely weeping in front of his tv , having gone without food or sleep for days .
his campaign is entering the final weekend before the primaries but his depression has sunk in too far for him to care .
first he calls a lobbyist from the insurance industry to get a bribe - a $ 10 million life insurance policy in his daughter 's name .
then he calls an associate to arrange for his own assassination .
his assistant murphy ( oliver platt ) is oblivious to bulworth 's suicidal state and drags him to his speaking engagements .
bulworth halfheartedly reads his speech at an african - american church , then takes questions from the audience .
he is hit hard with questions about his voting record .
he had promised money to help rebuild the community after the riots , and it has n't shown up .
since he 's a dead man anyway , he figures he 'll answer truthfully : he and bill clinton and newt gingrich came to l .
a .
for the photo opportunity .
they made some promises that improved their public image for a while , and then counted on the media and the public to eventually forget about the promises they made .
the shock and outrage from the congregation grows , the questions keep coming , and he keeps shooting back honest , if ugly , answers .
( before i go further , i 'd like to make a distinction that the denver post failed to make , and that is that characterizing african - americans as malt - liquor drinking o .
j .
fans is not part of bulworth 's " truth .
" that line is in the trailers but it should not be praised like the other political confessions he makes in the movie .
when the critics praise beatty for speaking the truth about politics , this line is not what they 're talking about . )
the experience is liberating .
with nothing left to lose , bulworth is no longer restricted to burping generic platitudes out of both sides of his mouth .
he can say whatever he wants because he 's going to be dead anyway .
why not tell the people the truth about being a sleazy politician - that he is bought and paid for by lobbyists , and that racism among the populace protects politicians from being the target of charges of classism ?
bulworth 's candor wins him three volunteers from the church , one of whom , nikki ( halle barry ) , he gets a crush on .
he feels so good afterwards that he actually eats something .
chicken wings , appropriately enough .
bulworth shows up late for his meeting with some movie studio executives .
when one of them asks where he stands on government regulation of movie and tv ratings , bulworth drifts to the topic of the quality of filmed entertainment .
with so much money and so many talented people working so hard , he wonders , why ca n't hollywood make a quality product .
( you go , warren ! )
when they become indignant and ask why he 's talking to them if he has such a low opinion of their product , he callously admits that it 's because they are rich jews .
that night he drops the three african - american volunteers at their nightclub , and he decides to go in with them .
he stays up all night drinking , smoking pot , dancing , falling in love with nikki , and learning to scratch turntables and rap .
the next day , he shuns his prepared speech and instead raps to the suit - and - tie fundraisers .
from then on , at all of his political appearances , he raps his political truth .
his rap is not bad for a middle - aged white guy .
he 's not very good , but it is his first try and at least he 's not embarrassingly bad .
his lobbyists are not amused , but the rest of his constituency seems to like the new bulworth .
eventually , the movie 's plot ( remember he hired a hit man ? ) overtakes the politics , which is too bad .
screen time is spent with bulworth trying to cancel the request for his assassination while the hit man seems to be closing in on him .
there are even a few gratuitous chase scenes , bulworth fleeing his killer .
these scenes may have been necessary to keep the events of the film moving along , but it distracted and detracted from bulworth 's political ranting , which was much more interesting than the ever - present , obvious - looking assassin .
still , most of the movie is original and very enjoyable , and beatty deserves most of credit for bringing it to the screen .
as the story and screen writer , he came up first with a good structure , then with good dialogue to back it up
( jeremy pikser co - wrote the screenplay ) . as an actor , he was able to convincingly portray bulworth 's depression , then liberation and rebirth .
as a producer ( there were four others )
he was able to keep the movie free from hollywood 's indulgent formulas
( except for those inexcusable chase scenes ) .
someone else probably could have directed , but since he was there anyway , what the heck .
it 's too bad that there are n't more movies like this around - movies that tackle political corruption in a way that challenges viewers to pay more attention to real politics .
after all , much of the inspiration for bulworth is straight out of the news .
just a little perception and insight
and you could write your own bulworth rants .
just do n't expect to be popular with the insurance companies .
Output: P