Review by Pamela Zoslov
Charles
and David Koch, the billionaire industrialist brothers known for
their funding of Tea Party and other right-wing causes, are livid about THE CAMPAIGN,
the freewheeling new comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach
Galifianakis. The political comedy, directed by Jay Roach (MEET THE FOCKERS, LITTLE FOCKERS, et al.),
features a pair of billionaire brothers named Motch, who back a
clueless idiot (played by Galifianakis) to run against a
scandal-plagued incumbent Congressman (Ferrell). After Galifianakis
called the Kochs “creepy” in an interview, a spokesman for the
brothers sniffed, “...[I]t’s laughable to take political
guidance or moral instruction from a guy who makes obscene gestures
with a monkey on a bus in Bangkok,” evidently confusing
Galifianakis with the character he played in HANGOVER 2.
Infuriating
the Kochs is but one perquisite of THE
CAMPAIGN, a cheerfully
vulgar portrait of American political corruption. The gags fly fast
and furious, so much so that it's hard sometimes to keep up with the
escalating absurdity. The range of the movie's humor – from the
unspeakably obscene to the nicely aimed satiric stiletto, is
impressive. If one joke misses, as many inevitably do, there's
another, funnier one right behind it. The screenplay is by Chris Henchy and
Shawn Harwell, who manage to balance the requirements of ridiculous
comedy and fact-based political satire. Now that we are in the “silly
season” of the presidential campaign, with the candidates engaging
in increasingly ridiculous, name-calling attacks ("Romneyhood," "Obamaloney"), the timing of the
movie's release could not be better.
Cam
Brady, the slick, lazy North Carolina congressman running unopposed
for his fourth term, is an amalgam of Bill Clinton and North
Carolinian John Edwards, with a little Anthony Wiener thrown in. He's
an inveterate philanderer whose campaign shtick, like Edwards' “son
of a millworker,” refers to his father, who “worked with his
hands” – as head stylist for Vidal Sassoon. Though its fixation
on body-part humor can be distracting, the film effectively lampoons
the emptiness of campaign rhetoric.
Running
for office is usually an easy matter for the charismatic Cam, who
typically has only to utter empty slogans about "America, Jesus and Freedom." But
a scandal resulting from a misdialed filthy answering-machine message
to his nubile mistress – it falls on the shocked ears of a pious
constituent family – makes him vulnerable to a challenge. Cam
is amusingly amoral, continually blaming others for his bad acts
(“Why do they even still have an answering machine?”).
Sensing
an opportunity to bring their Chinese slave-wage toy factory to North
Carolina (something they call “insourcing”), the Motch brothers
enlist the town's eccentric, mild-mannered tour guide Marty Huggins
(Galifianakis) to enter the race. The conception of the Motch
brothers, played by Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow, is clearly derived
from the manipulative millionaire siblings in TRADING PLACES. Galifianakis' character,
a slightly effeminate nebbish with an uneven mustache, two pug dogs
and a plump wife who pleasures herself to Drew Carey on The
Price Is Right, resembles, in
looks and honeyed Magnolia accent, Jack Black's charismatic killer in
BERNIE.
Marty,
who still carries a grade-school reputation for soiling his pants, is
a disaster on the stump, and no match for the ruthless Cam, who
humiliates him at their first campaign event. Marty tells a pointless
non-story about his dogs, and Cam destroys him with an embarrassing
slide show of his life. The Motches send in the sinister Tim Wattley
(Dylan McDermott) as a campaign manager tasked with making Marty into a winning candidate. The first
order of business is to redesign the Huggins' tacky house into a
burnished, country-club model of Republican rectitude — an oil painting of an
eagle, leather couches and a horsey lamp — and replacing the hapless pugs (“too Chinese” ) with a Lab and a Golden Retriever.
The
remainder of the campaign consists of an escalating series of attacks and
counter-attacks ad absurdum. Cam punches a baby (“Baby-Punch-Gate,”
the news networks dub the scandal). Cam releases an ad painting Marty
as a terrorist. (“You know who else had a mustache? Saddam
Hussein.”) Huggins has Cam arrested for drunk driving. Cam tries to
turn his negatives into a positive with a TV ad featuring sexy
pictures of his mistress (“Cam Brady is a Real American Man”). On
and on it goes, with lewd, scattershot gags to keep everything light
and breezy. The narrative isn't fully coherent, but one has the
sense it isn't supposed to be.
Lurking
behind the jokes about balls and boobs and farts is some stinging
commentary about political corruption. A scene in which Cam and his
political operative wife (Catherine LaNasa) lunch with men from
Goldman Sachs, all laughing merrily as they agree to play-for-pay, is
the stuff of the finest political satire. Unlike other Jay Roach-directed
comedies, this one has something to say. Wrapping a meaningful
political message in a rude, scatological Hollywood comedy is, in its
own strange way, a masterly achievement. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.
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