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All Movie Info
Starring:
Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Paul Sorvino, Don Cheadle, Jack Warden, Christine Baranski, Isaiah Washington IV, Joshua Malina, Richard Sarafian, Sean Astin, Laurie Metcalf, Wendell Pierce, Michele Morgan, Ariyan Johnson, Graham Beckel, Nora Dunn, Jackie Gayle
Directed By:
Warren Beatty
Written By:
Jeremy Pikser, Warren Beatty
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Bulworth (1998)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
September 9th, 2007
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'Bulworth' is one of my favorites, an ingenious political satire that is both smart and outrageous, vulgar yet sincere, and painfully honest in its observations about American government and the way it works. It should be required viewing for voters and politicians alike, as both groups could stand to learn something. Warren Beatty (the mastermind behind this, as director, star, screenwriter, and producer) plays Jay Bulworth, a California senator up for re-election who has a breakdown and just decides to tell the truth about everything, bluntly and crudely, while romancing an inner-city hottie named Nina (Halle Berry), and using rap music to express himself. Beatty is a hoot, an old white guy throwing out rhymes with the best of them, and he dresses up in "hood" gear, complete with sunglasses, walking through a bad neighborhood and earning the respect of Nina and others in the black community, as he appears sensitive to their concerns and lets them know that they are usually just used for votes, and that no elected officials really care much about their problems or demands. It is these scenes that I find most intriguing and memorable.
Don Cheadle is wonderful as a local gang boss, who eloquently offers his views on what it means to be black in America, which Bulworth recapitulates during a TV interview, much to Cheadle's surprise. Cheadle also cares for a number of young boys, showing even more explicitly the goodness that lies below his thuggish exterior. It all looks and sounds a bit weird, and it is, but it never strikes a false chord, and puts many issues into perspective. Bulworth spills the beans about insurance and oil companies, and many other topics, which makes him popular in some circles, and detested in others, but a curiosity to all. A somewhat distracting subplot has Bulworth constantly looking over his shoulder, trying to shake a man he believes to be an assassin, one that he hired to kill him, but now apparently has second thoughts.
Oliver Platt is terrific as Bulworth's dedicated, though intensely worried, chief of staff, who arranges his public appearances, and seems eager at one point to cancel them all and stash the senator away somewhere, maybe a place with padded walls. It offers criticism of the highest order, exposes the seedy underbelly of the American political machine, and says what a lot of people probably already know, but rarely has it been put so marvelously. The dialogue has substance and value, and the relationship between Beatty and Berry is solid, and works surprisingly well, despite the inherently creepy and incompatible nature of it. Beatty rapping is a sight to behold, too, but he pulls that off like any other zany antic he attempts in this movie. 'Bulworth' takes risks, and not everything is successful, but few satires are as sharp as this. It seems to be the product of a man filled with bitterness and rage and frustration, contemptuous of the hypocrisy and dishonesty of politics. I am sure many feel the same way.
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