Review of Man of the Year (2006) by J S — 06 Dec 2008

Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson takes a stab at politics in this dark satire, (falsely advertised as a comedy upon original release), but it does come up as a wasted opportunity. It has comedian Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams), who is successful at hosting a news parody show, who decides to run for President of the United States.

However, this year, the votes will be done by computer, but it turns out there's a technical glitch, and Dobbs ends up as the winner of the election!! However, at the company who devised the voting ballots, employee Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) is trying to expose this glitch, but someone doesn't want her to reveal the truth, this means she's gonna have to fight her way to the top to tell the President-Elect the truth.

On one hand, it's a funny film, but it's not quite a comedy, on the other hand, it's a paranoid thriller, but it's not quite a thriller. That's the problem, the film can't make up it's mind of what it wants to be.

Whilst it is a good idea for a film, and Williams is in his element here. It does come up a bit short. Methinks there's an alternate cut somewhere, where the film knows what it wants to be... :P.