Review of Man of the Year (2006) by Kyall J — 02 Feb 2009

Alright, first off: Christopher Walken. That alone earns this - and in fact, almost ANY - film two stars. Otherwise, the concept is wonderful and generally well implemented, and transitions into a savage indictment of the corporate stranglehold over America fairly quickly.

However, despite everything this film has going for it (and it does have a lot going for it), its main problem is that Robin Williams' character seems little more than the same mostly-improvised hyperactive quick-wit with a heart of gold that he's been playing for most of his career (which also means he pulls his role off effortlessly) and that this character doesn't ring true as a Stewart/Colbert whose comedy is more carefully composed and less based around an off-the-cuff construction of words that only occasionally happens to be funny, and the fact that the film seems to bestow more focus on Williams' one-liners than it does on the plot or the actual satire (which nonetheless comes through fairly strong).