Start the week with a film: In ‘Bowfinger’, an actor stars in a movie without his knowledge

The recently released Welcome to the Jungle borrows plot points from Hollywood showbiz satires such as The Producers (a stage production that is deliberately designed to flop) and Tropic Thunder (actors in a war drama finds themselves in the middle of a real war). Welcome to the Jungle struggles to maintain its spoofy tone – never a problem with another satire, Bowfinger (1999).

Frank Oz’s comedy, based on a superb original script by Steve Martin, stars Martin as a producer who is determined to turn director. Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) has been toiling away on the margins of Hollywood.

He has a script about an alien invasion that he believes will be a bona fide hit. It’s called Chubby Rain, and has been written by his accountant and part-time receptionist.

Bowfinger wants to cast the eccentric movie star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) in the lead role. So what if Bowfinger doesn’t have any money, or that Kit doesn’t know who Bowfinger is and is most definitely not going to be in a film like Chubby Rain?

A handful of hammy actors, the accountant, a camera operator, a bunch of undocumented Mexican immigrants, and Bowfinger’s dog get together to make a movie with Kit but without Kit’s knowledge. When Kit, who’s a member of a Scientology-like cult, disappears, Bowfinger casts his...

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