“SWING VOTE” (Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Madeline Carroll, Nathan Lane & Stanley Tucci)
I knew I had to leave logic outside the theatre for this film and I believe I was successful – the fact that no Presidential election could ever come down to one vote in this country didn’t bother me nearly as much as the rest of the film...Let’s start with what I do best – picking on little girls! Madeline Carroll might be a decent child actress, but she isn’t given a chance in this. Director, Joshua Stern has her playing Costner’s daughter, Molly, as the most miserable child on the planet. I’m sure his instructions before EVERY scene was; “Look sad & miserable”.
No matter what ‘worst father of the year’ candidate, Kevin Costner’s Bud Johnson did to try & please her, she was miserable. He buddies up to incumbent Republican President Andrew Boone (Grammer) & she hates him for doing so; he parties with Democratic challenger Donald Greenleaf (Hopper) & she looks sorrowful & pissed off before the party even starts!
So can the kid act? Who knows? She certainly isn’t given the chance to show any range in this sourpuss, mopey role...
As far as the other actors, the most impressive was TV actor Kelsey Grammer. A total wash out in his previous big screen roles, here, he displays a ‘presidential air’ about him as the leader of the free world – even nailing that political ‘phony friendliness’ and ‘shifty demeanor’ to make his portrayal more believable.
The TV actor that fails miserably (the word of the day) is George Lopez, who delivers his lines as though he were shooting an ad for an infomercial – shouting when there’s absolutely no reason to shout & grinning while delivering lines that are meant to be taken seriously. I’m hoping his next big screen opportunity doesn’t happen within my lifetime...
Of Dennis Hopper’s job, I’ll just say there wasn’t ANYTHING Dennis Hopper-ish about it. (Kind of dull) Nathan Lane & Stanley Tucci are fine as the opposing chief advisor’s to their candidates, & Kevin Costner, an actor of limited range, is actually a little too classy for the drunken dead beat role as Sourpuss’s uninformed, un-attentive father.
The plot - Bud is told by his daughter to vote in the presidential election & he promises to do so; Instead he gets drunk at his favorite watering hole & passes out in his truck. The daughter sneaks into the voting booth & tries to vote for him, but the computer is accidentally shut down & she runs out before being caught. The election comes out tied (Yes, in this fantasy film, the people actually do get to elect the president) with the exception of one vote that didn’t count because of a computer glitch. Gee, just ONE this time (more film fantasy fun, I guess) So Bud is overwhelmed by media & the 2 candidates to try & find out who he’s going to select (He has 10 days to re-cast his vote) The problem being, Bud never voted in the first place & so he comes off looking like the most uninformed registered voter in history...
A cute idea that might have worked if the bulk of the film wasn’t so downtrodden; One feels extreme sympathy for Madeline’s Sourpuss Mopeyface until it reaches the point when you realize this kid is pretty much in a constant ‘suicidal-like’ state no matter what the situation and nothing is going happen to better her life!
& when the screen went black in a spoof of the Soprano’s finale, no one in the crowd seemed to care...
14 comments:
I take it that artistic license obscures such questions as:
How did the computer know that Costner's was the unregistered vote?
Why was an aimless wastrel registered?
Why didn't the parties stuff the ballot boxes?
Why this movie rather than a sequel to "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" or some such?
Why does the studio exec who okayed this film still have a job?
All valid points, 'Jess', & I'll attempt to come up with valid answers; #1 Computers never make mistakes, so when one does, it's easy to track it because its the only one in the country that had a 'glitch' that day... #2 they do account for Bud being a registered voter by letting us know that the darling little daughter we're supposed to care about committed fraud by registering for him...
#3 This is a movie, not 'real life' so stuffing ballot boxes wouldn't be prudent... #4 I don't know why they made this instead of 'Killer Tomatoes 2' & finally,
the studio exec still has hs job because dopes like me will pay money to see hokey crap like this just to have something to complain about!... Hope that puts your mind at rest.
I was let down by this movie. It got too cookie cutter for me. As with about halfway through the movie I got the impression most of the actors were just collecting a paycheck. When actors do that and it's so noticable, then it's because the material is weak. It may not be their fault as it was just flat. It's amazing these days how there are so many average to below movies coming out. I don't remember a year where I have seen so many below average films. Luckily as the months continue to pass, we will be seeing some better material. This has been the worst 7 months of movie going that I can remember.
At least Tropic Thunder is next week.
And Jess, keep coming back to the site ok. More traffic is always better to a site.
oscartracker.blogspot.com
I knew to stay away. Now we'll see if The Pineapple Express will live up to the hype. It made 12 million alone on Wednesday which is impressive. I also agree that this has so far been a lame duck year for movies. I can only count on one hand what movies impressed me and we are in August now. Hopefully the next few months will make up for the crud that has been released so far this year.
But like the other person posted I'm more looking forward to Tropic Thunder than PE though.
PS
09 is going to be a much better year.
Thnaks for burning your money Terry, so I didn't have to.
Thank you for your comments Sam & Dan - hope you'll check back again!
Kind of thought I'd take some hits for my political views on this review, but most people just seem to know a bad idea for a movie when they see one! I really wasn't 'let down' by this film (Like Kurt) because I expected it to be dumb. Kelsey Grammer actually impressed me, so it wasn't a total crap-fest. 'Tropic
Thunder' looks very promising only
because of Robert Downey, Jr. -
Can anyone honestly say Ben Stiller has ever been funny in any of his movies? The only 2 I've liked, "Mary" & "Meet The Parents" - the other actors were all funnier than Stiller.
I don't expect much from 'Pineapple Express' because I just don't 'get' the humor of stoner movies. & Dan, you could send me a buck or 2 for saving you from spending more!
Good comments, keep 'em coming!
Speaking of comedies and Tropic Thunder, I have seen on a few movie websites where apparently some people have their panties in a bunch over Robert Downey donning black face.
God, some people like to complain and whine about everything. 3/4 of the complainers are probably people that don't even know about the plot. If they pulled there heads out before crying foul, they would know that the character Downey plays is an Australian method actor that takes it times 10in his approach, that he even gets a procedure done to darken his skin to play a black guy. It isn't Robert playing it straight as a black guy. My lord, find something legit to cry about. I for one am really looking forward to the movie and I'm not offended. It's an in joke gag. You are supposed to " get " it, but I guess there will be people that choose not to have a sense of humor.
It's called 'satire' - it has been around for centuries. If it's done mean-spirited, no one will laugh (Except the bigots) If it's done with humor & I'm sure Robert Downey, Jr. wouldn't have taken the role if otherwise,then yes, politically correct America - lighten the (bleep) up!
Was "lighten up" intentional humor?
If the movie-makers were engaged in satire, we shall know it from what they do with the offensive blackface. If just for yuks, then dissenters have a point. If it leads to some insight or understanding, then the blackface may have had a praiseworthy purpose. No matter what, the film-makers will claim some innocent or noble motivation and will ride the excitement to profits.
If the blackface is merely cheap exploitation of a ghastly tradition of racial ridicule in minstrel shows for naughty humor, then Downey should have been savvy enough to avoid it by slightly changing the condition. He could, for instance, have ended up with a blotched allusion to Michael Jackson.
If, by contrast, Downey's resemblance to racist stereotypes mocking African-Americans or Africans affords the film-makers some other statement, then the blackface may be more than a sophomoric stunt.
As the Zen punchline in "Charlie Wilson's War" goes, we'll see.
Either way, Downey Jr. knows enough about movies to excuse his blackface. He can claim it was his homage to Ronald Coleman in "A Double Life." Downey will say that he, like Coleman, was trapped in Othello.
Yes, that's the ticket! Downey was actually commenting on whether Othello was African or Muslim or both!
Problem solved!
The BASIC fact is that the character Downey is playing is a over the top method actor. His back story is that he goes all out for every role he has ever done to "become " the charatcer he is portraying.
Hence, the film and the writers are taking a jab at method acting basically. That's the " wink, wink " to the audience. Did they have to spell it out for the numbskulls ? That this guy takes himself and his craft so seriously that he'll get his skin darkened for the role is crazy. It's " supposed " to be absurd. This is a absurdist type movie. Remember how absurd Blazing Saddles was ? Think that was a tad offensive ? Yes, and it was trying to be ! Richard Pryor was one of the screenwriter's on that film. And he was black !
Tropic Thunder isn't trying to be offensive to the African-American race.
It's about of nut job actor who takes his role way too seriously in a comedy about soldiers who find themselves really behind enemy lines by accident and don't know it.
People are too eaily offended. That's what I loved about Carlin. I would somewhere end up in his act about some idiot he was talking about. I " got " what he meant and I owned up to being that kind of person, but it was the truth and I wasn't offneded. I had did what he was talking about.
It's only a comedic film. There are no insults being thrown or secret messages to seek for. You should see some of the messages over at IMDB.com on the TT board. Just some real silly things being said. Some real hateful and vile stuff being thrown at white people. For what ? You are getting that offended ?
I didn't see white people getting up in arms when the Wayan brothers donned white face for White Chicks.
The outcry is unwarranted. Know the synopsis first before whining.
Kurt,
I suppose I cannot say for certain until I see the film, but for now I am skeptical of some of your arguments.
I accept your point about people getting offended. Indeed, I long ago opined that "No one may be offended; one must take offense." So I agree with you on that.
On the other hand, the writers easily could have chosen another way to satirize method actors. In "Tootsie" Dustin Hoffman says he could not sit because he was playing a tomato and tomatoes seldom sit. Neither method actors nor tomatoes, to the best of my information, took offense.
Plenty of people were scandalized by "Blazing Saddles" irrespective of Richard Pryor's presence among the writers. Offense was taken. Not by me! I thought and still think that "Blazing Saddles" is hilarious in poking fun at racist boobs.
Your example of the Wayans brothers falls flat on myriad dimensions, Kurt, but I'll settle for the most important. Blackface is tied to slavery, minstrel shows, racism, and stereotypes of inferiority. To what in history or culture is whiteface connected? Did I miss reports or reviews of vaudevillians or cake-walkers playing the happy-go-lucky lighty [as opposed to "darky"]?
Do I need to rehearse the social fact that victims tend to be more sensitive to slurs actual or perceived than those not victimized? Easy as it was for Clint Eastwood to dismiss Native American protests about stereotypic film Indians [usually played by made-up actors of Southern European swarthiness], we certainly heard from my fellow honkeys when "Little Big Man," "Soldier Blue," and "Dances With Wolves" portrayed calvarymen as predators and members of the Bush Administration.
If the writers of "Tropical Thunder" could not come up with another way in which to portray Downey's character as a dunderhead, I'd prescribe a few Jerry Lewis films for them, assuming that the Geneva Accords permit that.
Alan, I see where you are coming from at the point of view you described.
It's been well over a week people are getting on message boards saying the film is racist.
My sole point is, that most people that are crying foul about it don't even know the synopsis of the film and calling it racist before even seeing it. They just think Robert Downey " the actor " is playing a black soldier. Not an actor playing a black actor.
That's mostly my complaint. People that come out of the wood work who are not completely informed. Before you and I, anyone, who goes off on the subject, need to educate ourselves about it before someone yell's racism.
Anyway, like I said, it's simply a comedy film. He is not the only character in the movie.
Once we see the film, we will have more bulk of said subject to discuss reasonably and not emotionally. ( Hopefully )
Kurt,
I utterly agree with your point immediately above. Clowns who seek to "pre-empt" movies are almost as annoying as thought police who offer reasons why they will not see a film.
One may raise the issue beforehand perhaps, but the test of the issue lies in the film itself. Calling anything or anyone racist without sound, contextualized information is worse, in my view, than anything Downey has been accused of. After all, crying racial "Wolf" devalues valid issues and claims.
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