MAN OF THE YEAR movie discussion  

my review and thoughts...

MAN OF THE YEAR is about a comedic talk show host deciding to run for president and then accidentally winning. Barry Levinson wrote and directs the film and Robin Williams eats up most of the screen time starring, while Christopher Walken, Luis Black, Laura Linney, and Jeff Goldblum mull about.

First off: Robin Williams is usually like a hyper-active kid, cute for a moment, but then you wish he would just shut up. The movie tries to bring in a sub-plot to tone Williams down a bit in certain sections, however it is poorly executed.

I rented this movie based off of some funny political clips I had seen and also due to my agreeing with the basic summary that: politics have gotten out of hand. There is a blurred line these days between political parties with all of them catering to special interest groups, lobbyists, and money. You understand that this is a message being portrayed with comedy by merely watching the movie trailer. However, once you actually start watching the movie you realize that the ideas Robin’s character has and the things he says are funnier outside the context of a movie with such a lame plot.

The movie goes from being the perceived political comedy to trying to be a sort of thriller and then tale of morality. The opening narrative sets the dull tone for things and then there are several scenes that I felt were just redundant and covering the same grounds as previous scenes.

The movie poster used to advertise MAN OF THE YEAR was one of the most unappealing of the year. Featuring nothing but a large close-up of Robin Williams in a colonial wig, the poster seemed to be a mass market tool hoping Williams fans would just pop their meds and go see another flop by the aging actor.

MAN OF THE YEAR shows that a few cute political quotes cannot make a movie