Bowfinger (1999)

When a desperate movie producer fails to get a major star for his bargain basement film, he decides to shoot the film secretly around him.

Director:

Frank Oz

Writer:

Steve Martin

Stars:

Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Martin	...	Bowfinger
Eddie Murphy	...	Kit Ramsey / Jiff Ramsey
Heather Graham	...	Daisy
Christine Baranski	...	Carol
Jamie Kennedy	...	Dave
Barry Newman	...	Kit's Agent
Adam Alexi-Malle	...	Afrim
Kohl Sudduth	...	Slater
Terence Stamp	...	Terry Stricter
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Jerry Renfro
Alejandro Patiño	...	Sanchez (as Alejandro Patino)
Alfred De Contreras	...	Martinez
Ramiro Fabian	...	Hector
Johnny Sanchez	...	Luis
Claude Brooks	...	Freddy

Storyline

Forty-nine year old Bobby Bowfinger is the owner/president of a Hollywood-based production company, Bowfinger International Pictures. The company has yet to produce a film, Bobby's personal net worth is virtually zero, and the company only has $2,184 to its name, $1 invested into it personally by Bobby every week since he first decided he wanted to make a movie when he was a child. Bobby believes his fortunes will change when his accountant Afrim changes hats and writes a science-fiction alien invasion screenplay that Bobby thinks all studios will clamor for and has Oscar written all over it. He has a small stable of followers who support his vision in being part of this movie, which eventually includes Daisy as the lead actress, she a stereotypical small town girl looking to make it big in Hollywood. Having just arrived in town, she does not know her way around the Hollywood system,... except on her proverbial back. Bobby is not averse to telling bald-faced lies in his singular focus...

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Plot Keywords:

guerrilla filmmaking | film within a film | satire | scientology parody | filmmaking | 

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Taglines:

A desperate plan for a desperate man

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related material and language

Details

Official Sites:

Universal

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 August 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bowfinger's Big Thing

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,062,550, 15 August 1999

Gross USA:

$66,384,775

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$98,625,775

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 85 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Eastman Color) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Martin came up with the idea for the film thirteen years before the film was released, and had not written the screenplay for over ten years.

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Goofs

The license plate on Kit's limo reads 'MIND HEAD'. California plates only have 7 characters.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Robert K. Bowfinger: Wow. Great script. Great script!
[to his dog]
Robert K. Bowfinger: Betsy? It's now or never. We are gonna make a movie.

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Crazy Credits

After the last credits roll, Kit's line, "I saved the world! I saved it," can be heard.

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Alternate Versions

DVD "deleted scenes" section contains a much longer version of the "this script, this masterpiece" scene which in a Martin monologue explains why an accountant would write a sci-fi script. His first script, about the exciting world of accounting, was rejected in favor of something that at least has aliens in it. The title is "Star Wars," but that will have to be changed. Another scene features the most avant-garde dry-cleaning place you'll ever see, explaining better the "Kit's dry cleaning" material later on.

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Connections

Referenced in TruInside: The Jerk (2016)

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Soundtracks

Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song)
Written by Ivan Lins, Zitor Martins
Performed by Quincy Jones
Courtesy of Qwest Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Steve Martin was funny, then he wasn't. Now he is again

Steve Martin, the funniest man alive in the 80s, lost his way in the 90s with the likes of "Leap Of Faith" and "A Simple Twist Of Fate". Now, after sterling work in David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner", Martin's return to writing and acting in straight-up comedy is surprisingly, reassuringly good. "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. Consequently, Bowfinger's inept crew follows Ramsey around in increasingly crazy and surreal fashion, utilising everything from 'Will Work For Food' signs made of foil to cranes mounted on trucks to get the shot they need. When Bowfinger stumbles across a Kit double (Murphy again) who will do anything the director asks including fetch the coffee, he starts to think all his birthdays have come at once. Meanwhile, the neurotic Ramsey, never that stable to begin with, begins to lose it altogether as he becomes convinced that sex-crazed pod people are stalking him.

It's a simple plot and, while the script throws a few barbs at Hollywood, it's played mainly for big laughs - and gets them. Heather Graham is spot-on as the ingenue literally just off the bus from Ohio who is prepared to sleep with anyone to get longer scenes, and Jamie Kennedy is all laconic wit as Bowfinger's long-suffering assistant. Really, though, it's Martin and Murphy's show. The original wild and crazy guy shows he hasn't lost all his manic energy in the title role, nor his wit with the sharp script. Surprisingly enough, though, the standout performance is Murphy's; he is brilliant as both the paranoid, highly-strung Kit and his dumb-but-sweet double Jiff. This might even be a career-best.

It's simple, lightweight and throwaway of course, but comedies that try to SAY something, even if they're good, often just don't make you laugh that much. Bowfinger will.