Man of the Year reviewed by Sam Osborn
Frustrating is a good word to describe Man of the Year; frustrating because one half of this film shines. This half moves with ease and works off the unshakable glow of Robin Williams. The other halfthe evil half, if you willworks more like an infection: relatively harmless at first, but fatal and sort of repulsive when left untreated. What could have been a sweetly charming comedy is left suspending all means of reality to turn this wickedly funny political affair into a silly farce of a thriller.
Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a kind of fictional counterpart to Jon Stewart. Like Mr. Stewart, Dobbs hosts a nightly comedy talk show that discusses the absurd nature of current political news. In Dobbs' worldand more than likely, in oursmore people obtain their knowledge of current events through Dobbs' nightly sketch than from valid news sources. He's so popular in fact, that when one member of the audience suggests that he run for president in the upcoming election Dobbs takes it seriously. His campaign is fostered through a grassroots internet movement that manages to put him on thirteen of the fifty states' ballots and into the last of three national debates between the two party-aligned candidates.
This segment requires that, yes, we suspend some belief in Director/Writer Barry Levinson's vision of reality. Could a talk show host with no political background really rise to such presidential heights? Probably not. But it's plausible enough. The true deception comes with the ornery sub-plot that Levinson plunks down like an anchor into this prim and simple tale. A new voting system has been implemented into the upcoming election, created by the corporation Delacroy. Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), an employee for Delacroy happens to find a glitch in the voting system only weeks before the national election. Her alarm is muffled by the legal head of the corporation, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), and her reputation put to tatters by a cocktail injection of illegal drugs a shadowy man sent from Delacroy gives her. And so when Dobbs wins the presidency by way of the glitch in the Delacroy voting system, Eleanor must evade assassination from corporate hit men and alert Dobbs to his undeserving position.
I think it must first be said that I'm rarely one to penalize a film for lack of realism. In my opinion, a suspension of reality must align with the function of the film. Spiderman, for instance, doesn't require many laws of physics, while a film like Apollo 13 does. With Man of the Year, I have no issue overlooking Tom Dobbs rising to Presidential Elect, if it's a concession needed for the film to exist. At the same time, however, I find it difficult to believe that Ms. Green discovered the glitch in the Delacroy voting system by inadvertently testing the program at population volumes similar to those used during actual elections. The glitch is an alphabetical problem: candidates with pairs of letters that appear earlier in that alphabet will inevitably win the election (Dobbs beat Mills, for instance). Don't you think that the American Government might have tested this little gem of computer programming before relying on it to monitor the nation's votes? I think so.
Should I be easier on this small puddle of disbelief? Well, I would if the subplot seemed at all necessary; which it doesn't. The Delacroy plot begins as an annoying thread but weaves itself into the delicate fabric of the entire tale. Soon, instead of following Mr. Dobbs' witty rise to power, we follow Ms. Green as she partakes in car chases, whispered phone calls, and FBI posturing. It's not exciting, it isn't thrilling, and it's certainly not tragic. Don't even ask if these segments are funny. When Dobbs could be grappling with the American political system and driving the film into a quiet and smarmily hilarious character comedy, Director Levinson chickens out and plays it dumb with this Delacroy farce.
It's all just very frustrating, I suppose. Christopher Walken, Lewis Black, and Robin Williams are a comedic force. And allowing Williams to drift off into his own stand-up material was an ingenious creative decision. Mr. Levinson even has a convincing grasp on current politics and manages dozens of jokes surrounding them. And so why fall back on this Delacroy nonsense? Bah! i say. What a shame. Rating: 2 out of 4
Sam Osborn
Frustrating is a good word to describe Man of the Year; frustrating because one half of this film shines. This half moves with ease and works off the unshakable glow of Robin Williams. The other halfthe evil half, if you willworks more like an infection: relatively harmless at first, but fatal and sort of repulsive when left untreated. What could have been a sweetly charming comedy is left suspending all means of reality to turn this wickedly funny political affair into a silly farce of a thriller.
Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a kind of fictional counterpart to Jon Stewart. Like Mr. Stewart, Dobbs hosts a nightly comedy talk show that discusses the absurd nature of current political news. In Dobbs' worldand more than likely, in oursmore people obtain their knowledge of current events through Dobbs' nightly sketch than from valid news sources. He's so popular in fact, that when one member of the audience suggests that he run for president in the upcoming election Dobbs takes it seriously. His campaign is fostered through a grassroots internet movement that manages to put him on thirteen of the fifty states' ballots and into the last of three national debates between the two party-aligned candidates.
This segment requires that, yes, we suspend some belief in Director/Writer Barry Levinson's vision of reality. Could a talk show host with no political background really rise to such presidential heights? Probably not. But it's plausible enough. The true deception comes with the ornery sub-plot that Levinson plunks down like an anchor into this prim and simple tale. A new voting system has been implemented into the upcoming election, created by the corporation Delacroy. Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), an employee for Delacroy happens to find a glitch in the voting system only weeks before the national election. Her alarm is muffled by the legal head of the corporation, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), and her reputation put to tatters by a cocktail injection of illegal drugs a shadowy man sent from Delacroy gives her. And so when Dobbs wins the presidency by way of the glitch in the Delacroy voting system, Eleanor must evade assassination from corporate hit men and alert Dobbs to his undeserving position.
I think it must first be said that I'm rarely one to penalize a film for lack of realism. In my opinion, a suspension of reality must align with the function of the film. Spiderman, for instance, doesn't require many laws of physics, while a film like Apollo 13 does. With Man of the Year, I have no issue overlooking Tom Dobbs rising to Presidential Elect, if it's a concession needed for the film to exist. At the same time, however, I find it difficult to believe that Ms. Green discovered the glitch in the Delacroy voting system by inadvertently testing the program at population volumes similar to those used during actual elections. The glitch is an alphabetical problem: candidates with pairs of letters that appear earlier in that alphabet will inevitably win the election (Dobbs beat Mills, for instance). Don't you think that the American Government might have tested this little gem of computer programming before relying on it to monitor the nation's votes? I think so.
Should I be easier on this small puddle of disbelief? Well, I would if the subplot seemed at all necessary; which it doesn't. The Delacroy plot begins as an annoying thread but weaves itself into the delicate fabric of the entire tale. Soon, instead of following Mr. Dobbs' witty rise to power, we follow Ms. Green as she partakes in car chases, whispered phone calls, and FBI posturing. It's not exciting, it isn't thrilling, and it's certainly not tragic. Don't even ask if these segments are funny. When Dobbs could be grappling with the American political system and driving the film into a quiet and smarmily hilarious character comedy, Director Levinson chickens out and plays it dumb with this Delacroy farce.
It's all just very frustrating, I suppose. Christopher Walken, Lewis Black, and Robin Williams are a comedic force. And allowing Williams to drift off into his own stand-up material was an ingenious creative decision. Mr. Levinson even has a convincing grasp on current politics and manages dozens of jokes surrounding them. And so why fall back on this Delacroy nonsense? Bah! i say. What a shame. Rating: 2 out of 4
Sam Osborn