Review of Game Change (2012) by Mike C — 31 May 2013

The biggest political blunder of all time? Maybe. Obama was likely going to win the 2008 election regardless. McCain had to pull out all the stops. He happened to have picked perhaps the worst VP nomination of all-time, and his chances of being elected disappeared when he did so. I think I may have even told people he just lost the election the very day the nomination was announced.

The movie is really harsh on Palin. So much so that at times she begins to resemble the character in Stephen King's The Dead Zone. I don't think she was that bad...she's just a total moron. But having listened to the book and having heard the woman speak on tv, I don't think it is a character assassination. Maybe a little over the top, but I was actually dumbfounded that people are still defending her on imdb.

As for McCain, I think it was pretty accurate. Ed Harris can be great...think Pollock. I didn't think he was overly great as McCain, but he did win a Golden Globe for this role. I figured the swearing thing would come up on chat boards because god forbid a conservative swear. But, again, having listened to the book, it seems he has quite the mouth. Understated in the movie and we didn't get to see any of the infamous tantrums. Moore as Palin was pretty good. I've never seen Moore so attractive. At first, I didn't think I'd like her in the role, but as time went on, I sometimes forgot I wasn't actually seeing Palin. That was not the case at all for Harris as McCain.

Finally, forget the characters. What about the election process? The movie largely focuses on characters, but the real story is how all this went down. Just a bunch of suits doing and saying things to get elected. The politicians are speaking to the people!? No! Hell no! The VP debate scene was quite bothersome. Men who wrote the speech on the edges of their seats. Not because they were in the moment or believed what she was saying. Because they needed her to deliver their words! Pathetic. But we've really glamorized those conventions for tv and we eat that garbage up. It was a great time to be a political junkie. My interest since has dramatically waned. Obama has not turned out to be the great liberal hope I voted for, but can you imagine having Palin running around the White House? This would have been a horror movie.