Plot

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.

Bobby Bowfinger, age 49, is the owner/president of a Hollywood-based production company, Bowfinger International Pictures. The company has never produced 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--a stereotypical small town girl looking to make it big in Hollywood==as the female lead. Having just arrived in town, she does not know her way around the Hollywood system--except on her back. Bobby is not averse to telling bald-faced lies in his singular focus in getting the picture made and distributed all on this $2,184 as a starting point. It is using several of those lies that he is able to get a verbal confirmation from big studio executive Jerry Renfro to distribute the movie *if* it stars Kit Ramsey, arguably the biggest action star in the world. Using similar lies, Bobby, however, is unable to convince Kit to star in the movie. Kit, who has a weakness for the Laker Girls, is a self-absorbed and paranoid movie star whose life and thus career is largely directed behind the scenes by Terry Stricter, the head of a New Age religion called MindHead. Bobby comes up with a scheme that he believes will get around Kit not agreeing to star: film Kit without him knowing that he is being filmed. The only person who knows of the scheme is Dave, Bobby's lowest of low level inside man turned cinematographer who has unofficial (i.e. technically stolen and thus free) access to studio camera equipment and general knowledge of Kit's general day-to-day movements through the studio system. Bobby is able to convince all the other actors that Kit's acting process involves him not interacting with them outside of filming the specific scenes he has with them. Part of Bobby's scheme involves using Kit's general paranoia that aliens truly are invading the planet to get his gut reactions to what is happening within the context of the script. But Bobby knows he has to get Kit to scream the closing lines of the movie "gotcha suckas" for the movie to be a success. Complications ensue when another of the the actors, Carol, tries to go against Bobby's policy of not making contact with Kit outside of filming, and when Bobby is required to hire a production assistant cum stunt double cum acting double, whose job in part is to stand-in for the requisite Kit Ramsey naked-ass shot. Through it all, Bobby will know if he has made it in Hollywood if he gets a specific sign specifically from the heavens in the form of FedEx.—Huggo

Living at the fringes of Hollywood's star system, second-rate movie producer Bobby Bowfinger is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. However, when Bobby gets his hands on a bold and surprisingly fresh script, all he needs is a camera, a crew, and a star, preferably insecure megastar Kit Ramsey, to shoot his ambitious project. Now, armed with a desperate but cunning plan and the unconditional help of an unexpected ally, devious Bobby embarks on a mission to make a film on a shoestring budget, and he won't take no for an answer. After all, to survive in the cut-throat world of show business, one must be prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed. But the question remains. Can shameless Bobby pull off the ultimate scheme?—Nick Riganas

Hollywood, today: Bobby Bowfinger, a run-down actor/producer/director, is reading a script which a friend has written. Completely convinced of its quality, he decides to take a last shot at fame and fortune. But the script is not that easy to sell, and a famous producer promises him to do it, but there is one condition: Kit Ramsey, Hollywood's #1 star, must be in it. So Bobby tries his luck with Kit--who says no--then decides to shoot the film himself. With the cheapest team available in Southern California, an aspiring beauty from Ohio, a diva who is just a little over the hill, a key-holding gofer from a major studio, and a goon hired away from burger-flipping, Bobby sets out to shoot the science-fiction-film starring Kit Ramsey--who does not even know he's being filmed.—Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com>

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.—Mark Neuenschwander <oddball_m@yahoo.com>

B movie film producer Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) has saved up to direct a movie for his entire life-he now has $2,184 to pay for production costs. He is deep in debt, but an extremely positive outlook towards life. He is a master at doing things on a budget, using his connections. He has a script ("Chubby Rain" (because the aliens come to earth in rain drops) penned by an accountant, Afrim (Adam Alexi-Malle), and a camera operator, Dave (Jamie Kennedy) (who is also a parking lot attendant and loans Bowfinger expensive cars for his meetings with producers and stuff), with access to studio-owned equipment. Bowfinger then lines up several actors who are hungry for work (including Daisy (Heather Graham), a Hollywood wannabe and Carol (Christine Baranski) who considers herself a serious actress), along with a crowd of illegal Mexican immigrants for a camera crew; the only other thing he needs is access to a studio in order to distribute his masterwork.

He extracts a promise from a high-ranking Universal Pictures executive, Jerry Renfro (Robert Downey Jr.), that Universal will distribute the film if it includes currently hot action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy). Ramsey-a pompous, neurotic, and paranoid (he thinks there is a conspiracy in Hollywood to deliver all the good lines to white actors) actor-refuses to act in Bowfinger's film, so Bowfinger constructs a plan to covertly film all of Ramsey's scenes without his knowledge. The actors, told that Ramsey is method acting and will not be interacting with them outside of their scenes, walk up to Ramsey in public and recite their lines while hidden cameras catch Ramsey's confused reactions. Daisy is very comfortable giving sexual favors to get what she wants and starts by showering Slater (Kohl Sudduth) (the supporting actor) with her affections.

The plan goes well at first: Ramsey (who is a member of an organization called MindHead, whose mentor Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp) is counseling Kit on his paranoia about being chased by aliens and against his urge to flash females in public) swallows the movie's alien invasion premise and believes he is genuinely being stalked by aliens, resulting in an exceptionally genuine and intense performance. Daisy wants more scenes with Kit and asks Slater for it. Slater suggests speaking to Afrim, since he is the screenwriter. Daisy sleeps with Afrim and he changes the script. Afrim informs Daisy that its up to Bowfinger if the scenes actually make it into the final movie or not. So, Daisy moves on to Bowfinger. Bowfinger steals Daisy's credit card to fund the equipment to film the rest of the movie. However, the strain on Kit's already-precarious mental state leads him to go into hiding (He moves into the Mindhead facility for solitude) in order to maintain his sanity, stalling the film's production.

Bowfinger resorts to hiring a Ramsey lookalike named Jiff. Jiff is kind, amiable and rather clueless. He even runs through a gauntlet of "stunt drivers" racing along a major freeway when asked. During a chat with the other cast members, Jiff mentions that he is Kit Ramsey's brother, explaining the likeness. Using this new knowledge, Bowfinger has Jiff find out Kit Ramsey's movements and the final scene to the film is readied for shooting. Also, Daisy moves on to having sex with Jiff to get an intro to Kit.

The final scene is at an observatory. Though otherwise pleased with Ramsey's unscripted dialogue, Bowfinger considers his character's final line "Gotcha suckers!" to be the key moment of the film and directs one of the actors to guide Ramsey through the scene under the guise of showing him how to get rid of the aliens. During the filming, Ramsey becomes terrified and struggles to deliver the final line. At this point, Ramsey's mentor at MindHead, Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp), has discovered evidence (A guard at Dave's studio is a MindHead member and tells Terry everything) that Kit's "aliens" may not be just in his head. MindHead officials track Bowfinger to the observatory and shut down production.

Bowfinger's camera crew show him B-roll footage of Ramsey they were filming off-set, just in case they saw anything they could use. The footage shows Ramsey donning a paper bag over his head and exposing himself to an amused Laker Girl Cheerleading Squad, something MindHead specifically discouraged him from doing. Bowfinger blackmails MindHead with the footage, threatening to release it and ruin Ramsey's career (which would also endanger MindHead's finances as Ramsey is a major donor to their operations). MindHead advises the star to finish the project. Bowfinger finally gets to sit at the premiere of a film he himself directed and is awed (Daisy attends the premier as Kit's guest, suggesting that she is now sleeping with him). Following the arguable success of the film, Bowfinger receives a rare Fed-Ex envelope-an offer to film a martial arts film called "Fake Purse Ninjas" starring himself and Jiff Ramsey.