Review of The Campaign (2012) by Mab_987 — 07 Sep 2012

When I saw the general "meh" reaction for this movie when it came out, I assumed it'd just be some cheap, half-hearted, desperate political satire flick that'd become dated as soon as the 2012 election ends.

Fortunately I was wrong. VERY wrong. Not only is The Campaign hilarious, but it also mocks many problems in the world of big-time politics in a way that's exaggerated, but still pretty accurate. Now I'll go a little more in depth.

First of all this movie was casted pretty much perfectly. Will Ferrell of course is very experienced in the world of political satire, mainly thanks to his many years on SNL, and does an equally great job as Cam Brady, the incumbent, an egotistical jerk who has succumbed to all the temptations of political fame and knows how to give the people what they want in the most shallow yet effective way possible.

You can tell that his performance is drawn slightly from a combination of his George W. Bush impression on SNL and Ron Burgandy in Anchorman, but it's more of a similar overall vibe than a blatant copy.

Zach Galifinakis also does a great job as Marty Huggins, the newcoming candidate, a timid family man whose motivations are much more authentic and noble, but soon succumbs to some of said temptations later in the movie, albeit with regret.

Other notable performances include Dylan McDermott as Tim Watley, Huggins' shady campaign manager, and Karen Maruyama as Mrs. Yao, Huggins' father's housekeeper who provides some of the most unexpectedly funny lines in the whole movie.

One thing to note about The Campaign is that most of the comedy isn't exactly high class stuff, but it's done in the most hilarious way possible. Case in point: the Huggles' "family dinner confessions" scene, which I just wanted to go on as long as possible.

And of course the political satire is spot-on, tackling all kinds of evil or just plain stupid things that have sadly become commonplace in big-time politics without coming off as preachy or predictable.

Most jokes had me cracking up; even the ones that were targeted directly at conservative Republicans such as myself. And that's when you know it's really good. In fact, no matter how raunchy/overall insane this gets, the odd/somewhat scary thing is that it's usually not too far with what really happens, but with a little more silliness involved.

Another interesting thing to note is that instead of making the characters one-dimensional personality cut-outs, which they easily could've done, each character has their own personal struggles, such as Brady's realization of how detached he is from his son and Huggins pretty much having to make a choice between his wife's respect & political victory.

And these sub-plots are actually resolved by the end of the movie, even though the writers could've just put them in for one scene in the middle and never brought it up again. Also, these sub-plots manage to bring some realism into the world of exaggeration that some of this movie presents, which ultimately lead to the movie's ending, which is centered all around honesty and how important it can really be in the long run.

In conclusion, don't take the lukewarm scores too seriously, since this is a fantastic piece of political satire that I'm sure will still be poignant & relevant to the crazily messed up world of politics for years to come.