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Bulworth Dir: Warren Beatty Stars: Warren Beatty, Oliver Platt, Halle Berry, Jack Warden, Paul Sorvino. You never know what to expect from Warren Beatty. One minute he's a politician and the next he's a cartoon character. Bulworth, his latest creation, is a little of both. On the weekend heading into the 1996 election, Senator Bulworth snaps. He doesn't sleep or eat and stares at the TV for hours on end without flinching. When he finally faces the public, he does the one thing that will ruin a political career quicker than Bill Gates can make two bucks - he speaks his mind. Suddenly, Bulworth can't make a speech without rapping and can't talk to his money people without calling them out as special interest gluttons in front of the cameras. His handlers go nuts, but the people start to buy it. Suddenly, his plan to commit personal and political suicide backfires on him. He becomes larger than life, telling like it is, or at least how he sees it. He's a folk hero, going clubbing, listening to the people, and giving his speeches with a beat box and back-up singers. Call it the other side of Bob Roberts. It's a great ride for most of the movie, but Beatty's lily-white rapmaster and political oracle wears thin after a while. It might be refreshing to hear a politician talking about big business bullying, the race issue, and how his party isn't any different than the competition, but coming from Warren Beatty, it's kind of old news. There's a difference between shying away from the real issues and beating an audience over the head with them. Fortunately, the movie gets back on track when Bulworth gets trapped in the ghetto. The people he meets spark a moment of reckoning, of actual cause and effect, rather than abstract political positioning. He sees what's going on at the street level, and suddenly the ride isn't all that fun for him anymore. Bulworth, the movie and the character, are suddenly grounded. The fact that people are getting screwed isn't so funny anymore, and it crushes him. Bulworth walks a precarious line between light-hearted romp and hard-hitting satire. It's an eclectic mix, right down to the soundtrack, which weaves together Public Enemy and spaghetti western master Ennio Moriccone. For the most part, the movie hits you with enough to let the politics remain in the background as part of the story, rather than the point itself. But when the story slows down, and the new Bulworth starts repeating the same lines as often as the old Bulworth, you realize there's no solution offered, and you start to question what good the guy is actually doing. Then the character comes back, and the movie takes an interesting turn down the stretch, and ends on as odd a note as it began. In the final analysis, Bulworth is a great story, smartly told. Halle Berry is great, and Oliver Platt is hysterical as Bulworth's chief-of-staff. Beatty, who directed and co-wrote, isn't afraid to make himself the clown or the pundit. Even if you disagree with the message, it's definitely a movie worth seeing. -Nick |
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