Man of the Year isn’t a movie I mentioned in my Movies of 07, but that’s mostly because there was no hype around it at all, and I only found out about it when the trailers started appearing on TV last week.
The set up: A comedian gets elected president. How much more do you need?
Robin Williams is Tom Dobbs, a Colbert-esque comedian poking humour into news. One night, a member of the audience suggests he run for president. So he does, and because of a glitch in the computerised voting system, he gets voted in. Storyline ensues. What’s most important about this movie is that it’s got Robin Williams. Robin Williams. And Christopher Walken! Sure-fire humour!
Or is it? Williams drops plenty of humour, sure, but he’s obviously got a message to tell, underneath it. And that’s where the trailer and the movie go their seperate ways – the trailer seems to bill it as a non-stop comedy ride, while in reality, it’s a little bit political satire, a little bit we-have-a-message. That discrepancy got me; I was expecting more laughs, and while there are plenty, it’s in the grand comedy tradition, not slipping into screwball comedy. I want Robin Williams to do something like that dammit!
But that’s not to say it’s a bad movie. The message is pertinent, and this should be compulsory viewing in an election year. By delievering its message through humour, the message gets through and, while you’ll laugh at first, afterwards the message will linger. And Williams is Williams; you couldn’t be disappointed by a man that smart & ernest about everything. I’d vote for him, if he ever stood.
The best line of the movie comes right at the end: “Politicians are like diapers; they should be changed often, and for the same reason.” =)
★★★☆
I liked it, but it did seem to have trouble deciding what it actually was. The first 15 minutes or so were like a mockumentary on politics, then it moved into some sort of Antitrust-esque conspiracy thriller, with a bit of a love story thrown in for good measure. Despite that, though, it was good. Decent political satire films seem to have been a bit lacking lately.