Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Too much of everything

Simply Perfect

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I hated this movie when I first started watching it. I warmed to it as it went along and left the theater in tears with my stomach aching from laughing so much. This film actually inspired me to got to film school. All the clichés, the stereotypes, the allusions to actual people were appreciated little by little each time I watched it. With each viewing I caught something I missed before. I can see how Hollywood would hate this film; there's a little too much truth in it but it's hilarious to the end.

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. Steve Martin stars as Bobby Bowfinger, a struggling filmmaker who lies to get ahead. Eddie Murphy plays action star Kit Ramsay. In order to sell his script Bowfinger must sign Ramsay but after being tossed from his limo he hides the camera and his actors approach Ramsay and say their lines. Paranoid, Ramsay disappears leaving his geeky twin brother to replace him. Hilarious concept marred only by its corrupt conclusion. Director Frank Oz is inventive with a theme that bares similarities to his Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Martin and Murphy at their comic best. Martin is truly inventive in his techniques to film his target without detection. Murphy in duo roles has rarely been better. Christine Baranski plays an actress bent on impressing Ramsay but cannot understand why she cannot meet him. Heather Graham plays a seductive new actress who wishes to make it in Hollywood and stoops to having sex with her director to do it. Terrence Stamp is also good in a limited role as Kit's guru who attempts to make sense of his situation. The film pokes fun of independent filmmaking and overplaying its counter to digital technology. Very funny comedy that gives new meaning to low budget. Score: 8 / 10

*Spoiler/plot- Bowfinger, 1999. A group of struggling Hollywood outsiders come together to produce a BIG science fiction film involving a HUGE action star. The comedy of this film is that the production methods and actions are accomplished confidentially and secretively. *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. *Trivia/location/goofs- Comedy. Shot in Universal sound stage. Locations like Griffith Observatory, Glendale freeway, Hollywood, Los Angeles and Acton California. Written by Steve Martin. Eddie Murphy wanted to work with Mr. Martin for several years and had a very tight schedule to work on this film. 'Mindhead' was a subtle 'jab' at Hollywood's Scientology and rumors of that fact well before the film was released. The young non-actor character 'Daisy' was a subtle 'jab' at Mr. Martin's X-girlfriend Ann Hetch. The original film name was "Bowfinger BIG Thing".*Emotion- A wonderfully clever and interesting film plot that develops some very funny drama involving some misfits becoming Hollywood moguls. I'm a little biased on this point of this review. I worked on the film for many weeks and enjoyed the cast & crew. article LINK: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CheckingtheGate/message/2 *Based on- Steve Martin's story script written over ten years before.

Bowfinger is brilliant and under-appreciated. While Groundhog Day has justifiably gone down in history as one of the best comedies of all time Bowfinger is just another flick, one all too frequently ignored. (Though when I think about it I left it off my Top 10 Comedies of All Time list also.) Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) is a struggling filmmaker who tires of missing the big projects, of being ignored and unknown by the big names, and of being doubted by those loyal to him… and perhaps a little tired of doubting himself.So as another project threatens to slip through his fingers Bowfinger decides that he will make his magnum opus entitled 'Chubby Rain' – a film about an alien invasion with the invaders smuggling themselves to our planet in raindrops – around Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy), the biggest movie star in the world, by filming non-Kit scenes as normal and having his own actors approach an unaware Ramsey and deliver lines while the camera crew hide remain secluded.Bowfinger convinces his rag tag crew of aspiring wannabes and impressionable yet deluded staff that Kit Ramsey is merely '100% method', and is so consumed with his performance that he will not acknowledge or interact with them outside of his scenes.It helps both Chubby Rain and the film that Kit Ramsey is especially paranoid and delusional in all respects, on the verge of cracking altogether and constantly in touch with a Scientology-styled wellness centre called MindHead, run by Terry Stricter (Terence Stamp).At first things go reasonably well, experienced ex-stage actor Carol (Christine Baranski) is impressed with Ramsey's realism as he appears genuinely believable in scenes that require him to be caught offguard and confused, and aspiring straight of the bus actress Daisy (Heather Graham) takes any action necessary to further her role in the film and her fledgling Hollywood career.Things look pretty rosy, but when Ramsey checks himself out of society for a while to deal with his paranoid thoughts that aliens are trying to make contact with him of all things that the production grinds to a halt and a plan B must be hastily devised.Plan B is named Jiff (also Eddie Murphy), a nerdish but keen as mustard man who looks remarkably like Kit, enough at least to pass for him in glimpses and action scenes. Bowfinger works because Steve Martin takes nothing too seriously, he expertly lampoons Hollywood's ridiculous self infatuation and vacuousness (Robert Downey Jr has a brief role as a pompous producer).But this is another example of just how funny Eddie Murphy really was in his prime, his dual roles as Jiff and Kit Ramsey are expertly played and quite frequently hilarious, a scene in which Jiff is asked to run across a busy freeway for an action sequence never fails to floor me, and the scenes that show Kit's emotional and mental fragility are also excellent. This film should stand proudly alongside Coming To America as high water marks in comedic acting, a reminder of a time when playing multiple roles wasn't merely a lazy excuse to ham it up and trade fart jokes.Bowfinger isn't as deep as Groundhog Day or perhaps quite as funny as Coming to America, but it is masterful comedy and remains highly rewatchable. In fact with Eddie Murphy's career long since deceased aside from donkey dialogue it's good to acknowledge the once-genius of Ed, and the excellence of Steve Martin.Final Rating – 8.5 / 10. Bowfinger might not be the best comedy of all time, but it stands head and shoulders above anything passing for comedy over the last few years.