Friday, August 1, 2008

Movie review: Swing Vote

By Alex Bentley

Swing Vote

"Swing Vote" follows the story of Bud Johnson, an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser, who is coasting through a life that has passed him by. The one bright spot is his precocious, over-achieving 12-year-old daughter Molly. She takes care of both of them, until one mischievous moment on Election Day, when she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the election coming down to one vote--her dad's.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on Swing Vote

The premise for Swing Vote, the new film starring Kevin Costner, seems about as corny and idealistic as you can get: When one man’s vote for president is misread due to a technical error, the entire election hinges on his vote thanks to extraordinarily close voting results. Yeah, it’s an absurd idea that’s never going to happen, but over the course of the film, writer/director Joshua Michael Stern hooks you by elevating the film well above its basic idea.

Costner is Bud Johnson, a no-account drunk living in Texico, New Mexico (which, unexpectedly, is a real town). Bud’s former mate must have been really bad since he has custody of his daughter, Molly (Madeline Carroll), in spite of his beer-swilling, constant-cursing, all-around-lazy ways. Molly is one of those cherubic children that seem to only exist in movies; she’s polite, smart, and much more responsible than her father. So much so that she took it upon herself to register Bud to vote in the upcoming election between incumbent President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer) and challenger Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper).

Costner and the angel-faced Madeline Carroll.

Come election day, Bud fails to meet Molly at the polling station as promised, so Molly uses a little ingenuity to try to cast the vote herself. Cue the machine malfunction, which causes Molly to flee for fear of being caught. The ballot remained in the machine, though, and soon New Mexico election officials are at Bud's door, saying that he has the right to recast his vote, which just so happens to be the one vote that will decide the presidency.

A media circus ensues, and both candidates decide to come out to tiny Texico in hopes of persuading Bud, a true independent, to vote for them. It is here that Bud’s cluelessness pays off for the film, as both candidates do everything in their power to appeal to him, including abandoning ideals which have defined their entire political lives.

Swing Vote surprises because it actually has some relatively astute things to say about the political process and how campaigns are run. Although taken to the extreme (responding to statements from Bud, Republican Boone makes pitches for the environment and gay marriage while Democrat Greenleaf shoots ads against immigration and abortion), it’s easy to draw parallels to how real presidential candidates conduct themselves (did McCain really just release an ad comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton?).

The film takes a few breaks from reality, including letting Bud drive Richard Petty's race car -- on a highway.

The film also is refreshingly serious about broken families and alcoholism. Swing Vote idealizes a few things, but it never sugarcoats the effect Bud’s ineffectual parenting and the absence of a mother has on Molly. It also presents a less-than-perfect picture of small town life, showing Bud living in a trailer and struggling to keep even a job at an egg-packing plant.

Bud is only semi-likable due to Costner’s personality; in other hands, the film might have become bogged down in his boorish qualities. Carroll is the star of the film, imbuing various scenes with an emotional depth that they probably don’t deserve. Grammer gives Boone just the right gravitas, but Hopper is way out of his depth as Greenleaf; one can’t imagine how he even became a candidate, let alone take a sitting president to a virtual tie.

Finally, without giving anything away, the ending to Swing Vote provides one last pleasant surprise, especially given that the film was made by Touchstone, a Disney company. That Stern had the guts to not only write the ending that way but to also convince the producers to let him keep the ending gives hope that maybe Hollywood can make good films after all.

Related stories

• Todd’s Top Ten Films of 2008 (Dec. 30, 2008)
• Movie review: Henry Poole Is Here (Aug. 15, 2008)

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• Arts > Movies / Film > Mainstream Movies