Information about Bulworth

Bullworth redirects here. For the fictional town and school see Bully (game)

Bulworth is an Academy Award-nominated American film released in 1998, which was written, directed by, and starred Warren Beatty and co-starred Halle Berry. The film follows the title character, California Senator Jay Billington Bulworth (Beatty), as he runs for re-election.

Bulworth
Promotional movie poster for Bulworth
Directed by	Warren Beatty
Produced by	Warren Beatty Pieter Jan Brugge
Written by	Warren Beatty Jeremy Pikser
Starring	Warren Beatty Halle Berry Oliver Platt Don Cheadle Paul Sorvino Jack Warden Isaiah Washington Christine Baranski Amiri Baraka
Music by	Ennio Morricone Ol' Dirty Bastard Transcenders
Cinematography	Vittorio Storaro
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	May 15, 1998
Running time	108 min.
Country	US
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Plot summary

A veteran Senate Democrat, Bulworth is losing his bid for re-election to a fiery young opponent. Bulworth's liberal views, formed in the 60s and 70s, have lost favor with voters, and so he has conceded to moderate politics and to accepting donations from special interests. In addition, though he and his wife (Christine Baranski) have been having affairs openly for years, they must still present a happy facade in the interest of maintaining a good public image.

In another self-serving campaign effort, Bulworth purchases a $10 million life insurance policy in exchange for a favorable vote for his insurance company. Tired with the state of affairs and politics in general, he then orders a hit on himself to be executed within two days' time. Here, Bulworth takes a major turn, politically and personally. Knowing his time left on earth is short, he begins speaking his mind freely at public events and in the presence of the C-SPAN film crew following his campaign. His frank, potentially offensive remarks make him an instant media darling and re-energize his campaign. After becoming involved with an African American Nina (Halle Berry), Bulworth tries to set his sordid political track-record straight while he is pursued by the paparazzi, his insurance company, his campaign managers, Nina's protective drug-dealing brother, and an increasingly adoring public, all before his impending assassination.

Political and social commentary

This film presents a great deal of controversial political and social commentary—often, but not always, through Bulworth's open, honest, and unusual campaign speeches. These speeches are often especially (and comically) controversial due to the demographic of Bulworth's audience. Memorable scenes include his comments to the African American church near the beginning; his comments to the supposedly Jewish movie producers (which may also be a tongue-in-cheek comment on behalf of the writers); Bulworth's comments about corporations controlling the American political system, and the ongoing comments depicting Democrats and Republicans as being just as bad as the other. Nina also makes some insightful comments as to why there are no black leaders anymore, as does L.D. in justifying using children in his drug-dealing business, which Bulworth later repeats verbatim on CNN. However, the overall theme of the film is espoused by an anonymous vagrant who encourages Bulworth to, "Sing, be a spirit, Don't be no ghost!", an exhortation to be outspoken.

Nominations

1999 Academy Awards Writing (Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen)

See also

• Bob Roberts
• Canadian Bacon
• Network
• Bulworth (soundtrack)

External links

• Bulworth at All Movie Guide
• Bulworth at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bulworth at Metacritic
• Bulworth at Box Office Mojo