Review of Bulworth (1998) by Anne T — 24 Jan 2010

I was prejudiced going into the theatre due to my understanding of Beatty's political philosophy (Although I am anything but conservative). As a result, I was expecting something as obnoxious, sophomoric, and cliche as Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts.

However, I found myself getting caught up in the character of Bulworth initially. He begins as a wonderfully tragic figure that I empathized with and wanted to cheer for. Unfortunately, this feeling passes slowly but surely, and the film explodes into a barrage of cliche liberal propaganda as with Bob Roberts; the drug pusher having a change of heart when he sees that someone cares, the obligatory evil white cop abusing authority, the supposed inability of minority intellectuals to succeed in a conservative world, etc.

But, the "Clincher of Doom" is the ceaseless insipid rap parody, that grew tiresome in the mid 80's, which is funny for only the most brief of moments and deflates any of the potentially compelling scenes.

Yet, Beatty does orchestrate some clever scenes and characters giving a little life to a dying film.