Movie review: "The Campaign"

While in college, I took a class called American Political Theater, where I learned the difference between commercial theater and political theater.  Commercial theater is generally supposed to make you feel good by the end, while political theater is supposed to make you feel upset or angry, so you feel riveted to change the way things are.  

This concept goes the same for movies as well, and, believe it or not, "The Campaign" is such a movie.  Yes, it still has all the one-liners and overall silliness that the typical Will Ferrell movie has, but it also has that dark element to it that shows how politics truly are, and often makes the movie hard to watch.  But, in the end, we know they're telling the truth.

Democratic congressman Cam Brady (Ferrell) is significantly down in the polls after some choice mishaps, but doesn't matter because he's running unopposed like he has for years.  However, the Motch Brothers (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) convince tour guide Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to run against Brady on the Republican ticket, causing Brady to have to campaign for the first time as a congressman.  Brady's long-time campaign manager Mitch (Jason Sudeikis) is trying his best against all odds -- even when Brady is a complete idiot.  Huggins' campaign manager Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), on the other hand, forces Huggins to change his life and play a little dirty so he can win.  While mudslinging and creative campaigning ensues, both Brady and Huggins are left to figure out if they're doing it for the people...or to ensure the other guy doesn't get it.

Director Jay Roach ("Meet the Parents", the "Austin Powers" movies), along with screenwriters Chris Henchy ("The Other Guys", "Land of the Lost") and Shawn Harwell (feature film debut), make a reasonably intelligent film while ensuring fans of Will Farrell still pack the seats.  You have all the filthy one liners ("I'm Cam Brady, and I seductively endorse this message" is one of the cleanest ones) and pratfalls of a typical Farrell movie, with actual political tension.  It's quite the surprise.

Will Farrell and Zach Galifianakis are both great here.  I'm usually not the biggest Farrell fan, but he does quite well here.  Galifianakis plays his character of Marty Huggins with a bizarre child-like innocence and idealism against, well, the way things are, but manages to make the film funny, even in the darker emotional moments of the movie.  The true gems here are Jason Sudeikis and Dylan McDermott.  Watching Sudeikis play the straight man to Will Farrell is amazing, and McDermott is truly funny -- something I would never have imagined before this film.

The true genius of "The Campaign" is not the comedy itself, but where the comedy takes you.  At first, it shows two completely incompetent gentlemen trying to get into congress, but then it becomes frighteningly real after awhile.  Huggins accuses Brady of being a communist.  Brady rouses up the crowds by asking why Huggins refuses to take a lie detector test -- when Huggins have never been asked in the first place.  It's funny until it gets that real.  Then it simply becomes to much to take.  But that's what political movies are supposed to do.  They aren't made to entertain, they're made to enlighten.  They're meant to show what's going on around us and then ask the question "Is this something you're willing to live with?".  

It was even more frightening to listen to the people around me laugh hysterically when reality hit, because it's not funny what's going on with the current campaigns with Obama and Romney, which are eerily mirrored to a degree in "The Campaign".  Perhaps not everyone will get the underlying message of the film, but, even if a handful of people do, that can make all the difference.

FINAL VERDICT:  "The Campaign" is a fairly funny but all-too-real look at modern politics.  There are moments that will make you laugh at loud, but, if you actually see the correlation between this movie and what's going on with the 2012 presidential race, you might feel like you're the punchline.