Vote Mork

I saw a trailer for this Man of the Year abomination in front of The Black Dahlia the other night. It looks detestable, not only as just a tremendously obvious, unfunny retread of Dave and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but as thinly-veiled jingoist, establishment propaganda...

Anyway, I sometimes get invited to screenings and early previews around town. Having gone to so many free screenings in my day, I'm on just about every e-mail list for every focus group/sneak preview company operating in Los Angeles.. Sometimes, it works out great, and I get to see amazing stuff like Borat early. (It's coming in November and is still the best and the most hilarious film I've seen all year.) Most of the time, I get invited to stuff like Robin Williams political satires and it joins all the penis enlargement advertisements and shady Nigerian banking scheme invitations in my Trash bin.

Let's just take a look at this e-mail invite together, shall we?

What would happen if one of the nation’s funniest men became its leading one?

Is this English? The SAT tutor in me wants to say that "one" in this case is not a good substitute for the subject "men" because of the pluralization problem. That is, "What would happen if one of the nation's funniest men became one of its leading ones?" But that's awkward. So maybe it would be better to say "What would happen if a man who was among the nation's funniest became its leader?" Also, funniest should really be "most funny" and we don't really refer to the President as our "leading man." That's how we refer to the guy who stars in a movie.

So it should probably read "What would happen if a man who was among the most funny in his nation subsequently became leader of his nation?" And you all know the answer to that question - Russia under Boris Yeltsin!

Oscar® winner Robin Williams reunites with the director of Good Morning, Vietnam to answer just that question in the comic tale of an entertainer’s accidental rise to power, Man of the Year.

So it's the Ronald Reagan story?

This is a very bad premise for a comedy for several reasons. Mainly, you're treading on ground that has been covered over and over and over again. But also, this keeps happening in real life, and thus isn't really as outrageous as director Barry Levinson obviously thinks. I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger is an entertainer who has risen to a position of prominance in my state. Reagan was President. Sonny Bono was in Congress. There was that porno star in the Italian parliament. Plus, I'm pretty sure Netanyahu got his start in musical theater.

It's got to be somehow bigger than reality. Maybe, in the near future, an internationally successful entertainer gets elected as the first Global President. Now that's a comedy you could actually do some stuff with, sort of a mix between Dave and Bruce Almighty. Come to think of it...let me make a few calls...

Okay, we'll just start prepping that now for a 2009 tentpole release...

Acerbic performer Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) has made his career out of skewering politicians and speaking the mind of the exasperated nation on his talk show. He cracked scathing jokes at a fractured system night after night…until he came up with a really funny idea: why not run for president himself?

Clearly, the Williams character is based on John Stewart. (I'd say Stephen Colbert, but knowing studio timelines, this was probably in pre-production before "Colbert Report" was even on the air.) I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. Williams repetitive schtick is much more like a Jay Leno (or even a David Letterman) than John Stewart. I could believe a late night talk show host as randomly getting elected president, but not an outspoken, snarky guy like Stewart. Incredibly stupid people tend to resent those who exude intelligence and wit, which would ruin Stewart's chances with a large cross-section of the American electorate.

After a flip comment, Dobbs ignites a grassroots movement that puts him on the ballot. Hot on the campaign trail, he debates elected drones and says exactly what frustrated voters have often thought.

It's as this point that Barry becomes a sell-out. How much do you want to bet that these outrageous statements reflecting exactly how frustrated American voters think is going to be lame conservative garbage. These movies always pretend that sweeping rhetoric about their "community" and about "everyday people working hard" is what the voters really want to hear.

Even Bulworth, a movie billed as a strong political satire from the outspoken Warren Beatty, didn't really say anything more outrageous than "racism is stupid" and "big corporations are evil." If Man of the Year REALLY WANTED to show a genuine populist upsetting the political balance of this country through radical rhetoric, he'd be talking about the abolition of Corporate welfare, about ending the drug war, about reparations for slavery and publicly-funded elections. Somehow, I don't think this is what Hollywood has in mind for a Fall family release.

It's like, people know they hate canned political fluff, but they don't really want to hear any ideas too far out of the mainstream or have their expectations upset. These movies pretend to present an alternative viewpoint - hey, here's how politics really ought to work - but always end up reconfirming the status quo. You know, maybe they ought to work that way, but the system we've got is still pretty good. I mean, everything worked out alright at the end of this movie!

Nov. 2nd later, the muckraker wins—only to learn that a computer voting error gave him the victory. With time ticking on the inaugural clock, Dobbs has a big decision to make: should he go back behind the mike or stay in the Oval Office?

See, they use that word "muckraker." This means the movie will invent a villainous fictional corporation to stand in for Enron or Halliburton that the Williams character will have to "take down," thus resetting the balance of the universe. Because, you see, it's never that the idea of corporations are bad, or that the system of corporate power inherently leads to corruption. It's always one or two bad apples that ruin the game for everyone else.

Also, how ridiculously lame and inappropriate is this as a twist for a mainstream Robin Williams comedy? "Hey, our democracy is dying! The people in power have now twice stolen elections! Isn't that hilarious?"

To make it funny is the first step in making in acceptable. Sure, they're stealing power, but who else are you gonna elect? Democrats? We're better off with the people who know better running things...

Again, if I thought for a second that this was going to be an incisive, angry or satirical comedy about the state of America today, I wouldn't be so quick to condemn. But Barry Levinson? Robin Williams? I mean, I saw this trailer, and it looks like typical big-budget comedy pap. I seriously doubt it's actually going to take on these vitally important issues. Politics in this film is just going to be another prop for bad sitcom jokes and cheesy Robin Williams bits that have been stale since the mid '80s.

This election season, comic actors including Laura Linney, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum and Lewis Black join Williams in a pulled-from-the-headlines comedy.

Pulled from the headlines? Oh, yeah, "Robin Williams enters rehab." I remember that headline from a few months back...I mean, the guy has an alcohol problem. He's the perfect candidate to play the president!