Review: Swing Vote (2008)

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Is every Kevin Costner film that has been released after Dances With Wolves (1990) doomed to box office failure? Swing Vote has only been in the theaters for a little past the two week mark and it's already being pulled out of the theaters. There is only one theater within a reasonable driving distance of my house that is playing the film right now. And that theater has dwindled the film down to only two showings per night! It might be safe to bet on the celebrity factor that appears in this film to hopefully hype up enough interest in the film to avoid the box office Costner Curse. If you look at the money grubbing success of the actors Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, Dennis Hopper, George Lopez and Judge Reinhold you might thing that the film would be lasting in the theaters for a lengthy period of time.

Despite the lack of a box office draw, it is the perfect comedy film to be released at this time of the year when the attention of the United States is drawing closer to the end of the presidential election. How exciting would it be for the one citizen who would become the sole vote that would decide the next president of the United States? As detailed in the film, it could be the most embarrassing and difficult time for the lone voter. We are so accustomed to hearing our friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances and even ourselves mess around with the list of lame excuses to validate why voting is nothing more than a waste of our own personal time. Has a single one of those people considered that their vote just my actually be worth something? Swing Vote takes that question to the extreme opposite. Instead of the routine excuse that a single vote does not count there is that minuscule opportunity that an entire presidential race could depend on a single vote.

Moving past all of this election mumbo-jumbo I present to you the water down synopsis of the film. An unmotivated, blue collar drunk living with his in their New Mexico mobile trailer is the country's focus of attention when his initial "election vote" was annulled after a computer glitch rendered it unaccounted for. The total number of votes throughout the entire country is tallied up, but his voting precinct arrives at a tie and his vote would be the tie-breaker. All hell breaks loose as the incumbent Republican president battles the Democrat presidential nominee to win the White House office for the next four years. Both politicians fly into the small town of Texico, New Mexico to attempt to swing the last vote in his own favor.

The story is built upon the plot driven formula that actually works pretty well on screen. Would it be wrong to admit that I'm one of the small number of movie watchers who are a closet Kevin Costner fan. Okay, I'm coming out of the closet and admitting that I enjoy Costner's movies. Whew, what a sigh of relief now that I could publicly admit that to another person. Even though I lie to myself all the time by trying to claim that I'm not into plot driven stories, I still found Swing Vote to be an entertaining film. If the film relies on a structured plot to drive the story along then the characters will suffer tremendously with a sense of realism. I could easily overlook the flaw of utilizing stereotypical characters in this film, because the story was entertaining with the punchlines and the story's moral of patriotism and civic duty for all of the American citizens, regardless of their social status.

It seems awkward to have a comedy film that is crammed with so many celebrities, but it's not the first time that it has been done before. The film seemed to well received by the small crowd of attending theater patrons that had watched the film with me. Much to the dismay of any respected campaign manager, I did not perform an exit poll to confirm if the film was favorable or unfavorable among the patrons. Their laughter to the punchlines and the lack of snoring and boredom in the theater was evident that these people must have held some interest in what was going on with the movie. I walked out of the movie theater impressed by what I saw, but I do not think I would be able to add this film to my Top Ten List. It was entertaining and fun, but is not award winning material. My final review rating for the film would be cast with an eight out of ten possible review points.

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