warren beatty’s ” bulworth ” is a caustic political comedy that doesn’t attack any particular political group , but rather the ingrained insincerity that has infected the american political system .
some might think this film is vulgar , and in many ways it is .
however , as loud and raucous as it is , ” bulworth ” speaks the truth , which is almost always ugly to hear .
beatty , who directed the film and co-wrote the script with jeremy pikser ( ” the lemon sisters ” ) , stars as incumbent u . s . senator jay billington bulworth , who has one of the best politician names in cinema history .
bulworth is a democrat , and in beatty’s view , he is symbolic of everything that has gone wrong with the current democratic party .
once an ideological liberal ( like beatty still is ) , bulworth has long since succumbed to the materialistic pressures of washington .
instead of waging the battles for the impoverished and the downtrodden , which was once the calling card of democrats , bulworth has become another sell-out money hound – if he’s not accepting illegal bribes from the insurance lobby or taking campaign contributions from the chinese , he’s making wind-bag speeches that start with the amusingly clintonesqe statement , ” america is standing on the doorstep of a new millennium . . . .
blah , blah , blah . ”
when the film opens , it is a few days before the 1996 primary elections , and bulworth is sitting at his desk weeping because he realizes how corrupt he has become .
in a fit of desperation , he takes out a $10 million life insurance policy from a dirty insurance rep played by paul sorvino ( part of a shady lobby deal to kill a threatening bill in committee ) , and then hires a hit man to kill him , although he doesn’t know who the assassin will be , or when the hit will take place .
knowing that he will soon be dead , bulworth unleashes his own brand of political rhetoric on the world , which is made up of politically incorrect truths about the state of american politics and the society in general .
at a compton church , he tells the group of african-americans that they will have no power in the u . s . unless they ” put down that malt liquor and chicken wings , and get behind somebody other than a running back who stabs his wife . ”
later , in a particularly hilarious sequence , bulworth mixes with the hollywood elite , then insults the quality of their movies and informs them that the only reason he’s there is because ” my guys always put the big jews on my schedule . ”
all throughout this physically and politically suicidal escapade , bulworth’s chief of staff , dennis murphy ( oliver platt ) , follows behind in a state of constant shock and bewilderment .
platt has some of the movie’s funniest scenes , as he makes murphy into a politically savvy but nonetheless clueless assistant who is forced to watch his own career teeter at the brink of being flushed down the toilet .
his constant half-truth-telling and spin-doctoring to cover bulworth’s stampede is equaled in its perversion only by a self-righteous reporter ( nora dunn ) who acts like murphy’s refusal to explain bulworth’s actions ( something he really cannot do ) is somehow an act of treason .
when bulworth decides he wants to live after all , and therefore must constantly evade a grim-looking assassin to be who’s trailing him at every turn , he hides out in the ghetto , complete with a stereotypical gangsta wardrobe which he wears to one of his television interviews .
at this point , beatty abandons much of the political aspect and dives into a cartoonish exploration of the black inner-city experience .
bulworth becomes friendly with a young black woman named nina ( halle berry ) , who he meets at the harlem church rally .
she has a tough-talking brother who is deep in debt to a local gangster named l . d .
( don cheadle of ” boogie nights ” ) , who also becomes involved in bulworth’s campaign .
some of the scenes in the ghetto ring true , but much of it feels like a lighter version of scenes depicted in more intense inner-city films like ” boyz’n’hood ” ( 1991 ) and ” menace ii society ” ( 1993 ) .
” bulworth’s ” chief liability is beatty’s insistence on having his character adopt a clumsy style of rap as his new communication device .
instead of speaking at political rallies , he breaks into a kind of rhythmless rap style that is a reminder of why almost all hip-hop stars are black .
it’s hard to tell whether beatty is being humorous by being so bad , or whether he’s actually that incompetent .
at any rate , the rap sounds more run d . m . c .
than snoop doggy dogg , which makes the film seem dated instead of contemporary .
beatty would have been better off simply adopting some of the inner-city lingo and working that into his speeches , instead of trying to sound like l . l . cool j .
other than that , ” bulworth ” hits all its targets with wry , hilarious accuracy .
the film is like a letter bomb to the democratic party , and even if you don’t agree with beatty’s liberal message about the unrequited duties of the federal government , it is hard to deny the impact the film has in exploring the monetary and moral debauchery that infests modern politics .
unlike ” primary colors ” which opened earlier this year , ” bulworth ” doesn’t try to tip-toe around the truly painful issues that hit close to home – instead , it takes them dead-on .