Bulworth (1998)

Director:

Warren Beatty

Writers (WGA):

Warren Beatty (story)
Warren Beatty (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 May 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Brace yourself. This politician is about to tell the truth!

Plot:

A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide By Hitman | Interracial Romance | May December Romance | Interracial | Socialism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 14 nominations

Cast

Kimberly Deauna Adams	...	Denisha
Vinny Argiro	...	Debate Director
Sean Astin	...	Gary
Kirk Baltz	...	Debate Producer
Ernie Lee Banks	...	Leroy (as Ernie Banks)
Amiri Baraka	...	Rastaman
Christine Baranski	...	Constance Bulworth
Adilah Barnes	...	Mrs. Brown
Warren Beatty	...	Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth
Graham Beckel	...	Man with Dark Glasses
Halle Berry	...	Nina
Brandon N. Bowlin	...	Bouncer #2
Mongo Brownlee	...	Henchman #3
Thomas Jefferson Byrd	...	Uncle Rafeeq
J. Kenneth Campbell	...	Anthony

Also Known As:

Tribulations (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Iceland:12 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Chile:18 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #36031) | Brazil:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The word "fuck" and its derivatives used 95 times.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Nina is talking on a cell phone in Davers' garage, we hear a dial tone when the other party hangs up on her (cell phone networks don't use dial tones).

Quotes:

Angry black woman: Are you sayin' the Democratic Party don't care about the African-American community?
Bullworth: Isn't that OBVIOUS? You got half your kids are out of work and the other half are in jail. Do you see ANY Democrat doing anything about it? Certainly not me! So what're you gonna do, vote Republican? Come on! Come on, you're not gonna vote Republican! Let's call a spade a spade!
[Loud, angry booing]
Bullworth: I mean - come on! You can have a Billion Man March! If you don't put down that malt liquor and chicken wings, and get behind someone other than a running back who stabs his wife, you're NEVER gonna get rid of somebody like me!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 56th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Holiday/12 Scanner

Simply A Very Odd Film

I wasn't exactly sure how to rate this film, and I bet others weren't either. It's difficult to say but fascinating to watch. Some scenes are terrific, others just terrible trash.

Halle Berry plays anything but a likable lead, nor are the characters people you can root for, except for Oliver Platt in the first half of the film. Then he totally changes.

Nonetheless, this is Warren Beatty's film, anyway. He dominates it and is what makes the movie fun. Knowing him and knowing this was political, I expected big-time Liberal propaganda but didn't find any heavy-handedness there.

For a comedy, there are way, way too many f-words, even in the "music," if you want to call it that. Despite that, the film has some charm, if it's possible to use that word in a film this profane. Beatty's rap lyrics were genuinely funny, no matter what your political persuasion might happen to be. An odd film.