Like Michael Moore's recent documentary THE BIG ONE (which
dealt with corporate downsizing), Warren Beatty's BULWORTH
doesn't really tell us anything we don't already know about
politics -- it isn't penetrating or sociologically
revealing. And Beatty covers familiar ground with familar
points we've all grown used to, making the film out to be
just a bit too naive and self-conscious for its own good.
Yet it's bubbly and entertaining in a lighthearted manner,
and, while you can't really call it 'daring' cinema, I can
say that I was surprised at how adept Beatty was at gliding
over cliched plot facets that most films wouldn't get away
with.
Beatty's acting and directing is consistently acute, the
editing is perfectly in-synch, cinematographer Vittorio
Stararo (who lighted Beatty's 1981 REDS) shrouds the visuals
with color dexterity, with the marvelous character actor
Oliver Platt the standout (as Beatty's coke-snorting
advisor), who brings dynamic spontaniety to just about
everything he does here; he seems that rarity -- an actor
incapable of making a false move. (As for the untalented
Halle Berry, she's still vapid and coasting on her good
looks.)