Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy
Theatrical Release: zz/zz/1998(USA)
Release Date: 03/16/1999
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 108 Minutes
Flags: Profanity, Substance Abuse, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Warren Beatty directed, co-produced (with
Pieter Jan Brugge), co-scripted (with
Jeremy Pikser), and stars in this political satire, a comedy-drama about a U.S. senator who decides to start speaking the truth. Despondent California Sen. Jay Bulworth (
Beatty), up for re-election, is disillusioned by the usual campaign banalities; his marriage to Constance (
Christine Baranski) seems equally hollow. In the midst of a nervous breakdown, Bulworth goes without sleep or food for three days and takes out a $10 million insurance policy on himself while arranging his own assassination. Drinking during a return to Los Angeles, Bulworth is scheduled to speak at an African-American church in South Central L.A. Once there, he tosses aside his prepared speech, startling both the audience and his campaign manager Murphy (
Oliver Platt) by improvising truthful remarks instead of the familiar rhetoric. These loose-cannon salvos gain the attention of an attractive young woman, Nina (
Halle Berry). Bulworth finds an exhilaration with this new freestyle approach, and after shocking a gathering in Beverly Hills with further fulminations, Bulworth invites Nina and her girlfriends into his limo. During a spaced-out sojourn at one of South Central's more frenzied after-hours clubs, Bulworth gains respect for hiphop culture. Still reeling from insights gained by this nightlife, he arrives the next day for a fund-raising function at the Beverly Wilshire, startling everyone with a diatribe delivered in the intonations of a rap artist. His interest in Nina and his new optimistic outlook on life give Bulworth a sense of elation and a will to live. He phones to call off the hit, but gears have been set in motion. After an assumed hitman turns up during a church appearance, Bulworth flees, and Nina offers him a safe-house hideout at the home of her family, veterans of the Civil Rights movement. Here Bulworth goes through the final steps in his transformation -- making a Kennedy-styled connection with the disenfranchised as he tunes into forgotten memories of the '60s. Outfitted in homeboy clothing, the born again Bulworth heads for a TV station to unleash even more caustic comments on the American political scene. Language and drug use brought this film an R rating.
~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
;)
