Steve Martin plays Bowfinger, a hapless director/producer who is broke. His accountant writes a screenplay entitled "Chubby Rain" and Bowfinger decides that this is the movie to make his comback with. The problem is, no one will work for him, and no producer will produce the film without a major star like Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy). Ramsey of course won't have anything to do with Bowfinger, so he Bowfinger decides to do what any normal director would do. Film the movie with Ramsey as the star, just don't tell Ramsey he's in the film. He figures he can film all the scenes that don't involve Ramsey with his cast of characters (including Heather Graham, Christine Baranski and Jamie Kennedy), and shoot footage for Ramsey without his knowledge, then edit it all together. Along the way he picks up a Kit Ramsey look alike named Jiff, who is all geek (also Eddie Murphy). They all work their magic and in the end, manage to make "Chubby Rain" a success.
This movie had a lot of funny moments, most of them involving Murphy. Having him play two characters allowed him to show two different comedic sides. Kit was an in your face maniac, while Jiff was all geek. Seeing Murphy playing Jiff was especially funny. Steve Martin seemed content allowing Murphy to get most of the laughs, while he played the straight role. Heather Graham was used mostly for her physical appeal. Her character was basically someone who used sex to get her way to the top. Not that I'm complaining mind you. There was one story line that I didn't really like, and that was the whole cult thing that Kit kept going back to. The only thing I could think of was that it was an attack on Scientology or something, but I don't know enough about Scientology to know that. If it was a joke I didn't get it, which is certainly possible. I just didn't think it did very much for the story, or provide any real comical moments.
So overall Bowfinger was a cute and funny movie that is perfect for late summer viewing. If you like Eddie Murphy and wonder why in the hell he made Holy Man, go see this film and you'll see something more resembling the old Murphy comic abilities. If you're a guy, any chance you get to see Heather Graham you should take. And if you're a Steve Martin fan, you'll get to see him somewhat restrained, but still a joy to watch.
