Customer Reviews

Bulworth

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

This is one of the most bitter, funniest and harshest movies in the 90's. Maybe the most. Warren Beatty, in his fourth film as a director - and his first one as a screenwriter - is great as this democrate, over-exhausted and desperate senator who turns crazy during his campaign and lets down the bla-bla-bla for some real talking.

The beginning, in Washington, is depressive and real funny in the same time: Bulworth cries but he does it watching his own hypocrisy on the screen ('We stand on the doorstep of a new millenium...'). His marriage is a complete failure. Tired and desperate by his own life, disgusted by the empty, senseless and lying speeches prepared for him, he decides to get over all of this and puts a contract on... himself. Then he starts his campaign and arrives in L.A., first in South Central, the Black ghetto, and falls in love with a real beauty (Halle Berry, lately 'Academy-awarded'). He comes back to life and tries to cancel the 'research' he'd started but his contact has a heart attack...

This very funny and inventive story was original enough for having being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1998, along with "Saving Private Ryan", "Life is beautiful" and "Shakespeare in Love". The film gives us many great and raving moments, especially that meeting that degenerates into a rap and hip-hop concert, and that broadcasted, hilarating, angry interview ('Obscenity?'). The soundtrack, 'rappy' and agressive (Dr. Dre, Ice Cube...), is quite unusual in a Hollywood great production, even if it mixes with Ennio Morricone's lyrical, superb partitions (what a great idea!) and with the usual political musical stuff.

On the whole, Beatty makes us laugh as he shoots everything, especially the hard cynicism of the American political and business circles, showing the social and ecological failure of the system ('As long as we can drive a car, the whole planet can die'). He uses comedy and rap music - of course he (maybe) doesn't rap great, Mr. Kelly, but don't forget he's sixty! At his age, he makes a brilliant performance - to get his message through. And he does it so well, with so much strength that the movie was released with no rush and partly censored by the very studio which financed it. In Paris and suburbs, the movie was screened in only six theaters.

But Bulworth doesn't care. He made it.

Once a prolific superstar, the still bankable Warren Beatty had made just nine movies in the last decade. Three of these have earned him three Oscar nominations and one win. In the 1970s and 1980s, he ranked among the top ten playboys in American. His conquests were legendary. Some of his movies were steamy by the standards of their time. Now over sixty years old, he seems more than happily married to Annette Bening. He has reached the point where he can make movies that interest him. Perhaps we should make that ones which amuse him.

Bulworth may have been the most singularly eccentric big budget movie of 1998. It's about a politician, but whereas Primary Colors stayed within a defined framework, Bulworth is all over the map. Yet, depending on your sense of humor, it may be the funniest political satire you will see for some time to come.

Beatty is Jay Billington Bulworth, a United States senator from California who is up for yet another term. The time is 1996. As the movie notes, Clinton is running unopposed, and Dole is definitely going to get the Republican nomination. The public is unaroused, which means that the political climate is completely status quo. Meanwhile, Bulworth is about to have one heck of a nervous breakdown.

The reason Bulworth goes bananas is never specifically stated, but the implication is that the games, deceptions and deceits that make up modern politics have finally undone him. In deep despair, he gets ten million dollars worth of life insurance and promptly arranges for his own assassination. The next day, he changes his mind. He spends the rest of the moving running both for office and for his life.

He goes to fund raisers and insults his wealthy backers. He attends a church in Compton and tells his black audience that they are never going to get any help from Washington, because lower income people are only exploited by the big businesses that pay to get politicians elected. He becomes outrageously incorrect politically. The media, of course, always looking for a hot story, embraces him.

There's that hit man to be avoided. We see groups of reporters following Bulworth, who hasn't slept in days. A car backfires. Bulworth starts walking very fast, and then breaks into a run. The reporters run after him. This is a visual sight gag that is hysterical. Sometimes, he makes a getaway by driving off in his big black limo. Such a vehicle looks ridiculous in a chase scene, to say the least.

Beneath the sometimes dark comedy, Bulworth has a lot of insightful and painful comments to may about our often hypocritical and ineffectual government. These observations are made satirically, but effectively. This is not a heavy-handed work.

One thing that hampered Bulworth at the boxoffice was its portrayal of the man in the black community. People didn't get it. They were offended, especially many liberal white people. Beatty was in no way making fun of African-Americans by showing a very streetwise group. His point, which I thought was fairly obvious, was that many people will behave in an antisocial way in a society that is largely indifferent and often hostile towards them. I think that's almost a no-brainer. Bulworth is that rare politician who has soul.

I have never been fond of politics, perhaps because I grew up around a lot of good old boy politicians. I have always enjoyed movies about politics, because they are almost invariably cynical. From 1939's classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Bulworth, Hollywood has shown that the American people are wise to what really goes on. Why we do nothing about it is another question.

Who can say that motion pictures are not a mirror of the society ? When Frank Capra, during WW2, presented MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON or MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, it wasn't necessary for this director to give an explanation of the deep motivations which lead his heroes. Gary Cooper and James Stewart were idealistic guys whose actions please the audience's thirst for social justice. Now when Warren Beatty desires to shoot BULWORTH, he has to present a comedy if he doesn't want that the public considers his movie as a Disney product destined to the 10 years old audience.

Jay Bulworth is going nuts because he hasn't anything to lose anymore. So why not tell the truth to the californian voters. BULWORTH is a public confession : Warren Beatty confesses to the world that he has always lied, that politics are made of this. BULWORTH is a bitter-sweet comedy : american people don't care. BULWORTH is a tragedy : he will be reelected.

For sure Warren Beatty has had a great time writing BULWORTH. Who wouldn't have ? To tell, under the veil of a comedy, what you have kept hidden in your mind during years must be a real pleasure. Just think of the scene at the Hollywood moghuls' house. In my opinion, BULWORTH deserves to be considered as the best american movie of 1998 for his critical vision of a society looking for a lost ideal.

A DVD zone your library.

I loved this movie when it came out. saw it and laughed uncontrollably as warren beatty's "j billington bullworth" went from jaded politician to a rejuvenated crusader. ok, so he doesnt rap great and a politican in real life probably wouldnt engage in an interracial relationship(much less go public with it ), but i'm glad he took on such subjects. its about time more filmmakers showed that government no longer works for the people, but for big business and special interests. i personally agree with bullworth that everyone should have sex with each other until we become one color. unfortunately, this movie was too deep and too cynical for mainstream america( it bombed at the box office !) but it deserves a second life on video. an underrated political classic

The star of Bulworth is Warren Beaty. Not only as the title character, but co-writer, producer, and director of a film that for all exstensive purposes, should not get made in today's modern P.C. (pretend un-P.C.) Hollywood climate. As a writer is where Warren really shows his talent, creating a quick, rich, unrelenting script that is at times satire, comedy, and political anthem all at once.

Bulworth is the name of central character Jay Billingsly Bulworth, a California Democrat who has recently forsaken his long-standing leftist beliefs for the sake of reelection in 1996. When we meet Bulworth, he is suffering somewhere between a nervous breakdown and a crisis of conscious over his new path and life which eventually leads him to arrange his own assasination. When that assasination fails to occur on time, Bulworth, forced to continue his routine, begans to publicly unravel his reputation and political career by speaking truths about the state of modern affirs and politics. Essentially telling a black church that promises made in the wake of the L.A. riots were no more than photo-ops, and that we were unimportant because they didn't contribute money to his campaign.

Eventually, Bulworth begins to enjoy his new-found frankness, telling a bunch of Hollywood Moguls (in a wonderful scene by a lamenting star from the old system) that they made garbage and were only on his stop because they were "Jews". Thus continues his travels as he makes friends with several ghetto-females from South Central, one of which (Halle Berry) he begins to fall in love with despite her somewhat shady secret. Before long, with a new leash on life, Bulworth regrets the decision to take his life, and tries to undo the assasination, all the while watching his new political approach have a startling positive affect at the polls.

Bulworth mainly consist of decidly leftist beliefs (almost socialistic) which may turn off political opposites. But the theme of both the failure of modern politics, as well as the aching loss of black leadership is one that should be appreciated by all. When you throw in the great laughs and touching views of an elder statesman of Hollywood, with a wonderful soundtrack featuring Ice-Cube, Public Enemy, Mack 10 and others, what you are left with is a completely unique and enjoyable film experience.

Beatty's suicidal Senator Bulworth takes out a contract on his own life, decides he wants to renege, unbeknowingly falls for one of the plotters(Halle Berry)... Etctera, etctera. Beatty even jumps nervously when cars backfire: it's that kind of schtick. But the film's premise does allow Bulworth to sound off on all the most deserving topics (the corporate hegemony, the ghettoization of black Americans). With nothing to lose, he's free to speak his mind, free to blast the mainstream's illusions about an "inclusive America." The observations are short but never superficial, merely concise. Bulworth graduates from soundbytes to a hilarious series of raps -- a conceptual coup, both for Bulworth and for the film.

The senator's honesty leads to his assassination. We knew it would: Beatty's been gunned down again and again in his films, ever since the big machine-gun finale of 'Bonnie & Clyde.' And not only in films where you'd expect it, like 'Bugsy' and 'The Parallax View,' but even in 'Heaven Can Wait'! Anyone see a complex here?

'Bulworth' was one of a late-90s trio of savvy political satires (the other two were 'Wag the Dog' and 'Primary Colors'), none of which found an audience. Too bad, because the film's final words, delivered by an elderly transient directly to the camera, should be taken to heart by all Americans: "You've got to be a spirit -- you can't be no ghost."

A politician has nothing left to lose -- so why not speak the truth? Warren Beatty's Senator Jay Bulworth lays down the smack: the reason the working man (in this movie, the working class is cleverly disguised as hip-hop mavens) doesn't have a voice, is he doesn't have the sway or monetary bullocks to *buy* a voice. Words aren't worth a penny unless you're worth billions. And of course, from the first instant, this divine fool's failure is certain and imminent: Big Business, what with its grimy fingers perpetually immersed in the U.S. Government's proverbial tub of crunchy Jif, would never allow a politician like Bulworth to succeed, at the risk of the working class' newfound capacity to leech the power from the insurance companies and tire manufacturers.

But here's the best part: this poor movie didn't stand a chance of finding a target demographic, just as we know from the first instant Bulworth doesn't stand a chance, either. The movie's occasionally bawdy humor is poised to captivate, paradoxically, *my* demographic (19-year olds who appreciate taboos about racial tension), while its sad, sad message is better suited to working class families who "get it," rather than to, say, people who rent movies all the time, or play the stock market, or capitalize on apathy. In that respect, Bulworth is a sad story, indeed.

When Warren Beatty's "Bulworth" was first released it was the most acclaimed film of the year. Nowadays, few people even see it. Sad, since this was one of the best films of that year. A truly original, fresh, and hilarious piece of filmmaking from a very unlikely source. The movie was directed, produced, co-written, and stars Warren Beatty, an actor not known for his rapping skills or connection with the black community. Watching the film, I can't believe Beatty wrote it. He seems like the most unlikely person to do a film like this, but he pulled it off. Beatty plays California Senator Jay Bulworth, who is trying to be re-elected for the senate job but is being overshadowed by the Clinton re-election. Bulworth's life is a mess. His loving wife is actually more of an employee, a woman who is paid to be "his wife" but openly has affairs. Sensing his life is going nowhere fast, Bulworth takes out a $10 million dollar life insurance policy and than orders a contract hit on his own life. Deciding that in his final days he's going to do what he wants, he begins hanging out in Compton and connecting with the black people he has neglected for so long. Pretty soon, he falls for a young black woman named Nina (Halle Berry) and decides he wants to cancel the hit. Problem is, that's a lot easier said than done. As his chief advisor Dennis (Oliver Platt) desperately tries to get Bulworth to pull himself together, they find that his popularity is shooting up in the polls. I'm not sure Beatty's exact age, but had to be 60 or pushing 60 when he made this film and that's a lot of the reason this film is so funny. There are several scenes in the film, in which Beatty puts on "gangsta" clothing (beanies, baggy pants, etc.) and begins rapping. That's right, rapping. If you don't find the idea of Warren Beatty rapping hilarious than you should see some movies like "Bonnie and Clyde" and "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" to see how someone could find this funny. But not only is he rapping, but he's making serious and relevant political points as he's doing it. Kind of like Zack de la Rocha, just not as talented. Sure, Beatty's not a good rapper but the stuff he's saying is just as relevant now as it was 9 years ago. "Bulworth" is a terrific film, one of the best that Beatty has directed. It's got a great cast, great dialogue, and it's hilarious (picture the Robin Williams vehicle "Man of the Year" if the script knew what direction it was going in from the start and if Williams had started rapping). See this film.

GRADE: A

When this film came out, most reviews were respectful, but most of them really missed it. Beatty plays a liberal Senator who is being told by idiotic, overpaid consultants to "move to the middle" and be "centrist". These were just code words for "agree with the Republicans on everything, be nice to them, tell them they're wonderful, and tell the liberals in your party to go f--k themselves.". Bulworth was being instructed to sell out all of his principles, and sound like GOP-lite. Well, he hires a hit man to kill him, and this makes him start speaking the truth. Then he becomes a liberal again. Beatty saw through all that "third way, triangulation" crap that Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and James Carville (to name a few) was pushing. Essentially, the Democratic party told its base to go to hell, to be more "moderate", to "reach out" to the Republicans, to be "bipartisan". But when you look at Bill Clinton's record, he was as conservative as Bush Senior (especially on economic issues). All those were code words for making the Democrats act just like the Republicans. It was BS back in 1996, and it's BS now. The Dems bought it hook, line, and sinker, and it alienated their base. If they had been a little more like Bulworth, they may have held onto Congress. Beatty is a hardcore, unapologetic liberal who thinks that government can do good for working class people, and he infuses this film with that message. Whether you agree with him or not, the film works very well. Only now do the Dems (and the left wing blogs) see through the lies that Clinton and his ilk told them. Well, Beatty was tellin' ya that in 1996....

Most important movie of 1998? Right up there with American History X. Not bad for a comedy. A fictional movie that's honest and truthful about the sad state of American politics, you should watch this movie and give it serious thought.