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Another look at BOWFINGER
Well, here's a counterpoint to Moriarty's take on the film. Personally I'm pulling for the film, as I like both Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, though they both have made really bad (as well as great) movies in the past. Well.... we'll see....
Harry, the name is Lerner. I am writing my first review to you about
Bowfinger after reading Moriarty's brown-nosing review of a truly awful
movie. First let me give you an idea of my taste. A couple of favorite
movies of the cuff would be Resevoir Dogs, True Romance, Whats Eating
Gilbert Grape, Seven, Heat, Clerks, and Fearless. I enjoy Adam Sandler and
the Kevin Smith movies in the comedy department. Now let me give you my
feelings on the Bowfinger catastrophe. I had the opportunity to see the
flick a couple weeks back in New Jersey, and had seen a couple of the
postings on your site. After reading the Moriarty review, however, I had to
take action. We all know the premise of the movie by now, with Steve
Martin's producer/director attempting to put the superstar Eddie Murphy into
his movie without Eddie knowing it. He is assisted by the dude from Scream
and his cast includes Heather Graham and a couple of nameless actors. The
movie attempts to satirize Scientology and Hollywood, and is unsuccessful in
both. The humor is completely juvenile and sophmoric, without the bite you
would really like to see. The two stars continue to pander to the banal
without truly letting go and being as sharp as they can be. We know they CAN
be funny, it is just too bad that they AREN'T. Steve Martin is hilarious in
stand up, yet his movies SUCK. Who can remember The Out of Towners, Father
of the Bride, or much else from his lackluster career. He has constantly
underperformed in a majority of his movies. Eddie Murphy is lucky to be
alive after Vampire in Brooklyn, Metro, Dr. Doolittle, and even The Nutty
Professor (highly overrated). Oh, did I forget Holy Man, sorry, that one
lasted about as long as it takes to read this review. He too is funnier in
stand up, and in his SNL days. His early work in Trading Places, and the
original Beverly Hills Cop was GREAT; now he is resorting to talking
animals. This could have been a biting satirical look at the ass-kissing,
ridiculous world that is Hollywood. Instead the crowd must endure silly
faces made by Murphy and poor hamming it up from Martin. The overacting is
silly, it just does not work. Simple as that. Universal moved the movie
because it will and should get crushed. It would be better if they put it in
a can and threw it off a cliff. I implore you all to go see The Astronauts
Wife with REAL actors and talent, or Stigmata with marginal talent, that
weekend, rather than sit through this drivel. I know the tone is harsh but
this kind of unintelligent crap really puts me off. I hope you will post
this Harry. Take care and please heed my warning. Bowfinger BITES.
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+ Expand All
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There wasn't any information in here that we haven't already seen before. No details on scenes, edits, sound, etc. Anybody could have written this review, whether they had seen the movie or not.
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How dare ytou rip on the movies of Steve Martin?! Planes Trains and Automobiles, The Jerk, LA Story... the list goes on!
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You mention Steve Martin's lackluster career on film. What about The Man With Two Brains (one of the most underrated movies of all time), All of Me, Little Shop of Horrors (He steals an already great movie in a few short scenes), L.A. Story, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Jerk (A Classic), The Spanish Prisoner and even The Lonely Guy (a little known guilty pleasure)? Perhaps you made your statement based only on the Steve Martin films you have seen recently. Do yourself a favor and check out some of the films I've mentioned.
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I mean in terms of credibility, absolutely pathetic, learn a little about film before you review a movie!
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All of Me. The Jerk. Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Roxanne. Little Shop of Horrors. LA Story. Some of the finest comedies ever filmed (particularly Roxanne and DRS). If you think Steve Martin's films "suck" then obviously you are about thirteen years old and your interest in film goes back as far as Pulp Fiction. For crying out loud, a few stinkers does not condemn one (make that two) of the finest comic minds of our time. Hell, the above list makes me want to go out and rent up a Steve Martin-fest. I still haven't seen The Man With Two Brains or Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Off I go!
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May 28, 1999 8:27:44 AM CDT
you guys got the spelling of Bowfinger right this time!!! :O)
by mckracken
Hurrah hurrah!!...oh oh...I just dived down to the bottom to hit the talkback button and saw the last line was "Bowfinger Bites"...it must be pretty bad. Thats too bad...I guess I'll rent "The out-of-Towners" again. Maybe Goldie Hawn was a better Co-star for Steve than Eddie Murphy. (gee...ya think?) :O) -MCK
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The reviews on this site as of late have become questionable. Everyone seems more concerned with what they wanted to seen rather than what was on screen. At least the last Bowfinger review gave an overview of the film. this guy/girl just seems mad because he had a different take on what the flick should have been about. WORD OF ADVICE- read real reviews from real critics to understand what it means to be a critic (Just stay away from Peter Travers @ Rolling Stone, he's worthless).
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That's it.
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after reading the brutal response to my review i will concede that i was too harsh on steve martin. i have seen dirty rotten scoundrels and some of his earlier work and yes it is quite funny. you can take the term lackluster out. ok? but the rest remains. the movie sucked and YES I SAW THE GODDAMN THING. the lack of mention for the sound and editing, etc. is because they are not worth mentioning. it is juvenile. period. if steve would return to the glory of previous films i would kiss his feet.
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Thanks god somebody else realizes what a complete useless tit Peter Travers has become. He used to be one of the best in the business but he has become bitter and nasty in his old age, just like the once great Pauline Kael. BTW, how can editing be juvenile, Lerner?
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change the freakin name back to "Bowfinger's Big Thing" dammit... what the hell are they thinking??? People are gonna see the ads and say, what the hell is a Bowfinger??? Bowfinger's Big Thing was the best movie title in ages, and sure nuff, they change it... pathetic...
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Yeah, I heard from a friend who got into a sneak that this movie is a worthless piece of crap. Pity, beacuse there is so much potential talent there. I'll probably see it anyway and at least my expectation are really low, but hollywood movies about hollywood usualy suck. And what is the deal with the release date? I can only think this dog really stinks because they keep moiving it around. Hello, video...
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If you're gonna pretend you saw the movie, you should try to find out a little more about it than some general plot summary you could have read in some magazine's summer movie preview. This is a pathetic attempt to fool everybody but judging from the other Talk Backs, nobody bought it, smart guy. Try harder next time.
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I had a comment but I guess my previous respondents said it all. I have nothing to add I guess except, enjoy your new asshole you deserve it.
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*LOL* Nice post, King!
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This has the unnerving potential of being insanely ugly. When Murphy decides to go out of his way to be bad, he is a terror to behold. I'm glad he got out of his tough "I'm Ed, Don't F#$k with me" phase...but I'd like to see him get back to playing normal people that are funny. Not geeks...if I wanted to see Liar Liar 2 then I'd make sacrifice to the Gods of Bad Comedy and ask for it. If this doesn't pan out for him, it's back to the streets picking up Dudes That Look Like Chicks. And while I love Steve Martin, he really doesn't know how to pick a good script these days. Remember how funny "the Jerk" was? We all do. Remember how bad "Mixed Nuts" was? Probably not, because most people don't remember it evening being out. I don't see myself rushing out to see this one. I don't even know if Randy from Scream can save it. I'll save my cash and go see Phantom Menace again.
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why dont you do something funny?
I havent been keeping up on these two guys...even Steve Martin, is it the vast majority of the posters here that "Out-of-Towners" sucked?(Steve's last movie?) are we suppost to hate Eddie Murphy because he made Dr. Doolittle? Ok what bad things do I have to say here to be socially acceptable in this forum? I like both these guys, but they have both made stinker movies (SO WHAT?) and are we saying that if THIS movie stinks, its once again the fault of our two hapless heros who cant make a decent picture? Cant we (FOR ONCE) blame something ELSE when these two guy make a stinky movie? umm...like say, THE DIRECTOR? Maybe steve's writing has fallen short with this movie or maybe theres somethings else that prohibited him from making his movie the way he envisioned it. these ARE two funny guys...but these are also two guys that have made some really awful flicks. geesh... -
Damn...everything I wanted to say has been said. So, I'll restate it:
1. Long review that isn't really a review of the movie, just a rant about how much he hates the principals, and how little he knows about their careers, or film in general.
2. Lerner's stated idea of comedy is Adam Sandler and Kevin Smith. Hey, I've enjoyed all of Smith's work (I'm one of the few), and I've shamefully enjoyed some (not all) of Opera Man's work. However, to say that THIS is a good model for judging comedy (in so many words) and then to review a movie as being "juvenile and sophmoric" (SIC), well, it just shows how less than expansive his knowledge and taste for comedy is. Christ, Adam Sandler wouldn't have a career if either of those words were removed from the dictionary!
Sure, both Martin & Murphy have turned out some stinkers (I'd rather watch one of Steve Martin's worst than most anything Murphy has done in the 90's, but that's just my own opinion), and perhaps Bowfinger IS a stinker. But I wouldn't trust Lerner's judgement on this subject based on his stated limitations in film taste and knowledge.
3. Bowfinger, sadly, probably does suck. Oh well. Both Martin and Murphy (sounds like a comedy team, doesn't it? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) have cranked out some serious crap on their own, and I don't doubt their combined occasional lack of wisdom could create a megapile of shit. Then again, this kind of thinking just makes it all the more enjoyable and surprising when someone in a slump produces something genuinely funny. Hope springs eternal that the spirits of Axel Foley and Navin Johnson might just possibly find their way back into the light from whatever hole they've been stored.
Actually, I have no idea what I'm saying, I have no qualifications (other than being willing to wager I've spent more time enjoying and understanding hours of classic, contemporary, popular, and indie film--along with a few clunkers--than ol' Lerner here), so I'll just go slink back into the webwork where I came from.
WAIT! There IS something I'd like to say that I've been meaning to post here for a long time.
Open Note To Harry:
GODDAMMIT HARRY, GET A REAL MESSAGE BOARD PACKAGE!!! This friggin' Jamison/Gold homebrewed shit has GOT to go! Slow, unresponsive, crashes browsers, locks up entire machines...it's a PIECE of SHIT like NO other!
There are much better products out there that would do a far better job handling the level of traffic you get in your Talk Back areas. For chrissake, tell those boneheads at that high priced "Interactive Agency" that this shit has an unacceptale performance level. Dammit. Hrrrrrmph!
Sorry. I'll shut up now. Time to click on another Talk Back thread and go make coffee while I'm waiting for the goddamn thing to load on my 300Mhz machine (on a dual ISDN connection, no less).
Ever since your site went dynamic/CGI, it's been touch and go whether or not a given item/link/talk back is going to work. It's a damn good thing your site's CONTENT is so popular, because otherwise this would drive off a lot of participants.
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Well, i love Steve Martin and i don't care what any of you say, "3 Amigo's" ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!
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If Steve Martin doesn't know how to pick a script, then what was he doing in David Mamet's "Spanish Prisoner?"
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This guy calls "Bowfinger" sophomoric, yet he enjoys Adam Sandler movies? Come on, man. The author of this terrible excuse for a review is the type of guy who would quote a Kevin Smith or Wes Anderson movie so he could seem "cutting edge" or "cool," when in actuality he's a jerk-off of astronomical proportions. And to the guy who oh-so-subtley quoted "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in his subject line...you rule.
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That's a quote from Spanish Prisoner one of the best films of our time which Martin starred in. That is enough to make me want to see his movies just in support, oh yeah....AND HE IS HILARIOUS!! Frank Oz is the man!! Eddie Murphy (in the 80's) is the man!! Heather Graham is the.....she's Heather Graham!! And it has Randy!! It has a great trailer!! Lerner is a retard, Waterboy was so incredibly horrendous I wanted to vomit. Happy Gilmore is a classic though, by any definition. This film will easily gross 150 plus so shut up all you naysayers and Harry don't ever let Lerner send in a review again!! Bob the Tomato has spoken. I'm last!! Lol!!
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