Holy Man

By RICHARD CORLISS

Eddie Murphy--bald, blissful and guileless--is top-billed in this clever, derivative comedy (think The Truman Show with lower ratings) about a wandering shaman who stumbles into fame on a home shopping network. But the real star is Jeff Goldblum as the network's frazzled manager. With his lupine smile and fake-intimate voice, he pushes a line of patter that is just a bit too slick to pass for charm. And when his life starts crumbling, you can almost smell his comic flop sweat through the screen. Tom Schulman's script is smart about the media's ability to create celebrities--and the viewer's need to embrace them--until it goes soft-hearted and -headed by denouncing the very salesmanship that Hollywood and TV are built on. For an hour or so, though, the film has the gaudy assurance of a Ginsu knife infomercial.

--By Richard Corliss