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{{short description|1998 film by Warren Beatty}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Bulworth
| image          = Bulworth.jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Warren Beatty]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* Warren Beatty
* [[Pieter Jan Brugge]]
}}
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* Warren Beatty
* [[Jeremy Pikser]]
}}
| story          = Warren Beatty
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* Warren Beatty
* [[Halle Berry]]
* [[Don Cheadle]]
* [[Oliver Platt]]
* [[Paul Sorvino]]
* [[Jack Warden]]
* [[Isaiah Washington]]
}}<!--PER POSTER BILLING BLOCK-->
| music          = [[Ennio Morricone]]
| cinematography = [[Vittorio Storaro]]
| editing        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Robert C. Jones]]
* [[Billy Weber]]
}}
| studio         = Mulholland Productions
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{Film date|1998|05|15}}
| runtime        = 108 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 108:06--><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/BVF152680 | title=''Bulworth'' (18) | work=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | date=September 18, 1998 | access-date=May 16, 2013}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $30 million<ref name="numbers">{{cite web |title=Bulworth (1998) - Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Bulworth#tab=summary |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]}}</ref>
| gross          = $29.2 million<ref name=mojo>{{cite web | title=Bulworth | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bulworth.htm | work=[[Box Office Mojo]] | access-date=2012-06-28}}</ref>
}}
'''''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]] [[United States Senate|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."<ref name name=TheNation/>

==Plot==
Jay Bulworth, a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[United State Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Politics of California|California]], faces a [[Partisan primary|primary challenge]] from a fiery young populist. Once politically [[American liberalism|liberal]], Bulworth has over time conceded to more [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] politics and to accepting donations from large corporations.  While he and his wife have been having affairs with each other's knowledge for years, they maintain a happy facade for the sake of their public image. Tired of politics and unhappy with life, Bulworth makes plans to kill himself, and negotiates a $10 million [[life insurance]] policy with his daughter as the beneficiary. Knowing that a suicide would void the policy, he contracts to have himself assassinated within two days.

He arrives extremely drunk at a Los Angeles campaign event, where he freely speaks his mind in the presence of the [[C-SPAN]] film crew following his campaign. After dancing all night in an underground club and smoking [[cannabis in the United States|marijuana]], he begins rapping in public. His frank, offensive remarks make him an instant media darling and re-energize his campaign. He becomes romantically involved with Nina, a young black activist, who begins to join him on campaign stops. He is pursued by the paparazzi, his insurance company, his campaign managers, and an increasingly adoring public, all the while awaiting his impending assassination.

After a televised debate during which Bulworth derides insurance companies and the [[American healthcare system]] while drinking from a flask, he retreats to the home of Nina's family in impoverished [[South Los Angeles|South Central Los Angeles]]. He witnesses a group of children selling [[Crack cocaine|crack]] and intervenes to rescue them from an encounter with a racist police officer, and later discovers they work for L.D., a local drug kingpin to whom Nina's brother owes money. Bulworth eventually makes it to a television appearance arranged earlier by his campaign manager, during which he raps and repeats verbatim statements that Nina and L.D. have told him about the lives of poor black people and their opinions of various American institutions, such as education and employment. Eventually he offers the solution that "everybody should fuck everybody" until everyone is "all the same color," stunning the audience and his interviewer.

Bulworth spends the film fearful of a man who had been following him under the assumption that he was the assassin trying to murder him. After the man finally pushes Bulworth to complete terror, he corners Bulworth on a set at the television studio and begins photographing Bulworth with Nina, revealing himself to be simply paparazzi. Bulworth, frustrated, flees with Nina, who reveals that she is the assassin he indirectly hired (ostensibly to make the money needed to pay off her brother's debt) and will now not carry out the job. Relieved, Bulworth falls asleep for the first time in days in Nina's arms. He sleeps for 36 hours, during which the media speculates over his sudden absence leading up to election day. Bulworth wins the primary in a landslide, and L.D. allows Nina's brother to work off the debt. Bulworth accepts a new campaign for the [[President of the United States|presidency]] during his victory speech, but is suddenly shot by Graham Crockett, an agent of the insurance company that was fearful of Bulworth's recent push for [[single-payer health care]], who makes a quick escape.

Bulworth's fate is left ambiguous. The final scene shows an elderly vagrant, whom Bulworth met previously, standing alone outside a hospital. He exhorts Bulworth, who is presumably inside, to not be "a ghost" but "a spirit" which, as he had mentioned earlier, can only happen if you have "a song". In the final shot of the film, he asks the same of the audience.

==Cast==
{{castlist|
* [[Warren Beatty]] as Senator Jay Billington Bulworth
* [[Halle Berry]] as Nina
* [[Oliver Platt]] as Dennis Murphy
* [[Don Cheadle]] as L.D.
* [[Paul Sorvino]] as Graham Crockett
* [[Jack Warden]] as Eddie Davers
* [[Isaiah Washington]] as Darnell
* [[Christine Baranski]] as Constance Bulworth
* [[Amiri Baraka]] as Rastaman
* [[Joshua Malina]] as Bill Feldman
* [[Sean Astin]] as Gary
* [[Barry Shabaka Henley]] as the bartender
* [[Helen Martin]] as Momma Doll
* [[Laurie Metcalf]] as Mimi
* [[Wendell Pierce]] as Fred
* [[Michael Clarke Duncan]] as Bouncer
}}

==Production==
Beatty first pitched the film in 1992 under the basic pitch of a depressed man putting a hit on himself for the life insurance before falling in love. 20th Century Fox executive Joe Roth approved of the pitch and a budget of $30 million before Beatty got to work on the point of view in politics that would take center stage for the film, with Beatty taking input from writers such as [[Jeremy Pikser]], [[James Toback]] and [[Aaron Sorkin]] (who reportedly did a re-write on the script). Beatty, long involved in politics since his first hero of [[Robert Kennedy]], wanted to make a film that would strike the perceived notion that politics had become too absorbed in polls and fundraising while losing sight on the issues that matters most. Beatty styled his film in hip-hop and rap because of the "great comic contrast" that would come from it.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 3, 1998 |author=PATRICK GOLDSTEIN |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-03-ca-45719-story.html |title=Hanging With Warren B |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] }}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{Main|Bulworth (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 (singer)|Mya]], which became a major international hit and peaked at number 15 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]], the album peaked at number ten on the [[Billboard 200|US ''Billboard'' 200]] and was certified [[RIAA certification|platinum]] in the United States.

==Critical reception==
The film generated a great deal of controversy and received a positive reception from film critics.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Owen|last=Gleiberman|author-link=Owen Gleiberman|title=Bulworth|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=May 22, 1998|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,283251,00.html|access-date=December 4, 2010|archive-date=October 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020062502/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,283251,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|title= Bulworth|newspaper= [[Chicago Sun Times]]|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bulworth-1998|date=May 22, 1998|access-date=December 4, 2010 |via=RogerEbert.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20361217/bulworthroger-ebert-page-f7/|title=Comic rage drives drama's political slant|work=The Indianapolis Star|date=May 22, 1998|first=Roger|last=Ebert|accessdate=June 2, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Margaret A.|last=McGurk|title= No apologies for 'Bulworth'|newspaper= [[The Cincinnati Enquirer]]|url= http://cincinnati.com/freetime/movies/mcgurk/bulworth.html|date=May 22, 1998|access-date=December 4, 2010|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110724022326/http://cincinnati.com/freetime/movies/mcgurk/bulworth.html|archive-date= July 24, 2011|df= mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Jeff|last=Vice|title=Film review: Bulworth|newspaper= [[Deseret News]]|url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700000256/Bulworth.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090809174353/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700000256/Bulworth.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= August 9, 2009|date=May 22, 1998|access-date=December 4, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Hilarious 'Bulworth' – the truth sets a senator free|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=May 22, 1998|url=https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Beatty-s-Rap-Hilarious-Bulworth-the-truth-3005771.php |access-date=December 4, 2010|first=Edward|last=Guthmann}}</ref> 
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."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bulworth/ | title=''Bulworth'' (1998) | work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] | publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]] | access-date=May 27, 2025}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]] it has a score of 75% based on reviews from 28 critics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bulworth |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bulworth |website=[[Metacritic]] }}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= BULWORTH (1998) C+  |work= [[CinemaScore]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}</ref>
Writing in ''[[Time Out New York]]'', [[Andrew Johnston (critic)|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."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Johnston|first=Andrew|date=May 14, 1998|title=Bulworth|magazine=[[Time Out New York]]}}</ref>

[[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."<ref name name=TheNation>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-20942927/bulworth-agonistes |title=Bulworth Agonistes|author=Williams, Patricia J. |access-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-date=November 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104184823/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-20942927/bulworth-agonistes |url-status=dead |journal=The Nation}}</ref>

''[[The Washington Post]]'' rated the film 19th on a list of "The 34 best political movies ever made".<ref name="Hornaday">{{cite news |date=Jan 23, 2020 |last1=Hornaday |first1=Ann |author1-link=Ann Hornaday |title=The 34 best political movies ever made |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/01/23/34-best-political-movies-ever-made/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] }}</ref>

==Box office==
The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' commented that ''Bulworth'' did "extremely well" on a [[limited release]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Weekend Box Office; Audiences Still Flocking to 'Impact'|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=1998-05-19|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-19-ca-51169-story.html|access-date=December 4, 2010|first=Robert W.|last=Welkos|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305214220/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/19/entertainment/ca-51169|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Mixed Early Returns|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 27, 1998|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-27-ca-53670-story.html|access-date=December 4, 2010|first=Richard|last=Natale|archive-date=November 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104032950/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/27/entertainment/ca-53670|url-status=live}}</ref> 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
|-
| [[71st Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/71st-winners.html |title=The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners |access-date=19 November 2011 |work=Oscars.org}}</ref>
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Warren Beatty]] and [[Jeremy Pikser]]<ref name=mojo />
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 1998|Chicago Film Critics Association Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chicagofilmcritics.org/awards-blog/archives |title=1988-2013 Award Winner Archives |website=[[Chicago Film Critics Association]] |date=January 2013 |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[56th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/bulworth |title=Bulworth – Golden Globes |website=[[HFPA]] |access-date=July 5, 2021 |ref={{harvid|HFPA|1999}}}}</ref>
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy|Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy|Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| Warren Beatty
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Motion Picture]]
| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Motion Picture Sound Editors#Golden Reel Awards|Golden Reel Awards]]
| [[Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Dialogue and ADR for Feature Film|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
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore|Best Sound Editing – Music (Foreign & Domestic)]]
| Bob Badami, Shannon Erbe, Lisa Jaime and Jennifer Nash
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[41st Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/41st-annual-grammy-awards-1998 |title=1998 Grammy Award Winners| publisher=Grammy.com| access-date=1 May 2011}}</ref>
| [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television]]
| [[Ennio Morricone]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group]]
| "[[Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)]]" – [[Pras Michel]] featuring [[Ol' Dirty Bastard]] and [[Mýa]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[1998 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lafca.net/Years/1998.php |title=The 24th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards |website=[[Los Angeles Film Critics Association]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
| {{won}}
|-
| [[1998 MTV Video Music Awards|MTV Video Music Awards]]
| [[MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film|Best Video from a Film]]
| "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" – Pras Michel featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[NAACP Image Awards]]
| [[NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture|Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture]]
| [[Halle Berry]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture]]
| [[Don Cheadle]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| Online Film & Television Association Awards<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oftaawards.com/film-awards/3rd-annual-film-awards-1998/ |title=3rd Annual Film Awards (1998) |website=Online Film & Television Association |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
| Best Comedy/Musical Actor
| Warren Beatty
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Comedy/Musical Score
| Ennio Morricone
| {{nom}}
|-
| Political Film Society Awards
| colspan="2"| [[Political Film Society Award for Exposé|Exposé]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[3rd Golden Satellite Awards|Satellite Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards1999.shtml |title=International Press Academy website – 1999 3rd Annual SATELLITE Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201175700/http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards1999.shtml|archive-date=1 February 2008}}</ref>
| [[Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture|Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| Warren Beatty
| {{nom}}
|-
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sefca.net/winners#/1998 |title=1998 SEFA Awards |website=sefca.net |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
| colspan="2"| Best Picture
| {{draw|9th Place}}
|-
| [[1999 Teen Choice Awards|Teen Choice Awards]]
| colspan="2"| Choice Movie Soundtrack
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[55th Venice International Film Festival|Venice International Film Festival]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americancinemapapers.com/files/VENICE_1998.htm|title=VENICE – 1998 – SPEARS OF LIGHT|access-date=6 October 2013}}</ref>
| [[Golden Lion]]
| Warren Beatty
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[51st Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://awards.wga.org/wga-awards/previous-nominees-winners2 |title=WGA Awards: Previous Nominees and Winners |website=[[Writers Guild of America Award]] |year=1999 |access-date=16 September 2016 |ref={{harvid|WGA|1999}} |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307145015/http://awards.wga.org/wga-awards/previous-nominees-winners2 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen]]
| Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
| {{nom}}
|}

==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.<ref>{{cite news | last = Baker | first = Peter | date = May 15, 2013 | title = Onset of Woes Casts Pall Over Obama's Policy Aspirations | newspaper = [[The New York Times]] | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/politics/new-controversies-may-undermine-obama.html | access-date =May 18, 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0118798|Bulworth}}
* {{Mojo title|bulworth|Bulworth}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|bulworth|Bulworth}}

{{Warren Beatty}}

[[Category:1998 comedy films]]
[[Category:1998 films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American political comedy films]]
[[Category:American political satire films]]
[[Category:Films about elections]]
[[Category:Films about suicide]]
[[Category:Films about mass media in the United States]]
[[Category:Films directed by Warren Beatty]]
[[Category:Films produced by Warren Beatty]]
[[Category:1990s hood films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ennio Morricone]]
[[Category:Films set in 1996]]
[[Category:Films set in California]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films shot in California]]
[[Category:Films shot in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Warren Beatty]]
[[Category:1990s political satire films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:Surreal comedy films]]