Swing Vote

Bud (Kevin Costner) is a drunk, not a very good father and is too self absorbed to even think about civic responsibility. His daughter Molly (newcomer Madeline Carroll) is young, was forced by circumstance to grow up faster than she should have and inspired by the civic lessons of her teacher. Molly wants Bud to vote, Bud wants to drink. An act of voter fraud that is barely acknowledged and in fact swept quickly under the rug sets up the premise. Bud's vote for president didn't count and the closeness of the presidential race means his vote will put one candidate over the top and become the next president. Along the way Bud will be courted and enjoy celebrity and ultimate do the right thing.

Swing Vote is supposed to be political satire. But like much recent satire it pulls its punches when it should be cutting deep. It wants to be universal rather than partisan and so never digs deep into political issues. Its presidential candidates are both basically variations on a George W Bush theme of likable guys without a whole lot of ideas. They are both sort of boringly charismatic. The whole narrative seems to exist in a world parallel to our own in which the most significant factor in American politics in the last ten years doesn't exist. There is no war on terror in this film. There is only a passing mention of North Korea.

It treats with kid gloves poverty in America but this is not a reflection so much of current economic realities but rather general poverty. There was only the barest reference to health care. Abortion and immigration get token appearances as does gay marriage. The film doesn't have the guts to tackle any issue head on and make it interesting. It has a bit of a too little too late moment mid film in which traditional cliched political views are flip flopped like never before. A pro environment Republican and a pro-life/anti-immigration Democrat are attempts at mocking the votes at any cost ideology that seems to at times dominate political debate.

In addition to never digging deep into any issue I have serious objection to the hero of the narrative. Bud is a selfish, drunken asshole. Why is it that the everyman in this film has to be such a worthless part of society? Voter apathy is not strictly the domain of redneck alcoholic pricks. Costner is a charismatic enough actor that his big moment speech at the film's finale is well done and emotionally convincing but the ten day turn around of such a jerk is less believable. In our current state of politics a truly damning satire of the political system would be refreshing whether it was pro conservative or pro liberal. Sadly this film takes a strange path through attempting to be a feel good movie. It fails.