A romance of Semi-Happy Valley (8/27/99)
____________
Bowfinger. [Frank Oz, 1999. Written by Steve Martin.]
Ne’erdowell producer/director Martin, a guy whose fondest dream is that someday, somehow, the Federal Express truck may not pass him by, makes one last desperate stretch for the brass ring, improvising around a preposterous alien-visitation script an inspired exercise in guerilla/paparazzi filmmaking: knowing full well that he can’t persuade action megastar Eddie Murphy to appear willingly in his movie, he determines instead to follow his intended lead around Hollywood and shoot the scenes around him without letting him know what’s going on. Since Murphy is already teetering on the brink of nervous collapse under the weight of his paranoid delusions, these repeated close encounters with the Ed Wood brigade must certainly drive him completely over the edge; complications ensue. — Though the execution of this scheme is occasionally ragged, the premise is absolutely brilliant; I can’t believe there isn’t a wannabe with a film crew out stalking Schwarzenegger already. Moreover Murphy [who plays both the action star and his halfwitted brother] is terrific: it had become hard to recall why he used to be one of the funniest guys in the world, but if he keeps working with Martin, he will be again. Check this out. — With Heather Graham as an ingenue fresh off the bus from Ohio, determined to fuck everyone who stands between her and stardom; would that I lay in her path.
____________Reuben and the Jets (8/11/99)
