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Green Politics Doesn’t Mean You Have to Recycle Jokes Too
By bukkhead | July 19, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘MAN OF THE YEAR’
Written and directed by Barry Levinson
Rated PG-13
115 mins.
I don’t find Robin Williams funny. I wanted to tell you that up front, so you can decide if I am being biased. He’s been doing the same schtick since ‘Mork & Mindy,’ that “wow ain’t he clever coming up with all those riffs” stuff. Wasn’t he on drugs for a while? Aren’t drugs supposed to change people? Anyway, nevermind that. I actually wanted to see Man of the Year when it was in theaters. I like political dramas. (Don’t ask me why—I also like books about baseball. Can’t stand the sport itself.) Every other visit to Blockbuster, I suggested to the GF we get this movie. Finally one night she brings it home for me. I’m almost feel bad for not liking the movie more.
But only almost. Because this film is too bad to feel guilty about not liking it. I can just imagine the script: Robin Williams does some schtick. The others actors laugh at him. Wow, that was some tough writing. This is why we have a Writer’s Guild? You see, the problem is “the other actors laugh at him” is in the script. The word “comedian” is dropped about a hundred time. The only thing consistent about this movie is that we are told again and again that Robin Williams is playing a comedian.
And that’s the only consistency. Is this a political drama, a romantic comedy, a suspense thriller? Is this commentary on why American politics suck, or is it, afterall, a patriotic overture to democracy? This is a movie that can’t make up it’s mind. I guess director Barry Levinson has lost it over the years—probably from working with Robin Williams so much. I mean, I never saw Wag the Dog, but I heard good things. One would assume he could’ve gotten the same political commentary in there.
But no. Tom Dobbs is a John Stewart type who decides to run for president as a wake-up call to Americans. He tries to pull a Brewster, but a computer glitch causes his plan to backfire and, surprise surprise, he wins the election. Eleanor Green, who knows about the glitch, ends up playing Hamlet for most of the second act, since she can’t decide whether to tell him or not. See what I mean about not being able to decide what kind of film this is? If this movie was well made, at best it would be an homage-en-montage.
It’s not well made. Not even Christopher Walken can save this movie. Oh, there’s a few moments with high potential. Who ever decided to cast Christopher Walken and Lewis Black in the same movie deserves, and I am not being sarcastic, whatever award they give to casting directors. But in the end, you’re just waiting for the film to be over so you can write your review. I’m giving this one and half stars. It might deserve only one star, but I think Laura Linney is cute, so I’m bumping it up for her.
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