THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"Swing Vote"
Kevin Costner as Bud Johnson and newcomer
Madeline Carroll as Molly, Bud's 12-year-old daughter, in "Swing Vote", Joshua
Michael Stern's film which opened today across the U.S. and Canada.
(Photo: Touchstone Pictures)
He's The Decider, Whether He Likes It Or
Not
By
Omar P.L. Moore/August
1, 2008
"Swing Vote", which opened today across the U.S. and Canada courtesy of
Touchstone Pictures, smartly and warmly conveys the importance of voting in
political elections without actually talking that much about it -- either that's a
miracle feat or stunning sleight of hand. Joshua Michael Stern, who wrote
and directed this comedy-drama, skillfully weaves a story of a weary
working-class father and his proactive 12-year-old daughter who live in the town
of Texico, New Mexico around a smaller story about the slick salesmanship of
U.S. politicians doing proverbial back flips to get your vote at the voting
booth.
After daughter Molly (a nice performance by young 11-year-old newcomer Madeline
Carroll) misbehaves at a voting precinct in order to represent her slothful
father Bud (Kevin Costner), who is convinced that there's "in-sourcing" at his
dairy plant job -- that "Mexicans are coming here to get our jobs" -- a voting
machine malfunction fueled not by chicanery but a poll worker's accidental
pulling of the plug, gives Bud a spotlight that he never ever wanted. If
Bud won't listen to his daughter he is forced to listen to the country (and the
U.S. Justice Department) which places the weight of the world on his shoulders
after realizing that in order to break a deadlock in the electoral vote to cast
the next president, Bud's "vote", which was not properly recorded, needs to be
recast.
For much of the time "Swing Vote" plays well to its constituents as a hopeful
tale about the future of the electoral process in the U.S. The film is a
vehicle driven literally and almost exclusively by precocious kids, pre-teens
who show adults -- some undereducated, some deadbeat, some drunk, some
divorced-- the way forward. And it is a device in the story that is
charming where it could have been hokey or forced. (The perception, at
least by some in the U.S. mainstream media that the youth of today are a slacker
class, that they are too apathetic, is stunted to a huge degree in "Swing Vote".
For if the kids care at the age of 12, then how can they not at age 18?)
And from watching, it is evident that the filmmakers care as well. Mr.
Stern takes care to not bog down his film with unnecessary diversions --
although a split-second scene with Mare Winningham as the drug and drink-addled
separated wife of Bud seems melodramatic and, well, unnecessary.
Otherwise, the director economizes the threads of the dueling politicians -- on
the Democratic side candidate Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper) and the Republican side
incumbent (Kelsey Grammer, a noted Republican in real life). Every one in
"Swing Vote" has something at stake, including the chief campaign operatives on
both sides, nicely played by Nathan Lane and Stanley Tucci respectively.
There is a subplot involving Paula Patton, who plays an ambitious reporter
looking to revive her flagging career. Ms. Patton, who played along Denzel
Washington in "Deja Vu", is amazingly enough the most cynical character here.
She works her angles here and there under the demands of a "Network"-like news
director played by George Lopez, and does it with smile and guile. In any
event, all of the surrounding threads don't always mesh easily or with the most
absolute conviction in "Swing Vote", but as the film indicates, it's not about
whether one wins or loses an election, it's how the game is played.
"Swing Vote" is rated PG-13 for language by the Motion Picture Association of
America. The film's duration is one hour and 37 minutes.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights
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