New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

63 11th Hour, The
47 27 Dresses
29 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
39 Alvin and the Chipmunks
81 Bamako
84 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47 Bella
68 Business of Being Born, The
69 Charlie Wilson's War
64 Cloverfield
30 Cover
68 Delirious
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43 Final Season, The
41 First Sunday
51 Golden Compass, The
49 Good Night, The
65 Great Debaters, The
63 Hannah Takes the Stairs
52 Hollywood Dreams
7 Hottie and the Nottie, The
60 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
15 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81 Juno
70 Lars and the Real Girl
47 Lions for Lambs
41 Mad Money
71 Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx Moondance Alexander
53 Music Within
77 Nanking
44 Nina's Heavenly Delights
24 One Missed Call
74 Orphanage, The
30 Over Her Dead Body
39 P.S. I Love You
37 P2
46 Reservation Road
55 Resurrecting the Champ
57 Romulus, My Father
85 Savages, The
78 Starting Out in the Evening
83 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
57 Teeth
92 There Will Be Blood
38 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32 Untraceable
63 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68 War Dance
71 Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43 Youth Without Youth

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Bowfinger
Universal Pictures


7.8

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sex-related material and language

Starring Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Heather Graham, Christine Baranski, and Jamie Kennedy

Bobby Bowfinger, a nearly bankrupt aspiring movie producer-director, is about to take one last shot at fame and fortune. Desperate to hit the big time, the hapless dreamer recruits a motley crew of aspiring misfits, including an eager nerd, an ambitious ingenue and an overthe-hill diva. With their help, Bowfinger embarks on a radical, ingenious scheme to trick the biggest name in movies into becoming the star of his ultra-low budget film. (Universal Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Steve Martin
DIRECTED BY:	Frank Oz
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 18, 2000 Video: June 6, 2000 Theatrical: August 13, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	98 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Time Richard Schickel

Perhaps the funniest movie for grownups so far this year.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Spoofy and sweet... endearingly old-fashioned.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

A venemous Valentine to Hollywood sugarcoated with laughs.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Disciplined script -- bitingly funny.

TNT RoughCut M. Meghan McCarthy

One of the funniest films of the year... enough laugh-out-loud moments.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

One terrific comedy that doesn't let up for an instant... a total hoot.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Inspired funny business that allows Martin to hilariously torpedo Hollywood's corrupt heart.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Smoothly directed and acted with glee... showing quick-witted comic spirit.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

A terrifically clever film; has a soft-boilded heart.

Newsweek David Ansen

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy are both in peak form.

Baltimore Sun Milton Kent

As close to a perfect piece of satire as filmmakers have seen in quite some time.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One of those comedies where everything works.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Offers a lot of laughs, a heartwarming core.

Film.com Ted Fry

A good-natured farce. It's also really, really funny.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Has it's share of downtime.

Mr. Showbiz Elanore Snow

Savy script... terrific performances... [yet] the movie's herky jerky pacing may leave you wanting.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

One of the reasons the move is so funny is that it is only a few degrees away from real life.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Bowfinger's terrific set-pieces... more than make up for the odd weak moment or thin performance.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

One of the best and funniest things that Martin, as writer and actor, has ever done.

USA Today Mike Clark

Aside from the "Nutty Professor," this is the funniest Murphy comedy since the Reagan Administration.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Priceless enough to flush "Metro," "Dr. Dolittle" and "Holy Man" from memory.

Variety Todd McCarthy

So lunatic that it creates as much puzzled disbelief as it does carefree delight.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Amiable bundle of broad, easy laughs rather than bitingly fierce satire.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Just enough laughs to keep you watching.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Certainly pleasant, but it's also a bit safe.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Enjoyable but thin.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Lacks emotional depth and intellectual sincerity.

Dallas Observer Hinson

With the exception of Murphy . . . the rest of the cast Oz has assembled acquit themselves only adequately or worse.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Never hits a note of high hilarity.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Bowfinger is mediocre . . . can be irksome, tedious, and hard to sit through.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Feels soft without being especially affectionate, and only sporadically funny.

Austin Chronicle Sarah Hepola

Just enough laughs to keep you from feeling blatantly shortchanged.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Mechanical plot that seems dull even before it laboriously clanks and screeches into motion.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joe S. gave it a5:
Enjoyable to watch, but it is farce all the way through. And you get the sense that the filmmakers were so dumb they didn't even understand that it was farce they were making. It wasn't a particularly "bad" movie, but it was thin and pathetic, and seemed to take no effort or filmmaking skill to make.

Akhil K gave it a10:
Truly, one of the best "struggling to make a movie" movie ever. Eddie Murphy's hilarious double performance and Steve Martin's brilliant comedic timings serve this film very well. Excellent soundtrack too.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Bowfinger Universal Pictures

Bowfinger
Universal Pictures