Bulworth is a 1998 American political satire black comedy film co-written, co-produced, directed by, and starring Warren Beatty. It co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah Washington. The film follows the title character, California Senator Jay Billington Bulworth (Beatty), as he runs for re-election while trying to avoid a hired assassin. The film received generally positive reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay yet narrowly failed to break even on a $30 million budget. However, Beatty was praised for tackling race, poverty, dysfunction in the health care system, and corporate control of the political agenda, with eminent legal scholar Patricia J. Williams noting the film examined "racism's intersection with America's deep, and growing, class divide."
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on April 21, 1998, by Interscope Records. Buoyed by the success of the single "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" by Pras featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mya, which became a major international hit and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, the album peaked at number ten on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in the United States.
Critical reception
The film generated a great deal of controversy and received a positive reception from film critics.
On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 77% approval rating based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The site's consensus states: "Star and director Beatty's ambitious take on race and politics in 20th-century America isn't perfect, but manages to provide more than its share of thought-provoking laughs." On Metacritic it has a score of 75% based on reviews from 28 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.
Writing in Time Out New York, Andrew Johnston observed: "More than anything else, Bulworth is descended from Preston Sturges's topical farces of the 1940s, which juxtaposed a deep belief in the promise of America with irreverent attacks on the hypocrisy of its institutions."
Patricia J. Williams saw the film three times, saying: "[Beatty] knows power, if not the ghetto, and this movie is effective precisely because it takes on the issue of power... I kept going back because I am amazed by a movie this overtly left wing, fearless and eccentric." She added: "Bulworth isn't about race alone; more specifically, it's about racism's intersection with America's deep, and growing, class divide."
The Washington Post rated the film 19th on a list of "The 34 best political movies ever made".
Box office
The Los Angeles Times commented that Bulworth did "extremely well" on a limited release. Despite this, the film ultimately grossed just $29,202,884 worldwide at the box office.
Accolades
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Recipient(s)
! Result
|-
| Academy Awards
| Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen
| rowspan="2"| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
| Best Screenplay
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| Golden Globe Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
|
|-
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
| Warren Beatty
|
|-
| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Golden Reel Awards
| Best Sound Editing – Dialogue & ADR
| Paul Timothy Carden, Mark Stoeckinger, Gail Clark Burch, Mark Gordon, Dan Rich, <br> Laura Graham, Kerry Dean Williams, David Lucarelli and Cary Stratton
|
|-
| Best Sound Editing – Music (Foreign & Domestic)
| Bob Badami, Shannon Erbe, Lisa Jaime and Jennifer Nash
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Grammy Awards
| Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television
| Ennio Morricone
|
|-
| Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
| "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" – Pras Michel featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa
|
|-
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
| Best Screenplay
| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
|
|-
| MTV Video Music Awards
| Best Video from a Film
| "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" – Pras Michel featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
| Halle Berry
|
|-
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
| Don Cheadle
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Online Film & Television Association Awards
| Best Comedy/Musical Actor
| Warren Beatty
|
|-
| Best Comedy/Musical Score
| Ennio Morricone
|
|-
| Political Film Society Awards
| colspan="2"| Exposé
|
|-
| Satellite Awards
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
| Warren Beatty
|
|-
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Picture
|
|-
| Teen Choice Awards
| colspan="2"| Choice Movie Soundtrack
|
|-
| Venice International Film Festival
| Golden Lion
| Warren Beatty
|
|-
| Writers Guild of America Awards
| Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen
| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
|
|}
Legacy
In 2013, The New York Times reported that President Barack Obama had, in private, "talked longingly of 'going Bulworth,'" in reference to the film.