Bulworth (1998)

A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.

Director:

Warren Beatty

Writers:

Warren Beatty (story), Warren Beatty (screenplay)

Stars:

Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Kimberly Deauna Adams

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kimberly Deauna Adams	...	Denisha
Vinny Argiro	...	Debate Director
Sean Astin	...	Gary
Kirk Baltz	...	Debate Producer
Ernie Lee Banks	...	Leroy (as Ernie Banks)
Amiri Baraka	...	Rastaman
Christine Baranski	...	Constance Bulworth
Adilah Barnes	...	Mrs. Brown
Warren Beatty	...	Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth
Graham Beckel	...	Man with Dark Glasses
Halle Berry	...	Nina
Brandon N. Bowlin	...	Bouncer #2
Mongo Brownlee	...	Henchman #3
Thomas Jefferson Byrd	...	Uncle Rafeeq
J. Kenneth Campbell	...	Anthony

Storyline

Senator Jay Bulworth is facing speculation-induced financial ruin, so he puts out a contract on his own life in order to collect a large, new insurance policy for his family. Living each moment on borrowed time, he suddenly begins spouting raw, unfiltered--and sometimes offensive in word but satirical in spirit -- thoughts to shocked audiences and handlers in the speech of hip-hop music and culture. His newfound uninhibitedness and new relationship with Nina carry him on a journey of political and spiritual renewal.

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Plot Keywords:

liberal | hip hop | senator | truth | politics | 

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Taglines:

Brace yourself. This politician is about to tell the truth!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong language and some drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 May 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tribulations

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$141,816 (USA) (15 May 1998)

Gross:

$26,525,834 (USA) (4 December 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oliver Platt wears a tie with Eagles on it. This is the official school tie from Eaglebrook School, the middle school he attended.

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Goofs

When the "lightning" flashes in the opening sequence, you can clearly see the lights reflected in the marble floor

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Quotes

Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth: Obscenity? The rich is getting richer and richer and richer while the middle class is getting more poor/ Making billions and billions and billions of bucks/ well my friend if you weren't already rich at the start well that situation just sucks/cause the riches mother fucker in five of us is getting ninety fuckin eight percent of it/ and every other motherfucker in the world is left to wonder where the fuck we went with it/ Obscenity?/ I'm a Senator/ I gotta raise $10,000 a day every day I'm in ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Last line of credits For: A.B., K.E.B.B., B.M.B., and I.I.A.B.

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Connections

References Shampoo (1975)

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Soundtracks

U Turn
Written, Performed and Produced by Chris Haynes

User Reviews

Simply A Very Odd Film

I wasn't exactly sure how to rate this film, and I bet others weren't either. It's difficult to say but fascinating to watch. Some scenes are terrific, others just terrible trash.

Halle Berry plays anything but a likable lead, nor are the characters people you can root for, except for Oliver Platt in the first half of the film. Then he totally changes.

Nonetheless, this is Warren Beatty's film, anyway. He dominates it and is what makes the movie fun. Knowing him and knowing this was political, I expected big-time Liberal propaganda but didn't find any heavy-handedness there.

For a comedy, there are way, way too many f-words, even in the "music," if you want to call it that. Despite that, the film has some charm, if it's possible to use that word in a film this profane. Beatty's rap lyrics were genuinely funny, no matter what your political persuasion might happen to be. An odd film.