Movie Review

Swing Vote

“Swing Vote” is one of the rarities of the summer season, a comedy trying to reach an adult audience. How will it ever make money? There is an election coming up in November, usually a dreary time filled with untrustworthy people and empty promises, and I’m sure screenwriters Josh Michael Stern and Jason Richman are hoping people are still ready to believe one man can still shake up American politics. Personally, I’d like to watch a political movie about a guy who shakes up Washington by coming in with a baseball bat like Morgan Freeman did with the school in “Lean on Me," but hey you take what you can get. So the question remains: can an adult political comedy contend with all the superheroes, mummies, and teen comedies swirling around movie theaters now?

Costner plays Bud, a trailer park bum and single father who spends his days in an uninformed, drunken stupor. Election day is coming up and he doesn’t even know who’s running, but his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll) is very keen on him voting, even to the point of submitting the ballot for him herself. Only a problem occurs and Bud suddenly becomes the deciding vote in the election between republican President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammar) and incumbent democrat Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper). It doesn’t take long before the small New Mexican town Bud lives in is swarming with reporters, including one who actually has integrity and a gorgeous body (Paula Patton), and the candidates themselves trying to get Bud’s vote.

Every once in a while a movie comes along that is such a waste of time and talent that it should be put up on charges. “Swing Vote” is that movie. The circumstances that bring Bud to be the deciding vote are ridiculously contrived but the idea is actually fairly interesting. The execution is anything but though. Bud soon has both politicians changing their views in order to sway him. The conservative switches his view on gay people and the environment, the liberal switches his view on deporting illegal immigrants. That’s the closest the movie comes to smart political satire and it’s really such a lazy, simplistic view of politicians selling out that it’s the farthest thing from being funny. Their political ads also look intentionally farcical and the whole “wink, wink” vibe just makes them look stupid. The point the movie tries to make that every vote counts is also annoying, considering its telling us that uninformed boobs should be voting just like the rest of us. The “South Park” election episode between the big fat turd and giant douche did a much better job of analyzing the responsibility and education involved in the role of the voters instead of just brow beating them into forced voting.

Of course Bud gradually changes his tune by the end of the movie but we know that’s the contrived Hollywood ending. The real message here is between the lines - who cares if you’re an idiot, get out and vote. And the other problem with the movie is Bud is clearly an idiot, an irresponsible, selfish, neglectful drunk of a father who is just unlikable in every way, despite Costner’s best efforts to give him some easygoing charm. Madeline Carroll is given the thankless task of playing a smart-ass 12 year old, a role that usually leads to just a flat-out annoying child. The father/daughter relationship they create is phony and sentimental and reminded me of any episode of “Full House." You would think with a comic cast like Kelsey Grammar, Dennis Hopper, Stanley Tucci, and Nathan Lane someone could find a laugh in this movie but this is how bad the script is, even they can’t find a way to make this funny.

“Swing Vote” held itself out as being a smart political comedy but it doesn’t take long to realize that it’s actually one of the worst and laziest movies of the year. There isn’t a laugh to be had in its entire 1 hour and 40 minutes and what it says about politics and voting are just half-assed clichés.

Craig's Grade: D

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%