# Bulworth (1998)

### reviewed by
Jamie Peck

BULWORTH Reviewed by Jamie Peck

Rating: *** (out of ****) 20th Century Fox / 1:47 / 1998 / R (language, violence) Cast: Warren Beatty; Halle Berry; Oliver Platt; Jack Warden; Don Cheadle; Paul Sorvino; Joshua Malina; Richard Sarafian; Sean Astin; Laurie Metcalf; Isaiah Washington; Christine Baranski Director: Warren Beatty Screenplay: Warren Beatty, Jeremy Pikser

The most memorable image of the 1998 summer movie season is here early, and it isn't a giant lizard making waste out of the MetLife Building. Rather, it's the sight of Warren Beatty donning wrap-around glasses, a skull cap and low-riding shorts near the end of "Bulworth," a lively, energetic political satire that he also directed and co-wrote. "Bulworth" is quite a bit of fun despite one or two questionable subplots and a finale that gets a little too serious for its own good, but it's probably best not to fault a film that at least attempts to comment on serious societal ills, especially one that, for the most part, succeeds. You could also whine that "Bulworth"'s premise is too one-joke, but the joke is a humdinger, so why carp?

Beatty plays Jay Billington Bulworth, an incumbent California senator who finds himself fed up with the glaring falsehoods of his personal and professional life -- his political agenda is full of empty promises, his marriage is a sham and his re-election TV spots are so phony that they move him to tears. Before hitting the weekend campaign trail through South Central L.A., Bulworth secretly makes his teenage daughter the sole beneficiary of a $10 million life insurance policy and orders a hit on himself to be carried out sometime within the several-day time frame. But the knowledge that he doesn't have much longer to live allows him, for once, to tell it like it is free of consequence. Bulworth finally has a reason to live, yet he could die at any given moment.

Although the hitman storyline acts as a plot catalyst and even throws a little intrigue into "Bulworth"'s ripe comedic agenda, it ends up largely distracting, mostly due to a related, uninspired twist that pops out of nowhere late in the film. Come to think of it, "Bulworth"'s whole last quarter could use a little touch-up, since it is here where quite a strong movie begins to encounter its share of problems. In particular, the African-American characters are underdeveloped, and Bulworth's interaction with them in the film's final passages is rather hazy. The ending -- especially the sermonizing last scene where "Bulworth"'s message is explicitly spelled out for the audience -- has a good chance at leaving a bad taste in many viewer's mouths.

But because Beatty is on the screen during these troubled chapters, "Bulworth" is all the more hard to discredit. He gives an electrifying performance, maintaining dignity and strength even when Bulworth crudely raps his exchanges with a CNN interviewer or giddily searches for his favorite expletives in the record collection of an urban nightclub; Beatty never turns Jay Bulworth into the walking punchline that he very easily could have been. Gorgeous Halle Berry fares very well in an ambiguous supporting role as a homegirl whose growing loyalty to the senator might lead to something more, but Oliver Platt steals scenes from everyone -- except Beatty, who even steals scenes from himself -- as Bulworth's chronically distressed aide.

So while "Bulworth" may grow uneven as it quickly heads toward its iffy destination, the trip there is assuredly rewarding, mixing mirth and morals in the flawless way that eventually (and sadly) eludes the screenplay. Among the fun to be had is a number of crowd-pleasing scenes where the game as ever Beatty raps the truth, a gag that threatens to both grow old and grate but surprisingly does neither. I'm sorta partial to the movie's first big production number, set at a large political rally, but a brief luncheon with Hollywood's elite also hits the bullseye. There, Beatty criticizes the gathered filmmakers for churning out large doses of "crap." Were "Bulworth" a lesser movie, it would be guilty of hypocrisy. But thankfully, it isn't.

© 1998 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit the New and Improved Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/ "Suggestions, please, for the fourth movie in the series. How about 'Look Who's Talking Back,' in which the audience gets its turn?" -- Roger Ebert on "Look Who's Talking Now"

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