By now, every college student has seen the “Jon Stewart 2008” ads floating around on the Internet made up by fans, or the numerous Facebook groups dedicated to the comedian’s nonexistent political career. And there is one question on everyone’s mind ? what if Jon Stewart did run for President?
That’s essentially the concept behind Man of the Year, the latest film from director Barry Levinson. Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a Stewart-esque comedian who hosts a late-night political talk show. After being told by a woman in his audience that he should run for president, Dobbs decides to run as an independent and gets on the ballot in thirteen states.
At first, Dobbs tries to just focus on the issues, but after insistence from manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) and writer Eddie Langston (Lewis Black), Dobbs brings his comedy to politics. Surprisingly enough, he wins the election.
Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems. Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), an employee at Delacroy, a company that makes new electronic voting machines, has discovered a flaw in the system shortly before the election. Her employers Hemmings (Rick Roberts) and Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum) ignore her warnings and have her fired.
The election goes through with the glitch still in place, and that error causes Dobbs to win. Discredited as a drug user with psychological problems, Eleanor attempts to reach Dobbs to tell him what has happened.
Wag the Dog, another political satire directed by Levinson, is one of my favorite movies. With Levinson behind the camera of Man of the Year and with actors such as Williams, Walken and Black, I firmly expected this film to be a satire on the same level as ? if not better than ? Wag the Dog. Unfortunately, in that respect, I was disappointed. The film was marketed strictly as a comedy, which was a mistake. Although there are definitely humorous moments in the film (particularly during the campaign), there’s a lot more going on.
Instead of being a straight-out comedy, the film seems to be more along the lines of social commentary on the flaws in America’s election process. It’s an interesting little movie, and it seems to have all the right elements. Williams and Walken turn out great performances.
Linney seems to fall a bit short as the movie plays out. She did come off like an insane drug addict, and it was a bit hard to believe that anyone would be able to see past that.
Despite a great direction and an excellent cast, Man of the Year is missing something. The writing is not what I expected from Levinson. For a movie like this, Levinson should have brought on David Mamet, who wrote the screenplay for Wag the Dog.
Man of the Year is rated PG-13 and is currently showing in theaters.