Parents' Guide to

Bowfinger

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Entertaining, great actors but not a home run.

Movie PG-13 1999 97 minutes
Bowfinger Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 11+

Based on 4 parent reviews

Discerning Parent
Discerning Parent Parent of 9-year-old
January 6, 2013
age 15+

Innocence preservation

A few too many references to sex. I think it better for kids to wait until they are little older to watch this one.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
b mell
b mell Parent of 17-year-old
January 5, 2013
age 2+

read this and enjoy the movie

nothing sexual in it and a great movie!
See all 4 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) wants desperately to make a movie, and as he approaches his 50th birthday he thinks he is running out of time. He tries to interest a studio executive in a script called "Chubby Rain," written by an accountant, and is told the studio will make the movie IF Bowfinger can get Kit Ramsey, Hollywood's biggest action star, to agree to appear in it. When Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) won't even look at the script, Bowfinger decides to go ahead and make the movie around him, just filming him wherever he is without telling him anything about it. Bowfinger takes his $2184 lifetime stash and gets started, with the help of a studio gofer who borrows the equipment (Jamie Kennedy), a very theatrical stage actress (Christine Baranski), and an ambitious ingenue literally just off the bus from Ohio (Heather Graham), who plans to become a star in one week. They set up the camera wherever Ramsey is going to be, and just stage the various scenes around him.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4):
Kids say (5):

BOWFINGER has some very funny moments but is oddly low-key, from its slow set-up of the premise to its lack of follow-through on some of the comic possibilities. Some of the humor may be too inside for those who do not follow Hollywood gossip. Watching Martin, Murphy, Baranski, and Graham -- all in fine form here -- is reason enough to see any movie, but in this case the script (written by Martin) is not as strong as it could have been.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what kind of movie could be made by filming family members as they go about their daily lives.

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