Friday, August 17, 2012

The Campaign: Vote No Go

The Campaign starts off promisingly with a quote from Ross Perrot.

"War has rules, mud wrestling has rules - politics has no rules."

So far. So good. But as it lurches forward in fits and spurts, the film forgets to trust in the intelligence of its audience. There are scenes bordering on the clever. And the cast, with Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis as the candidates, and John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd as the manipulating moneybag Motch brothers (sound familiar?), is first rate. Dylan McDermott as the soulless campaign manager is the movie's brightest spot.

But instead of mining the absurdity of modern American politics for satiric humor, the screen writer stooped to fart jokes and other desperate, unfunny stabs at cheap laughs.

The Campaign will go down on The Movie Slut's list of missed opportunites. With a timely topic like candidates gone wild, this flick could have been a gem. Instead it's just cubic zerconia.

No comments: