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Title: Swing Vote
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If election blues haven’t gotten to you by now then chances are the new Kevin Costner film, “Swing Vote,” will. I find the timing of this movie odd. Movies about politics tend to scare people away from the theater. Especially when said political movies premier during a heated election (Editors Note: For archival purposes the candidates are Republican John McCain and Democrat Barrack Obama). The story of “Swing Vote” revolves around Bud (Costner), a clueless alcoholic who works at an egg counting factory and belongs to the biggest political party out there: The “We Don’t Vote” party. Bud is even less willing to vote when his job is IN-sourced (which basically means instead of shipping his job to Mexico, they fired him and replaced him with a Mexico in his own country).
Though Bud doesn’t care for voting, the electoral process is very important to his daughter Molly (played by newcomer Madeline Carroll), who talks about the importance of politics like she’s a career woman in the making. Anyway, through very unlikely (but plausible sounding) events, the entire election rests on Bud’s one vote, which didn’t go through the machine all the way due to an error with the plug. Now both presidential candidates want Bud’s vote, and like the natural politicians they are, they are willing to say anything to get it. Now the sitting Incumbent Republican Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammar) is for gay marriage and the environment. The Democratic candidate Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper) now suddenly becomes pro-life and takes an anti-immigration stand.
The idea to make the old and grey Hopper play the Democrat may have been done to avoid any connections with President Bush, but I can live with that. Especially since this film wants to have it’s cake and eat it too. The movie isn’t so much about who wins the race but how the race is ran. Politicians come off as snakes in this movie, willing to bend their own beliefs and ideals for the grand prize. One of the candidates wife even slaps her husband, because “you no longer stand for [what you believe in].” Neither candidate comes out smelling like a rose. We just have two people who once had dreams and ideals, and somewhere along the line the process became more important then the dreams they once had. Andy Rooney once wondered why anyone would want to run for President. After watching this film I have to wonder why as well, it certainly doesn’t look like much fun.
I have to point out though that despite the sentimentality the whole point of the movie is to inspire movie audiences to vote. This is a noble goal, especially in a society where we take our right to voice our values for granted. Still, after watching this movie, and despite the manipulation of it all, I am inspired. I am inspired where, should I be in a position where my vote would determine the next president, I’d vote for Ralph Nader and let the backstabbing politicians start the whole process over again. (Editors Note: We here at Editorial feel there is no need to mention who Ralph Nader is, seeing as how the man has another thirty years to run for President, and this movie will likely have been forgotten by then).
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -