Popcorn Reviews With Cybèle: Bulworth 

By Cybèle Elaine Werts  
CybeleW@aol.com

Popcorn Kernel Rating: 2 1/2 Kernels - Reasonably good entertainment if not anything to knock your socks off.

A friend of mine convinced me to see Bulworth because he thought I wasn’t writing enough reviews on comedies and wanted me to redeem myself on this one. Unfortunately Bulworth wasn’t the comedic farce we expected, but something more along the lines of black comedy minus the comedy. Not that there weren’t some funny moments, but that wasn’t the gist of things.

Bulworth reminded me a bit of Wag The Dog, a film that came out just as the Monica Lewinski thing was hitting the front page. In Wag The Dog, politicos created an imaginary war to cover up a questionable incident involving the president and a young woman at the white house. In that case we got to see the excess of political machinations. Bulworth took the opposite tack with a smooth operator senator who loses it one day and starts running off at the mouth saying what he’s really thinking (a la Golden Girls). Along the way he finds kinship and a bit of adventure with African American music, women, and politics. An odd story for sure. Overall Bulworth was reasonably watchable, even if two hours was a bit long. A surprising and courageous ending makes this film worth renting on video - if not necessarily worth $7.50 any evening. It this review sounds vague, it’s probably because the film wasn’t anything to write home about, but it wasn’t half bad either.

Suggested Gustatorial Accompaniment: Collard greens if you can sneak them into the theatre. If not, raisonettes will do in a pinch.

Copyright 2000