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BULWORTH Send This Review to a Friend
Warren Beatty's new comedy BULWORTH is a fresh breeze blowing through the smog of political double-talk that clouds the atmosphere of our daily lives. I salute Beatty who had the vision, nerve and talent to make this audacious, often uproariously funny send-up of the hypocrisy that passes for government. Beatty, who produced, directed and co-wrote the script with Jeremy Pikser, is also the star. And what a performance he gives.
As Jay Bulworth, a U.S. Senator running for re-election in California, Beatty treats us to a liberating, outrageous portrayal. Bulworth ranges from teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown to tearing loose as a white rapper. He finds himself more at home among African-Americans in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood than among the big- business hucksters with whom he usually ingratiates himself for campaign contributions.
A lapsed 1960s idealist, Bulworth has grown so weary of listening to his cliched speeches and fed up with his life that he arranges for his own assassination. But once he frees himself from campaign constraints and revels in the euphoria of telling the truth for a change, he tries to call off the hit man. That's not so easy.
The film's fun begins in earnest when Bulworth starts spouting politically incorrect comments everywhere, whether confronting Jewish Hollywood producers or addressing African-American church gatherings. To the exasperation of his political handlers, amusingly played by Oliver Platt and Joshua Malina, he picks up an entourage of streetwise black women at a disco, gets involved with Nina, a sexy African-American well-played by attractive Halle Berry, who gives him the eye and has an agenda of her own, and ignores campaign schedules while running from those supposed to kill him. The movie shifts into a comic frenzy when Bulworth dispenses his new anti-establishment message in rap.
A white rapper? Nina's family takes kindly to him, and before letting him walk through their dangerous neighborhood dresses him in an outfit that makes him look like a brother. A highlight is his rescue of sassy young drug-pushers from racist white cops.
I've never seen a film quite like this one, and it surely won't be to everyone's taste. It is admirably photographed by Vittorio Storaro and impeccably cast. I found it all downright funny, yet sad, too, for its unsparing criticism of society exploited by big business and split by racism. After entertaining us royally, Beatty delivers an inevitable punch to the gut with a downbeat, pensive ending and a rueful commentary by Amiri Baraka, functioning as a sort of Greek chorus in his role as a homeless wanderer.
In the 1960s Beatty produced the landmark film "Bonnie and Clyde," in which he co- starred with Faye Dunaway under Arthur Penn's astute direction. It picked up the beat of that decade. In its way "Bulworth" picks up the beat of the nineties. A 20th Century-Fox release.
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