MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Swing Vote Rated PG-13

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern.  Starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll. .

Photo © Walt Disney
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Bud Johnson (Costner) is a loving alcoholic father who is also a single parent, cared for by his precocious 5th grade daughter, Molly (Carroll) who packs his lunch and sends him off to work.  Times are tough, so Bud usually goes to work at the egg factory with a couple of egg salad sandwiches in his lunch bag.  Bud has friends at work who try to look out for him and excuse his mistakes, but he has been taking a few too many sick days lately and may lose his job.  Bud ignores Molly’s reminder to vote on Election Day (choosing to hang out in a local bar), but a series of circumstances involving malfunctioning voting machines – with Bud’s name entered on the sly by his daughter – create a scenario in which Bud’s vote (his name was entered, but no box was checked) will decide the next president of the United States.  Both the Republican incumbent (Kelsey Grammar) and the Democratic hopeful (Dennis Hopper) come courting. Does this sound like a comedy to you?  Swing Vote has been compared to the political comedy-dramas of Frank Capra, but it lacks the nerve and conviction of Capra’s best films (“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”) that were willing to expose corruption in high places.  In Swing Vote, both candidates are nice guys; it’s just the campaigning that is underhanded.  The film tries to make a case for the working class, but the cleverness of the script’s basic premise gets in the way.  Since Molly is the smartest person in the room (and she’s too young to vote), Bud’s final confrontation with the candidates is scripted by his daughter, turning a genial, sloppy drunk into a passionate Henry Fonda after an overnight study session.  Most of the performances are genial enough, with newcomer Carroll impressive as the daughter and Costner chewing up some scenery.  The last good political comedy was 2006’s Thank You for Smoking.  Feel free to exercise your right to rent that title and skip over this one. 

Pitchfork Rating: Four halos. (You cannot dispute the integrity behind this film about the importance of informed participatory government; it’s just too bad that the filmmakers couldn’t come up with more fleshed-out characters and a snappier screenplay.)  Two pitchforks. (For abundant drinking – integral to the storyline and constant swearing – absolutely unnecessary – including the one occurrence of “the F bomb” allowed in PG-13 movies*.)

* Yes, it is true.  Movies can use the F-word once, but only once, and still keep their PG-13 rating. It usually has to be said really fast and almost as an afterthought to get into the movie, but years of reviewing films has proven my theory to be absolutely reliable.

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