Directed by: Joshua Michael Stern
Premise: Bud (Kevin Costner), an unemployed
slacker, finds himself in a position to choose the next President of the
United States when a voting machine snafu lets him cast the final
ballot.
What Works: Swing Vote is part of a
subgenre of satire that takes an idea that is just barely plausible and
plays it out for laughs and for rhetoric, often including recognizable
figures of the talking head television circuit like Larry King and Chris
Matthews playing themselves for added realism. Swing Vote works
better than most, making its points but not pounding on them so loudly
that it overwhelms the narrative. The film takes adequate jabs at both
Republicans and Democrats as their presidential candidates abandon every
shred of integrity in order to win, but the film saves its real vitriol
for the American public as embodied by Bud, an apathetic slacker who
makes The Dude of The
Big Lebowski look ambitious by comparison. The character is a
redneck display of decadence and freedom without responsibility; his
priorities are skewed, he is out of touch with any issues outside of
himself, and cynicism has turned him off of any sense of community
involvement. More than just a character, Bud is a satirical construct
designed to impugn the American public. This is a perilous step for the
film, as it risks alienating the audience, but Swing Vote manages
to make it work. Kevin Costner stars as Bud and this is likely to go
down as one of his most underappreciated performances. He is very funny
but also gets to face some inner demons and has some terrific scenes
with Madeline Carroll, who plays his precocious daughter. The satire of
the film also works really well with some laugh out loud political ads
from the candidates and some nice unity within the screenplay as
everyone risks their integrity in the pursuit of happiness.
What Doesn’t: About halfway through, Swing
Vote loses some steam. It tries to make up for that in a Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington-style finale, but Bud makes his
transition too quickly without passing through any concrete Rubicon of
experience that forces him to change his thinking.
Bottom Line: Although it falls short of being a great film, Swing Vote’s heart is in the right place. It’s a brave film in that it points the critique most directly at the average viewer, but Swing Vote manages to pull it off in the end and this is a successful satire.