Review: ‘Swing Vote’ smarter than previews suggest

Directed by: Joshua Michael Stern

Starring: Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll, Paula Patton, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper

Rated: PG-13

Many films commit the mortal cinematic sin of giving away all of their best scenes in the previews.

How many bad comedies have you seen where the only funny bits have already been on TV a thousand times? Savvy movie lovers can usually spot these things, but it’s a well-trained, heavily armed enemy we are fighting.

The film “Swing Vote” and the previews for it are anomalies.

At first glance, it seems to be a one-joke movie and another vehicle for Kevin Costner, who has done more bad films than any actor in his “A-list” class.

In reality, “Swing Vote” is an astute political commentary and satire that doesn’t overtly lean to either the left or right.

There are a few scenes that induce cringes and might have been left out, but overall, it’s a much smarter and better made movie than one is led to believe by watching the previews.

Costner stars as Bud Johnson, a stereotypical (it seems at first) lovable loser who lives in the small town of Texico, New Mexico.

He’s a divorced father raising a precocious, politically and socially conscious daughter, Molly. Molly is played by young Madeline Carroll – the best kid to hit the screen since Abigail Breslin starred in “Little Miss Sunshine.”

By day, Bud works at a local egg-packing plant. By night, and many times by day as well, he (over) drinks the beer that is his namesake, the soon to be Belgian-owned Budweiser.

Molly hounds him to make sure he will vote in the upcoming presidential election, but when the day arrives, he’s too hung over to get even that simple task done. The industrious kid manages to circumvent security at the polling place and casts a vote as her dad.

There’s one little problem with Molly/Bud’s vote that eventually becomes a big one. The voting machine malfunctioned, didn’t count the vote, the election has come down to being decided by New Mexico’s five electoral votes and there’s an even tie in New Mexico. So Bud’s vote is going to literally decide who will be the most powerful man on earth.

The premise is somewhat of a stretch but, given the elections of 2000 and 2004, not completely beyond belief.

Bud becomes an immediate celebrity. Molly hides the fact that it was actually she who cast the vote.

Both the Republican incumbent (played by Kelsey Grammer) and his Democratic challenger (Dennis Hopper) and their political machines begin courting Bud. Karl Rovesque figures find out everything possible about Bud and what issues matter to him. In the film’s most overt (but again, nonpartisan) scene, the sitting president comes out in support of same-sex marriage, and the liberal challenger becomes a hard-line pro-life candidate. The commercials the handlers create are hilarious and not too far-fetched in today’s political climate.

The film’s climax is a presidential debate moderated by one man: Bud. With the help of Molly and a newswoman looking to further her career, Bud studies hard to learn about the issues which he has frankly been too drunk to give much thought to.

The most memorable line in the film comes when Bud asks both candidates, “Why, if America is the richest country in the history of the world, are there so many people who can’t afford to live here?”

He then goes off to cast his ballot.

While “Swing Vote” overtly has politics as its impetus, the underlying theme is the relationship between Bud and Molly. Because of his drinking and general lifestyle, he is under threat of losing custody. Molly’s mom, an aspiring country singer (played by a great Mare Winningham, who has been absent from the industry for too long) is a worse role model than Bud. Putting aside the fact that Bud does need to work on some personal issues, there’s no doubt that his love for his daughter – and hers for him – is the most important issue in the film.

“Swing Vote” politically takes no sides and manages to make some great points about the American electoral process. It also has a love story between a man and his daughter at its core. It works on both levels and rightly deserves the fact that some critics are comparing it to the films of Frank Capra.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]