DVD
REVIEW: SWING VOTE
01/10/09
SYNOPSIS:
Bud Johnson is content to
coast through life in a dead end job, until his precocious
twelve-year old, Molly, sets off a chain of events that
results in a presidential election coming down to a single
vote: Bud’s. Political operatives swarm his tiny hometown in
New Mexico in an all-out battle for his ballot and there are
no lengths the Republican incumbent Andrew Boone (Kelsey
Grammer) and Democratic candidate Donald Greenleaf (Dennis
Hopper) won’t go to in order to curry Bud’s favor. As the
underhanded antics of their campaign managers, played by
Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane, create hilarious
consequences, Bud realizes that beyond the implications for
the nation, this is his shot at
winning his daughter’s respect.
REVIEW: Kevin
Costner is probably one of the best actors that end up in
movies that seem to always bomb. He is pretty famous for it.
You kinda feel bad for the guy, you know. I was hoping this
one would be a fresh start for him . . . well maybe it is,
but not really. His performance was decent enough along with
the rest of the cast, and the surrounding story was okay
too, but the movie as a whole will not jump start Kevin’s
roller coaster career. This is one of those movies that
define the term average. It’s not bad, but it’s not great
either, it is right up the middle. The brightest aspect of
this picture is definitely Madeline Carroll who plays Molly
Johnson, Bud Johnson’s (Costner) daughter. Her performance
was a breath of fresh air. She carried the movie better than
Kevin. I caught myself looking forward to seeing her
throughout the movie. She is just flat out adorable and
expressive. Her acting was genuine and moving. I don’t want
to say it again because I’m starting to sound like a broken
record. If you’ve read some of my other reviews on movies
with child actors you’ll know what I mean when I say, once
again, where do they get these kids from??? Their talent is
astounding and Madeline is no exception. Her character is
very smart, decisive, expressive, and independent. It’s
almost like she’s the parent and Bud is the child. Granted,
when you’re dealing with a character like Bud, a single
parent who means well as a father but is a bum in pretty
much every other aspect of his life and would trade anything
for a beer or to go fishing, it’s not hard to see how Molly
had to grow up fast and fend for herself.
The story revolves around our civic responsibility as
American citizens, voting. At least you’ve got to give
credit to the moviemakers for releasing this one at a good
point in time and it does truly emphasize the importance of
voting regardless of your political beliefs. Voting is as
American as apple pie, Chevys, and baseball and this movie
gives a good dose of all things Americana, including the
madness we call the media and the “beauty” of our political
process as seen through the campaign strategies given by the
candidates and their campaign teams. The strategy is simple,
win at any cost. Even though the premise of this film is far
fetched, there are some strong, resounding statements made
throughout that would be hard for us to admit or face but
are true nonetheless. Speaking of statements, the dialogue
in this picture is sharp and witty, simple and complex,
truth and lies. The purpose of this movie is not to focus on
the unlikely premise of one man deciding who the next
President will be, but rather to shed light on the human
condition in this country as evident by the media and how it
behaves, politics, the average citizen and the below average
citizen.
Don’t get me wrong, this movie is not all seriousness. There
is a good amount of comedy to go along with the respectable
performances delivered by this stellar cast. But when it got
down to being serious and dramatic, it delivered as well.
Writer/Director Joshua Michael Stern has really done a good
job of getting the message across of the importance of
voting in an entertaining way. It will make you laugh, it
might make you cry, and it will definitely make you reflect.
I realize most people might not be turned on by political
type movies, but if you are in the mood to rekindle your
patriotism, I recommend it with the condition that you take
it at face value and don’t go in with high expectations.
Film
Review
By Cinemarcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
DVD: The DVD is
presented in 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving the
theatrical presentation of the film. The picture is
complemented with a 5.1 Dolby Digital audio tracks
in English and
Spanish. The special features in this release, include a
fair 13 minutes behind the scenes featurette. It also
includes three deleted scenes and one extended scenes.
These deleted and extended scenes are recommended to
those people that really loved the film, others can skip
this featurette. Finally it brings a feature audio
commentary
– featuring commentaries by Joshua Michael
Stern and writer Jason Richman.
VIDEO:
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
and
Spanish 5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Inside the
Campaign: The Politics of Production – Go behind the
scenes for a look at the all- star cast, the real political
pundits and the small town location of Belen, New Mexico
that all combined to bring this movie to life. (12:58)
Deleted & Extended
Scenes – With optional commentary by director and
writer Joshua Michael Stern (10:52)
Hey Man What about
you? Performed by Modern West (4:15)
Audio Commentary
– Feature commentary with writer and director Joshua Michael
Stern and writer Jason Richman.
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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