Bowfinger (1999)

Chasing a dream can make a person do outrageous things, especially in Hollywood. Frank Oz's comedy "Bowfinger," written by star Steve Martin, casts Martin as Bobby Bowfinger, a broke, desperate, small-time producer who's determined to make his big break with a low-budget science fiction script called "Chubby Rain," written by his accountant. After bluffing his way into a meeting with a powerful studio executive (Robert Downey Jr.), who agrees to distribute the film only if it stars action hero Kit Ramsey, Bowfinger has a problem: Kit has no intention of making it. So he assembles a ragtag cast and a crew of day laborers and decides to secretly film Kit (Eddie Murphy), a paranoid, insecure superstar, by having his actors approach him on the street and in public places, delivering their lines while hidden cameras roll, without Kit ever knowing he's in a movie. Kit, already under the guidance of a slick self-help guru (Terence Stamp), becomes convinced he's being stalked by aliens. When things get too risky, Bowfinger hires Kit's nerdy, sweet-natured lookalike, Jiff (also Murphy), as a stand-in, leading to a hilarious scene in which the terrified Jiff is forced to dash across a busy freeway. Heather Graham plays a starry-eyed newcomer from Ohio who's more than willing to trade romance for bigger roles, working her way through the cast and crew, and Christine Baranski is a faded, overdramatic diva who throws herself into every scene. It's a sly, affectionate satire of Hollywood's hustlers and dreamers, and it marked Murphy and Martin's first teaming.