Amateur movie with Big budget

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's 1996. Californian Democratic Senator Jay Bulworth (Warren Beatty) is worn out and cracking up. His politics has been drifting right. He suffered a large lost shorting pork bellies. He gets $10 million in life insurance to be paid to his 17 year old daughter. He hires a hit-man to kill him. When the hit doesn't happen as expected, he starts acting strange. His off-the-cuff speech at a black church attracts Nina (Halle Berry). His chief of staff Dennis Murphy (Oliver Platt) is besides himself while C-SPAN is filming a special on the senator. As his truth raps gain media traction, he tries desperately to cancel his assassination.I like the idea a lot better than the actual execution. Firstly, I don't find this that funny. I don't think I actually laughed. A few things irk me the wrong way. I find Warren Beatty a bit creepy in this role. He's unbalanced and I have a difficult time fully embracing him. It's watching an old white guy trying to act black. It may be funny for a second but it's terribly awkward. The movie needs to find its heart and it seems to be his daughter. He's essentially doing the assassination to give to his daughter but she's never on the screen. The movie needs to start with him and her having an emotional scene. It needs to anchor the whole movie and that is the missing piece. She is his heart.Murphy is too slow to catch on. He needs to be on the ball quicker. He does say that Bulworth needs to tell him what the play is. However, he should be smart enough to come up with a play himself and so much more. He could be a great insightful character if he's written smarter. Not to mention the couple of stereotypical black girls in the posse. The high-minded political talk is also mind-numbing. There are moments that I like and I want the movie to go a different way sometimes. This is a movie where I love the concept but the execution isn't as much fun as I hope.

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.

Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth has sold out, lost any say in how he spends his time, and lives a "family values" lie. Suicidally depressed, he comes up with a scheme to throw in the towel and have his nemesis -- the insurance industry -- pick up the tab.For the first time in memory, Bulworth speaks honestly and actually has some fun. To his surprise, he makes two amazing discoveries along the way -- he can actually do some good, AND find true love.I had seen this roller coaster of a movie a while back and rediscovered it recently on Sundance. I was amazed at how well it has held up, with all its talk of Obamacare-style socialized medicine and even references to the cool vegetable du jour, kale. There is amazing work here by Warren Beatty, who not only stars but also wrote the trenchant and hilarious script. Beatty is a poignant and believable protagonist on a high-speed road trip of outrageous public performances and flights from a suspected hit man in shades.Among the many interesting things that Beatty highlights in this film is an appreciation for plain-spokenness in the African-American community -- as contrasted with endless beating-around-the-bush by white folk.He says a lot about race relations that rings true today. And though he's a longtime supporter of Democratic politics, Beatty skewers both parties for being self-serving and money-grubbing.The plot twists and casting in this film are of the highest order. Halle Berry shines as a straight-talking street tough who wins Bulworth's heart. Their frenetic dance at an underground club -- is there any better chemistry in a movie, ever? Oliver Platt and another actor whose name I don't know are sublime as Bulworth's sweating-bullets handlers, and I savored the performances of character actors Jack Warden, as Davers, and Richard Sarafian as the sloppy, crude, and gluttonous Vinny.There are so many lessons in this film for all of us. Let's get real, people! Say what you mean, and mean what you say. If speaking in rhyme makes you happy, just do it! Don't sell out. And try to help your fellow man. C'mon, Bulworth...get thee to the ER! And long live Bulworth!

'Bulworth' is a brave film which I think is even more relevant now than when first released. What happens behind the scenes? Senator Jay Bulworth sees those string pullers and is sick of idiots being naive enough to believe they don't exist. What's a man who had noble intentions to do when he is reduced to cynicism? Hire a hit-man to kill himself. What to do while waiting for that trigger to be pulled? Ruin whatever credibility you might have gained in your thirty years of public service. Beatty is brilliant as 'Bulworth' who is a surprising hero. We root for this guy and feel devastatingly sorry for him. Why? He's really nothing but a tremendous jerk.(The scene where he tells an African American Church congregation to "put down the malt liquor and chicken wings and support someone other than a running back who stabs his wife" might be the most racist humor I've ever seen on film). 'Bulworth' is a film about self destruction but the beautiful thing about it is that Jay Bulworth intends to bring down bits and pieces of the establishment down with him. We feel sorry for Bulworth because we know he was someone who was an idealist and who has over the course of many years sold out. If he is to die why not go out in a blaze of glory? These bizarre outbursts on Bulworth's part are portrayed beautifully by Beatty. There is a brilliant mix of catharsis and madness in Bulworth who ends his racist tirade merely saying "that was good" with a breath of relaxation.The film isn't without it's faults. It's brave but there were moments I wanted it to go braver. Where do we want to lead Bulworth? It seems the more appropriate thing to do would be to bring Bulworth to a pinnacle of madness. Instead the opposite happens and Bulworth regains his senses in the form of a love interest. Why? What does this do? For one thing the relationship between Halle Berry and Warren Beatty seems tremendously awkward and forced. What would any woman see in Jay Bulworth? The man has obviously lost his mind. Furthermore Beatty was too old at this point to play a love interest in this fashion. Part of the charm of 'Bulworth' is that this man is supposed to be over the hill. I'm not saying a sexual subplot was uncalled for but not a genuine love story. Let Bulworth crash and burn. What would have been far more interesting is if they had explored Bulworth's relationship with his wife which is only a political marriage. Wouldn't it be funny for Bulworth to enact his frustrations on this woman who has become nothing more than an actress for his boring campaign commercials? I think so.'Bulworth' has a charm and it is very different. Not surprisingly my criticisms of it stem from the conventional moments. The scenes where 'Bulworth' spit in the face of conventional political norms are on par with some of the great political satires