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Man of the Year By David DiCerto Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- In director Barry Levinson's political satire, "Man of the Year" (Universal), Robin Williams describes democracy as "a collision of ideas," an observation that applies equally well to the film. Williams stars as Tom Dobbs, the host of a Jon Stewart-like TV talk show. Prompted by the half-joking suggestion of an audience member, the idealistic Dobbs decides to run for president in an upcoming election, and guess what? He wins. Laura Linney plays Eleanor Green, a conscientious software analyst who discovers that Dobbs' unlikely victory was owed to a program glitch in her company's new computerized voting machines. When she threatens to blow the whistle, her CEO tries to discredit and then silence her, aided by his sinisterly slick legal counsel, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum). Eleanor manages to contact Dobbs and, wouldn't you know, they fall for each other, making it all the more difficult for her to break it to him that the election was a fraud. She starts to wonder if he's perhaps exactly what the country needs. But her conscience prevails -- much to the disappointment of Dobbs' loyal manager (Christopher Walken) and longtime writer (Lewis Black) -- leading to Dobbs' own dilemma: Will he tell the American people? Levinson, who used political comedy to sharper effect in "Wag the Dog," hasn't decided what film he wanted to make: part Capraesque fantasy; part polemic against the corporatization of politics; part satire about the blurring of entertainment and news; part romance. The jokes are funny, but the treatment of politics is oversimplified. Williams is in top manic form, though his performance at times plays like a series of stand-up routines, during which he takes aim at both political parties with a bipartisan barrage of (occasionally lewd) zingers. While Dobbs stands for honesty and integrity, the film takes a disappointingly soft-pedal approach to personal morality issues (same-sex marriage for instance), dismissing them as of lesser consequence than other admittedly important topics like education and the environment. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" it's not, but "Man of the Year" does make some valid observations about a public that seemingly would rather be entertained than informed and that prefers sound bites to analysis. The primary target of criticism here are those in our media-saturated society who would exploit that apathy by substituting what Dobbs calls "the perception of legitimacy" for truth. The film contains sexually crass humor, innuendo, a mildly irreligious joke, brief violence, a use of the f-word and some crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. - - - DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies. END Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 |
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