Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Good morning, Vietnam Veterans Memorial: "Man of the Year"

No way I would have watched this without HBO, and no way I'm getting those two hours back, either. Damn.

Oh, Robin Williams. You were so much easier to take when hopped up on cocaine. Now you're bloated and more than a little pompous, and it seems like I've seen your schtick a thousand times. Not saying it's all bad, but it's getting a bit gray, Mork.

I remember seeing the trailer for "Man of the Year" and thinking, "Could be decent, but probably not." Our premise: A nutty talk show host/comedian somehow gets elected President. I'd say "Hijinks ensue," but there are plenty of hijinks before our boy RW even gets to the Oval Office.

You see, a subplot has this hot tech company landing a contract to supply voting machines for the whole country. (Yeah, I know. If you've ever voted in more than one state, you realize how preposterous this is.) Only there's something wonky about the machines, says would-be heroine Laura Linney, no doubt thinking, "I've come so far since 'Congo,' and now this?"

Lurking around the edges is Jeff "Paycheck, please" Goldblum, daring audiences to watch this with "Great White Hype" as the ultimate double bill of Sh*tty Performances of My Career. Back in the Williams camp are his manager, Christopher "I Can Do My Thing Until I'm 124, You A$$holes" Walken, and Lewis "I Need to Cash in While I Can" Black as a writer. On paper, not a bad lineup. In the movie, well ...

As you know, Williams somehow wins the election, but all is not well for a few reasons. There's really no need to go over the various plot twists, because it's, for the most part, kind of boring and a little sad. Williams gets off some good lines, of course, but his whole character and motivation are weaker than a $1 margarita. I mean, I never thought this guy was anything close to a real person, and yet the movie doesn't come close to satire. By the time Williams dons a white wig for his visit to Congress, I wasn't so much cringing as checking my watch. For the third time.

Barry Levinson directed this movie, which came out almost a decade after the very watchable "Wag the Dog" and nearly 20 years after "Good Morning, Vietnam," when Williams was actually relevant and the "message" stuff wasn't so trite. It also bears mentioning that Linney had a bit part in "Dave," another "imposter as president" story that I'd watch 100 times before giving "Man of the Year" another spin. Take my advice: Just say nanu-nanu.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home