The Campaign

It's true that The Campaign probably could have been a little smarter with its political satire. However, it's also true that I found myself laughing all the way through the film. This is a movie that knows how to use its two stars (Will Ferrell, and Zach Galifianakis). Sure, they're not exactly challenging themselves here. Ferrell once again is playing an arrogant, yet quite clueless, blowhard, while Galifianakis once again is playing the weirdo with an offbeat charm. But, it works and it fits these actors.

Ferrell is Cam Brady, a Senator in North Carolina's 14th District, who has held office for so long, largely because he's gone unchallenged. He's been in office for so long, he treats everything (even family life at home) as part of his campaign, and probably doesn't remember the last time he said something that had nothing to do with boosting his approval rating. A recent phone sex scandal has threatened his plans for another run in office, however. His main supporters, the wealthy Motch Brothers, Glenn and Wade (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd), suddenly find themselves in a position where they can no longer back Cam, due to his growing list of scandals. Instead, they decide to back a dark horse candidate, and the first competition Cam has had for his position in years.

That candidate is Marty Huggins (Galifianakis), a local tour guide who talks with a chirpy little voice that almost makes him sound like a cartoon character. Marty is a decent enough guy, but he doesn't have a clue and he can't mudsling to save his life when he goes up against Cam in a televised debate. He's teamed up with a campaign manager (Dylan McDermott) who not only teaches Marty how to sell his soul (and sacrifice his family) for approval points from the voters, but also how to play at Cam's level of dirty politics. Before two long, the two candidates are attacking each other's values. Cam calls Marty a Communist, because he owns Chinese pug dogs, so Marty counters by attacking Cam's religious beliefs. As the battle between the two escalates, the movie becomes broader, and obviously has a lot of fun letting these actors cut loose.

The Campaign was directed by Jay Roach, who before doing this movie, directed a very different kind of political movie, Game Change, which chronicled John McCain's 2008 presidential run. I'm not sure if that film had much influence on this one, as aside from the fact that it deals with a campaign, they have little in common. Regardless, he knows how to keep things moving, and he gives his comic stars plenty of opportunity to banter and run wild. There's a little bit of Ferrell's interpretation of George W. Bush from his Saturday Night Live days in his performance of Cam, especially when he talks. ("Schools is this nation's backbone".) But, he wisely doesn't try to base his performance on any one political figure. Besides, the movie is nonpartisan, and not really trying to offend any particular figure or party. It's a silly and very funny film that gets even funnier as the characters try to one-up each other.

The movie is funny in two ways. It's funny, because it attacks some recognizable traits of political campaigns, and the "anything to win" approach that most candidates win. We laugh, and we nod our head in recognition during these moments. The other way that it gets its laughs is by just being as broad as possible. When Cam decides to seduce Marty's wife and make a sex video out of it, we're sort of shocked. But that shock turns into a huge laugh when that video becomes an actual campaign commercial for Brady, and it gets him higher in the polls. Yeah, this is not a high brow movie. But I laughed, darn it! The film's third act, where the candidates finally stop and realize how low they've stooped, kind of bogs things down a little, but by that point, the movie had already earned enough good will with me that I didn't mind.

So what if The Campaign seems more interested in its funny situations and bizarre characters than getting deep into politics? The movie is likable in a big part because of that. It doesn't get mired in its own views, nor does it try to sway us or think. It's an entertaining, goofy little movie with two very strong comic performances in the center that just might make you nod in recognition once in a while.

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