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October 2006
Man of the Year Review

By Kam Williams

Man of the Year Review


Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Barry Levinson
Screenwriter: Barry Levinson
Cinematographer: Dick Pope
Composer: Graeme Revell
Cast: Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black, Jeff Goldblum
Rated PG-13 for profanity, crude humor, sexual references, drug use, and
brief violence)
Running time: 115 minutes
   

 

Late-Night Comedian Runs for President in Biteless Political Satire

Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) is a popular, late-night comedian who has
built-up big ratings around ridiculing politicians. This intrepid iconoclast’s refreshingly honest inclination to expose flaws in the system has endeared him with the national audience that tunes in to his TV talk show.

Then, at the height of a presidential campaign, he impulsively enters the race after a fan suggests that he throw his hat into the ring. This decision confounds his staff, including his chain-smoking producer (Christopher Walken) and his head joke writer (Lewis Black), both of whom initially assume it to be just a publicity stunt.

But they have a hard time discerning Tom’s true intentions when, while out on the stump, he insists on abandoning his trademark brand of irreverent humor in favor of earnestly addressing the issues of concern to the voters. Suddenly taken seriously as a candidate, Dobbs rises in the polls and is even invited to participate in the final presidential debate. And after he easily runs circles around the comparatively-wooden Democratic (David Nichols) and Republican (David Ferry) candidates, it becomes clear that the election is up for grabs.

This is the promising point of departure of Man of the Year, a misfiring social satire which comes courtesy of Oscar-winner Barry Levinson (for Rain Man). It’s hard to believe that such a gutless, rudderless mess could have been made by the director of Wag the Dog (1997), a seminal contribution to cinema hailed for suggesting the possibility of election chicanery via a manipulation of the mass media.

By contrast, Man of the Year doesn’t have any sophisticated insights to share about the current political landscape, though the picture’s trailers would have you believe otherwise. From the misleading commercials, one might reasonably expect Dobbs to be dishing out the same sort of biting satire as Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, late night hosts on the leading edge of the genre of comedy.

The film’s fatal flaw rests with Levinson’s reluctant to reign-in Robin Williams, instead allowing the scatter-mouthed star to run roughshod over the script by combining his stale stand-up act with some infuriatingly inane streams-of-consciousness. So, rather than though-provoking bon mots about the prevailing issues of the day, we’re treated to arguably offensive improv about nuns in thongs, Jewish Buddhists who sit and wait for things to go on sale, and the bachelor candidate’s salacious plans for an all-lesbian cabinet, if elected. Dating himself, Williams only makes you groan when he resurrects old gags like, “If Mama Cass had shared a sandwich with Karen Carpenter, they’d both be alive today.” Are you kidding me? They’ve both been dead for over 20 years. How ancient a demographic could Levinson be shooting for?

Such obscure references aside, Man of the Year also pretends to be a potboiler raising questions about the reliability of electronic voting machines. The exploration of this theme features Laura Linney as Eleanor, the lowly computer nerd-turned- whistleblower who reports the bug in the program to her company’s bigwigs. But after they opt to cover it up, she becomes romantically-involved with a doting Dobbs in perhaps the most preposterous plot twist of the year.

Trust me, a sloppily-edited, unmanageable insult to the intelligence with far too many shortcomings to deserve any further analysis.

Fair (1 star)