DragonStryk72
08-04-2008, 12:10 AM
Well, I went to see it when it opened, and laughed my ass off, quite frankly. The movie was hilarious, but it also managed to really cast this current election into a new light, which is interesting, given the movie was made 06 to early 07, before this craziness got started.
Alright, well, I should start with the premise, give it an honest review: Swing Voter is a story about "Bud" Earnest Johnson, a resident of Texico, New Mexico who, like many others in his small town, has embraced a sort miasma about his life, unable to even attempt to defend his job at the egg plant when asked to give even one reason he should be kept on. Despite this, Costner manages to show Bud as someone trying to be a good dad, even if his daughter ends up taking care of him most of the time.
In order to do a school assignment, his daughter needs to go to the voting booth with him, and watch him cast his vote, something Bud would otherwise not do on his own, being sort of "eh" about almost every issue out there. Due to a mishap though, the vote doesn't count, and, with the county tied up between the two candidates, holds up the New Mexico election, with both candidates needing NMs 5 electoral votes to clinch the presidency.
When Bud's vote is figured out as the one that didn't count, he is swept up in the media frenzy that threatens to overwhelm him as the entire country tunes in, and soon enough, with only 10 days to make up his mind, both candidates show up, making increasingly pedantic moves to win over Bud's vote, going so far as the Dem candidate, played by Dennis Hopper, switching sides on abortion rights, and the Republican candidate, played by Kelsey Grahamer, snubbing his corporate sponsors by siding with the environmentalist to save the river Bud has fished on his whole life.
Neither party gets spared in this movie, and neither do their campaign managers, played by Stanley Tucci, and Nathan Lane, who focus on nothing but the win, even when their own candidates begin objecting to the way the campaign is being run.
the movie managed to stay satirically funny, while still delivering the intended message, and not getting so blatantly preachy that it removed all the fun. Even my girlfriend, by know means a fan of political comedies, thought it was hilarious.
Alright, well, I should start with the premise, give it an honest review: Swing Voter is a story about "Bud" Earnest Johnson, a resident of Texico, New Mexico who, like many others in his small town, has embraced a sort miasma about his life, unable to even attempt to defend his job at the egg plant when asked to give even one reason he should be kept on. Despite this, Costner manages to show Bud as someone trying to be a good dad, even if his daughter ends up taking care of him most of the time.
In order to do a school assignment, his daughter needs to go to the voting booth with him, and watch him cast his vote, something Bud would otherwise not do on his own, being sort of "eh" about almost every issue out there. Due to a mishap though, the vote doesn't count, and, with the county tied up between the two candidates, holds up the New Mexico election, with both candidates needing NMs 5 electoral votes to clinch the presidency.
When Bud's vote is figured out as the one that didn't count, he is swept up in the media frenzy that threatens to overwhelm him as the entire country tunes in, and soon enough, with only 10 days to make up his mind, both candidates show up, making increasingly pedantic moves to win over Bud's vote, going so far as the Dem candidate, played by Dennis Hopper, switching sides on abortion rights, and the Republican candidate, played by Kelsey Grahamer, snubbing his corporate sponsors by siding with the environmentalist to save the river Bud has fished on his whole life.
Neither party gets spared in this movie, and neither do their campaign managers, played by Stanley Tucci, and Nathan Lane, who focus on nothing but the win, even when their own candidates begin objecting to the way the campaign is being run.
the movie managed to stay satirically funny, while still delivering the intended message, and not getting so blatantly preachy that it removed all the fun. Even my girlfriend, by know means a fan of political comedies, thought it was hilarious.