The Campaign

Is it the most authentic political movie we’ve ever seen? No, though The Campaign does surprisingly well to bring the pettiness of political battles to light in a satirical way. But when Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star in a movie, the comedy tends to be the main and only concern. The story has Ferrell playing a dim-witted congressman, who fits all the stereotypes of the philandering, self-obsessed politician. Then a pair of wealthy brothers (John Lithgow and Dan Akroyd) finance an opponent in order to impose their will on the district. The opponent, an unsuspecting, naïve local, played to cringe worthy glory by Galifianakis, gives the congressman an unsuspected run for his money.

Released in the thick of the American presidential campaign, the film does well to keep its distance from any actual candidates. Bringing political stereotypes and themes to the forefront, the script has the comedians attempting to outdo each other with anything that has damaged campaigns in the past (drunken driving, infidelity, negative advertisements). It really sheds light on how ridiculous campaigns are. But more importantly the movie produces almost constant laughs. It was a pleasant surprise also that Ferrell keeps his distance from his popular impression of President George W. Bush, which has been used to death.

The Campaign follows the blueprint of other Will Ferrell situation comedies. This time he’s a congressman instead of a news anchor or Nascar driver. He similarly begins to lose important aspects of his life because of his own ego. The level of predictability weakens the overall feature throughout. This includes the ending which lacks any sort of originality. This is by no means a movie that belongs on the Will Ferrell scrap heap. It isn’t his funniest, but when you’ve starred in around 50 movies, every one can’t be the best.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.