Robin Williams has the opportunity in this political comedy to showcase both his comedic and dramatic acting abilities. An intriguing story concept written and directed by Barry Levinson - who has partnered with Williams before in “Good Morning Vietnam” - which unfortunately tries to do too much in one film. Equal parts comedy, thriller, and drama, it becomes difficult for the audience to comfortably enjoy one aspect before being pulled away into another. Good performances by the cast, including the ever likeable Williams, keeps the film moving but sometimes in too many directions at once.
Williams is Tom Dobbs, a comedian who has his own successful late night show that deals primarily with political topics. On his show one evening, an audience member expresses her dissatisfaction with the current political landscape and propositions that Dobbs should run for president. Dobbs decides to take her suggestion seriously and throws his hat in the ring as an independent candidate. He makes the three way race legitimately exciting as he is equal parts funny and pointed in his remarks about ‘politics as usual’ amongst the entrenched major party candidates. Dobbs taps into our own growing dissatisfaction with the current political situation in Washington and offers us a fictional solution. As long as the film deals with Dobbs run for the white house, and his growing realization he may actually win the election, the film operates nicely as a mildly humorous comedy with politically relevant undertones.
Where the film goes off-message is attempting to grapple with a cover-up involving a computer software company who was given responsibility for computing the election results. Though Laura Linney (“The Exorcism of Emily Rose”) performs Eleanor Greene, the whistle-blower who finds the computer error, in an emotionally appropriate manner for what happens to her in the film, the whole storyline feels out of place in what began as lighter comedic fare. The two storylines, while handled deftly by the director as they eventually come together, feels more like two separate movies than the same one. Either story would likely operate well on its own, however meshed together, the overall result is a compromise in the overall quality of the film and its intended impact on the audience. Williams does get the opportunity to fire out some political jabs that Jon Stewart himself would be proud of; but not frequently enough throughout the film to satisfy this reviewer.
3 out of 5