Review of Bulworth (1998) by Nathaniel H — 28 Aug 2009

In the midst of this summer's bitter and seemingly endless healthcare debate what could be more topical than an eleven year old film about a California Senator (Bulworth, played by Warren Beatty) who accepts a $10 million life insurance policy (he expects to be dead within a matter of days) from the industry to preserve the status quo? Except the funniest thing happens to the once-liberal politician as he nears death: he starts telling everyone from fat cat insurance execs to black congregations exactly what he thinks. It's a killer set-up, unfortunately set-up is all there is. Bulworth, co-written and directed by Beatty, does nothing with that premise but flounder. And the movie's nearly disastrous lack of finesse chokes off any of the potential snappiness of the jokes.

At the end of Sidney Lumet's great Network, Peter Finch's character is killed because of crummy ratings. At the end of Bulworth, the reenergized Senator (who's now taken to wearing street clothes and rapping about the corruption of national politics and the benefits of single-payer health insurance) is killed for, well, you can probably guess. I can definitely cheer Bulworth's liberal politics, but in the end it's just a ticklish tease.