MindHead, which (as you may have guessed) is a parody version of the Church of Cruise, keeps it together for Eddie Murphy's main character, the erratic and eccentric action star Kit Ramsey by drilling into him the following "happy premises":
HAPPY PREMISE NO. 1: There are no aliens.
HAPPY PREMISE NO. 2: There is no giant foot trying to quash me.
HAPPY PREMISE NO.3: Even though I feel like I might ignite, I probably won't.
Words to live by, I'll say.
MindHead is a minor satiric subplot to Steve Martin's (dare I say it?) second best film (nothing will ever touch The Jerk), Bowfinger.
Martin plays the titular character, Bobby Bowfinger, a struggling producer/director of Z-movie schlock. Bowfinger gets a golden screenplay from his accountant, Afrim (Adam Alexi-Malle): a sci-fi action epic called "Chubby Rain" - which is a title I can imagine Michael Bay directing and also now makes me think of this:
After clumsily interrupting a lunch meeting with a high-powered producer played by Robert Downey, Jr. and mistaking sarcasm for sincerity, Bowfinger sets out to make a movie with the biggest star in the world, Murphy's Kit Ramsey. Problem is: Ramsey has zero interest in Chubby Rain - despite Bowfinger's best efforts at faking as a fellow MindHeader.
No matter, Bowfinger has a solution! Action movie stars just run towards and away from stuff, right? Why not just make the movie without its star knowing he's in it?
So that's what they do. "They" including: a hilariously melodramatic Christine Baranski as the film's resident diva; Heather Graham in her sweet spot as a not-so-innocent Ohioan who "isn't from Ohio"; slack-jawed Kohl Sudduth as the beefcake villian; Jamie Kennedy as the general fix-it man and cinematographer; and the best crew $2,000 can buy (i.e. 4 illegal immigrants who quickly become a crack team of film geeks).
But nothing compares to Murphy's performance in the dual roles of Kit and his twin brother Jiff, whom Bowfinger hires as a Kit stand-in. Murphy is on fire the whole movie - it's a Beverly Hills Cop/Coming to America level performance. Here he is as Jiff, which is just a brilliant comedic creation:
Bowfinger accomplishes a lot of things. It's: a smart satire of Hollywood; an ode to the talentless dreamers of the world; some self-effacing image rehabilitation for Murphy; pokes a stick in the ribs of a notoriously humorless cult; and it takes the Laker girls down a peg. But above all: it's funny. And isn't that all that really matters.
FINAL VERDICT: KEEPER
NEXT UP: BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE*
*Expect a slight delay as we procrastinate on this one.
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