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Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle
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Man
of the Year
In a world where movie stars
can become Governor and President (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald
Reagan) and
TV stars can become Members of Congress (Fred
“Gopher” Grandy and Sonny Bono),
a comedian running for President doesn’t seem all that far
fetched (and it is
something comedian Pat Paulsen did as a joke in the 60’s). However, Man of the Year
is only Comedy of
the Year for about 45 minutes. Then,
it
becomes Failed Opportunity of the Year.
Robin Williams stars as Tom
Dobbs – a popular cable television host and comedian. One day, during his off
the air warm up of
the audience, one fan suggests that he run for President. He starts to think about
it, mentions the
exchange on the show, and starts to hear from millions of fans that he
should
indeed go for it. Tom
quickly hits the
campaign trail, but the election results are in question because a
computer
programmer, Eleanor (Laura Linney), has found a glitch in the new
electronic
system used nationwide.
Will Tom win the
election?
Man of the Year is a movie
that falls short of how good it could be.
The premise is funny, even if the set up should have been better thought
out and executed, but what is a funny movie while Tom runs for office falls
apart and becomes a weird mix of romance, political intrigue and light-on-the-action
political thriller. However, we signed
up and bought tickets to see a comedy, so audiences might find themselves
wondering why Robin Williams isn’t telling all that many jokes towards the end
of the movie, after starting by running through some of his best political
comedy in the first half. We want the
funny!
Writer/director Barry
Levinson seems to be afraid of making a comedy, but needs to expand the movie’s
plot about the campaign to be the entire movie, instead of pushing it to the
background too quickly to get all serious.
Furthermore, the plot he chooses to focus on, the computer glitch that
has effected the campaign, is not scary enough or thrilling enough. The audience is waiting for jokes as characters
are in peril and mighty conundrums must be addressed, which causes a great deal
of confusion and tone problems. Also,
the glitch itself is about as logical and possible as me being named People’s Sexiest
Man Alive. Has Levinson ever used a
computer? He should have consulted a
real computer programming company because his imagined glitch proves he might have
a Commodore 64 on his desk.
Sadly, Williams shows he is
better than what he is in. He’s
hilarious and heroically self-righteous as the angry everyman who can whip the
crowd into a frenzy, and most of the best comic bits are ones fans have heard
him use on stage before, but still make you laugh uncontrollably. Williams even makes due when the movie gets
more serious, but his performance, as well as Linney’s, cannot save Man of the Year.
Man of the Year might have
been a great comedy or a great thriller, but fails to be either when both parts are crammed
together.
1 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)
Copyright
2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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