Review of Bulworth (1998) by Dan M — 27 Oct 2015

A cookie-cutter politician finally has had enough, and rises from the establishment expectation and speaks his mind by using an irreverent, slightly vulgar, down-with-the people style of rhetoric. Whoa, is this the Donald Trump story? Or maybe it's the Bernie Sanders story? Bulworth was a shock-wave of a movie back in 1998, when American politics weren't straying far from it's disingenuous roots.

Between the Clintons and the Bushes, it was as phony as ever. But today, Bulworth is more timely than it has ever been. Every politician right now is doing 'the Bulworth", even the creepily calculated Hillary Clinton.

Art is imitating life once again. What was once a spit of fire in a quiet room has become a political revolution. On all accounts, this movie has every right to seem as excellent as I'm making it sound.

But despite it's Nostradamus effect in terms of politics, everything else about it is dated. Warren Beatty does a decent job, but I can't really buy him as the rapping politician. He sounds like the granny from The Wedding Singer.

He can't hang. The stereotypes of South Central LA are also in full force here, despite it's attempts at humanizing the community. Oh yes, the divide between classes and races is as big as they've ever been at this very moment, but the sophistication of the conversation has changed dramatically.

It's a lot more complex now than 1998 had it, and so, to that extent, it's dated. The writing as a whole also loses it's edge slightly after an hour in, and becomes a series of romantic, political-drama conventions.

I have to say, though, the very beginning and very end of the movie are fantastic.