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Bulworth
20th Century Fox Film Corporation


7.3

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
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Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for pervasive strong language and some drug content

Starring Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Oliver Platt, and Paul Sorvino

A 'tragic-farce,' Bulworth takes a comedic look at race and class in the United States, campaign finance, and the power of big money and media in America. (Twentieth Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Warren Beatty (also story) Jeremy Pikser
DIRECTED BY:	Warren Beatty
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 16, 1999 Video: August 3, 1999 Theatrical: May 19, 1998
RUNNING TIME:	108 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Beatty and Pikser received an Oscar nomination in 1999 for their original screenplay.

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

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Beatty has fashioned a hilarious morality tale that delivers a surprisingly potent, angry message beneath the laughs.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Warren Beatty sounds off angrily and shrewdly about politics, delivering what is possibly his best film and certainly his funniest and livliest.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An uncommonly smart, sharp and irreverent American picture.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

This political satire that's as fresh and exhilarating as anything we've seen come out of Hollywood in quite some time.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It has the audacity that “Primary Colors” should have displayed, but was afraid to. Bulworth is willing to openly offend to get its point across. That's something that “Primary Colors” was nervous about doing.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

His movie isn't a surgical attack at this problem and that; it's a cluster bomb intended to reap destruction, make a mess and jolt all who see it to react.

USA Today Mike Clark

Warren Beatty's uproariously rude Bulworth is 90% triumph.

New York Daily News Dave Kehr

A brilliant and astounding black comedy.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Warren Beatty's Bulworth made me laugh -- and wince.

Film.com John Hartl

There are some cheap shots, and there's an argument to be made about whether the film is sending up stereotypes or simply perpetuating them. But for every dubious moment, there are plenty that connect.

Film Threat Chris Gore

Bulworth has the distinction of being the only summer movie that might make you think and for that, it definitely deserves ample praise.

Newsweek David Ansen

A dizzying mixture of the sophisticated and the naive, the deft and the clumsy, Bulworth is overstuffed, excessive, erratic -- and essential.

Film.com Ted Fry

There are extreme moments that lurch between inspired absurdity and near failure -- but as a ballsy movie about human politics with no correctness in sight, it's a triumph.

Slate David Edelstein

The film has a kamikaze comic spirit that's spectacularly disarming.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It's daring, deliberately offensive and, for a comedy, it has far more ideas in it than actual laughs.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Beatty's contribution to the ranks of recent political satire is bold, merciless and frequently very funny, and his performance is just plain fearless.

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

In a season of mechanized spectacle and brain-dead comedies, Bulworth is a brave and bracing exception.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Beatty himself is high wattage, revved up, sharp in his comic timing, gleaming with eagerness to put his film across. As director, he carries on from where he left off in “Reds;” he is sure and fluent, and occasionally he tips his hat to the past. [June 8, 1998]

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Frequently awkward, peppered with moments that make you shake your head, Bulworth's singular nature makes it a film that can't be shrugged off.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

This is a great liberal movie, which is to say, it will be loved most passionately by great liberals, and despised by the conservatives it contemptuously fails to notice.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Its best moments come from witnessing the Senator's inspired unraveling, not from watching where it will end.

Film.com Tom Keogh

One can be forgiven for leaving the theater feeling a modicum of hope, and for that we owe Warren Beatty something.

New Times (L.A.) Peter Rainer

With all its hip-hop and jive, Bulworth may seem new-style -- but actually it's proffering a populism that Frank Capra would have loved.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

To his credit, Beatty has designed Bulworth along the classic lines of Shakespeare's Fool -- the antic truth-speaker who has the ear of the court.

Film.com Robert Horton

Bulworth shoots along with great vigor, and its non-politically correct jabs are occasionally exhilarating.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It's a tease of a satire that never really follows through on its audacious premise.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

As a movie, it's a disaster. As political speech, it's imprecise, shrill and sometimes clichéd, but it's also alive.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

The movie hits the ground running, so Beatty the actor is forced to go all out from the start.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pat C. gave it a 6:
There is no reason this film had to deteriorate from refreshing political banter into the inevitability of no good deed going unpunished. Though Bulworth is initially pushed to the brink of suicide by conservative elements, the film is fair & balanced, justifying both the good and bad qualities of a so-human charismatic renaissance liberal while reaffirmating the universal truth that the opposition is somehow the root cause. Eventually the catharsis is concluded but the mania remains. In the end we are let down by a character who, while representing the rare sacred truth, turns out to not be the genuine article. But hey that's politics, or movie making, or both. The system is beyond either redemption or condemnation. It is just what happens when human nature is the law of the land. To love hearing truth as one of several variables is wisdom, but to try to change the world by publicizing the truth has a deranged quality because we cannot be certain of the truth's correct renditiion.

Cwech gave it a 10:
A great political comentary and one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. The movie hits the spot on the issues facing America today, the Democrats are in the pockets of the insurance companies, and the Republicans are even worse, no wonder all the wrong things are happening to America. This movie is what would happen if a Senator told the truth.

Kenneth gave it a 0:
This movie is THE reason a rating of 0 is a possibility. I have never walked out on a film, but should have on this one. There are no redeeming qualities about this film. Don't walk away... run!

Xavier X. gave it a 10:
Bulworth was f..king badass!

John Doe gave it a 10:
It was bad ass.

Jack gave it an 8:
The politics are well-meaning but immature. As a movie it's funny, un-PC, and alive, despite the flaws.

Andrew W. gave it a 10:
Ignore Wade! Absolutely brilliant.

Bulworth 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Bulworth
20th Century Fox Film Corporation