When my friend Curtis sent me a text asking me if I wanted to see THE CANDIDATE with him and a few of our mutual friends, I thought something was a little off but didn't think much of it. I knew he was talking about Jay Roach's (AUSTIN POWERS, GAME CHANGE) latest film THE CAMPAIGN, a hybrid between the comedies he's more widely known for and his most recent genre of choice, political drama.
As we were in line to buy the tickets, I finally realized what I found off about what he had said. "What are we watching again?" "THE CANDIDATE? No! THE CAMPAIGN," he said. That was it. We were not seeing the 1972 Michael Ritchie political satire starring Robert Redford. This was definitely not THE CANDIDATE. And as I exited the theater afterward, that was the thought that kept ringing in my ears. This was definitely not THE CANDIDATE.
Set in the fictional 14th district of North Carolina, the film begins with Democratic Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) running for his fifth term unopposed. However, his campaign is damaged when his image as a law-abiding Christian, husband, and father is destroyed by a misplaced erotic phone call to his mistress that winds up instead on the answering machine of a local family.
Subsequently, Brady's misplaced booty call leaves corrupt businessmen Glen and Wade Motch (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd as a wonderfully subtle parody of the Koch Brothers) unable to further their plan to essentially "sell" the 14th district to China as a way of bringing sweat shops into the district and double their already doubled profits. Enter Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), the effeminate, pug-loving son of one of their associates (Brian Cox) and tour director of the city of Hammond. Using what appears to be the Terminator of campaign management, Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), the Motch brothers decide to back Huggins on the republican ticket to run against Brady. Needless to say, hijinks and outrageous acts on both sides of the tickets ensue as Marty and Cam duke it out to see who will become District 14's next congressman.
If it wasn't already apparent from the plot summary or simply from seeing that it's a Jay Roach film, there's no real point of expecting a decent to above-average political satire out of THE CAMPAIGN. While the film seems to have wanted to say something deeper about our political climate, it continuously airs on the side of safety. Neither side of the political spectrum is really challenged one way or another. Sure, there are a few moments where there is a glimpse of something substantial including a scene in which a young political science major working on Brady's campaign mentions the horrors of big business, but instead of actually addressing these ideas in funny and clever ways, they are swept under the rug in favor of getting back to the crude humor.
In fact, the only thing that the film really commits to satirizing is its audience. Countless times throughout the film Marty and Cam do horrendously stupid and juvenile things that one would immediately assume would knock any normal person completely out of the race. But nope! Instead of outrage, these acts are consistently met with a bump up in the polls. Was that the point of the film? To show how Roach believes that we as voters are complete morons and/or masochists because of our continued nursing of a political culture where the more stupid and outrageous the candidate the better? While I don't believe this is the case, the movie again and again brings up the fact that the acts the two politicians commit should cause us to rise up against them and do everything in our power to make sure they never get anywhere near political office (and especially not near any dogs or babies). But hey, at least it's funny, right?
And despite all the weird messages and missed opportunities in the film, THE CAMPAIGN is still pretty funny. Though continuing to play the same roles they always do (ones that are really getting tiring at this point), Ferrell and Galifianakis have great chemistry together and play up the interesting dynamic of having the exact opposite types of characters that you'd expect represent the two respective parties to a tee. Brian Cox, Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow also bring extremely well done and hilarious performances to the table and my only complaint with them is that we don't get to see enough of those characters and instead are stuck with the two leads' families who fell really flat for me and produced some of the least funny jokes in the film (apart from a certain dinner scene involving a DJ Assault song that is a personal favorite of mine).
That being said, I thought even though the film didn't work for me as a political satire and continually ignored the elephant (and donkey) in the room, it did work as a Jay Roach brand goofball comedy. Most of the performances are solid, and although the film's plot felt stretched even for 85 minutes, it worked well enough. And while I could talk longer about it, I'm going to leave you with a quote from my friend, Curtis, who invited me that I think really sums up THE CAMPAIGN:
"All throughout that movie I was thinking about how much I couldn't wait to get back to the car and drink my pop... It was funny though."
And there you have it. It might not make you think that much, but it'll probably make you laugh... And maybe a little thirsty. Just remember: It's not THE CANDIDATE.
What did everyone else think?
