Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Man of the Year (2006)

Good Morning, Vietnam duo Barry Levinson and Robin Williams re-team to tell the tale of a quick-witted radio talk-show host whose fanciful bid for the presidency becomes a surprising reality in the one political comedy that truly speaks for the people. When talk show host Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) makes an offhand comment that he would be a better president than the leader who currently occupies the White House, a grassroots campaign conducted by his legions of fans finds him unexpectedly ushered into the Oval Office and forced to live up to his promise. Unfortunately for Dobbs, the revelation that his surprise victory was actually the result of a voting computer glitch and not majority vote leaves the outspoken funnyman struggling with the decision to stay the course in the Oval Office or head back behind the microphone where he is truly in his element. Laura Linney, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, and Lewis Black co-star the satirical comedy scripted and directed by Levinson. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

It had the usual Robin Williams as his stand up comedian, which was some of his good material. While it was an excellent film, I still think it could have been over the top funny. I guess that is the problem with a film that advertises so much that you have heard all the good punch lines already.

Lewis Black had a nice monologue about how TVs equalize everyone in the same lens. Thus when Noam Chomsky debates Jagdish Bhagwati (about globalization) they are treated as equals even though one is a known economist with many books on the subject and Noam is a linguist.
Rating: 3.5 (/5)

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