Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Review: The Campaign

Last week I attended the press screening of The Campaign at Glorietta 4. Thanks to Pinoyexchange and Warner Bros. Philippines. You can also see this review at Official PEx Movie Reviews



If you are looking for a smart satire of American politics then The Campaign is probably not the movie you are hoping for but if you want non-stop laughs then go ahead and see this as the movie pulls off every zany joke without a bat of an eye.

Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferell) thought he has the re-election in the bag as he is running unopposed. But when a scandal erupts that tarnishes Brady's image, a powerful corporation backs up Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), the eccentric little-loved son of the town millionaire, to challenge the incumbent. Cam dismisses Marty at first but thanks to the all-out political campaign supporting Marty he soon becomes a viable threat.

The Campaign
does not tell anything new about the dirty world of politics. The movie presents an exaggerated look of the media circus that surrounds a political campaign. The plot is really silly and unrealistic but the performances are strong enough that you could just ignore the ridiculous war of spin and mud slinging.

Towards the end, the movie attempted to make a statement about leadership but it falls short. The overall tone of the movie does not offer the meat to make the statement they were trying to make credible. It feels like that they just inserted it to have the movie some form of substance but it ended up hollow and insincere.

Ferell and Galifianakis play characters that are caricatures but the talent of the actors and their strong chemistry elevate the material. It is also commendable that despite the buffoonish nature of their characters they still somehow managed to make them sympathetic even if the movie's attempt for heart is a miss.

While The Campaign does not tell anything significant about the nature of politics, it still offers plenty of laughs that will make you forget how ugly real life politics is.

Rating: 7 / 10

The Campaign opens today (Aug. 29) in cinemas nationwide


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