In 1998, Warren Beatty directed, co-wrote (with Jeremy Pikser) and starred in this enjoyable satire that revolved around one brilliant, yet unbelievable, idea: one day a politician might not care about his career any more and just start telling the truth. We know it’s never going to happen but Bulworth builds so nicely that you really do start wishing it would one day become a reality.
Beatty plays the titular character, a politician who starts the movie as low as low can be. He hasn’t eaten or slept in days and the only thing that cheers him up is knowing that he has just arranged for a hired killer to end his miserable existence at some point over the next few days. With that all sorted, he hits the campaign trail and starts shocking people by telling them the truth. Nobody is mor shocked than his advisor, yet another great turn from the great Oliver Platt, who has no idea what is going on but knows that it will probably cost him his job and/or reputation. To make matters worse, a young girl (Halle Berry) comes into the picture and Bulworth gets even more energised. He even starts rapping and cursing at his planned events. It should all be going from bad to worse yet, strangely enough, a lot of the voters seem to enjoy this radical new approach to politics. Maybe Bulworth really has something worth saying, if he can stay alive long enough to keep delivering the message.
Yes, there are many moments in this movie that will make you cringe. It features Warren Beatty rapping, which should set even the bravest viewer a-trembling. But that’s what politicians do. They identify with whoever they are trying to best represent (or, at least, whoever they are pretending to best represent) and that just makes Bulworth seem like a much more realistic figure even as he becomes a bit of a joke, in the eyes of many. He takes on the mannerisms and culture of people he is speaking up for but the biggest surprise is that his honesty and identification with the people is actually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . real.
Although the character takes on the stylings and speech patterns of the African Americans that he really warms to, Bulworth is not about race. It’s about money in politics, it’s about the rich minority controlling the poor majority, it’s about the imbalance in a system so out of whack that everything, inevitably, boils down to money. As sad as it is to say it, nothing has changed (except for the worse) over thirteen years after the film was first released.
Warren Beatty is great in the central role and he certainly shows that he doesn’t mind making himself look ridiculous now and again. Halle Berry is also pretty good, sassy and sexy in an effective way before she was marketed heavily as “sassy and sexy”. Oliver Platt, if he’s ever less than great then I can’t think of an example. Don Cheadle, Isaiah Washington, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, Christine Baranski and many others make up a fantastic supporting cast.
The direction and the script are solid, with the real political heart of the movie also providing room for a simple tale of a man at the very lowest point of his life who sets himself completely free before finding, perhaps, something worth living for. As amusing as the satire is, this is also a very good representation of very real and very damaging depression – the lack of food and/or sleep, the idea of completely burning a number of bridges to make things easier as you continue on a downward trajectory, the selfishness and childish behaviour that can take over.
It’s not an unmissable modern classic, in my view, but it’s certainly worth watching. And, unfortunately, it’s just as (in fact, probably even more so) pertinent today as it was at the end of the twentieth century.
DIRECTOR: WARREN BEATTY
WRITER: WARREN BEATTY, JEREMY PIKSER
STARS: WARREN BEATTY, HALLE BERRY, OLIVER PLATT, DON CHEADLE, ISAIAH WASHINGTON, PAUL SORVINO, JACK WARDEN
RUNTIME: 108 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: USA
Film Rating: 
