BOWFINGER(1999) **1/2 Steve Martin is one of the most creative writers in Hollywood, writing so brilliantly as to even remind us why Eddie Murphy was once considered an enormous talent. Eddie is a huge star in this one, a nut with possible perversions...is it still type casting when you cast them as they were a decade before? Steve is something of a variation on Ed Wood, shooting Eddie in a film he doesn't know that he's in. Funny stuff but the real bites come in the parallel commentaries and asides on celebrity, Hollywood metaphysics and networking (that's one category), actresses in search of a casting couch or closet (Heather Graham, not bad but desperately trying to be half as entertaining as her mother), self-considered serious actors and their natural derision for cinema and its inherent vulgarity (Christine Baranski in a performance that shows she's every bit as good as her character thinks she is), the necessity of artistic sensibility honed over a long period of time for crew members (Steve uses illegal aliens who spring up from the canyon), Fed-X, and the inevitable reward of chasing your dreams in and out of all the ethically ambiguous and unattractive alleyways they inevitably lead you into. It's a very intelligent and entertaining film, how many of those have you seen recently(?), with a slapstick closing scene for the ages.
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