Movie Review: Red Rock West (1993)

Now Available to Own   

Note: 
This piece was originally Published by Brian Sauer on his blog Rupert Pupkin Speaks as part of the Underrated Thrillers series by author Jen Johans in the fall of 2014. It was adapted from an earlier piece Johans had penned and posted in 2007 here on Film Intuition.

Review:
Inspired by neo-Noir masters David Lynch and the Coens, writer/director John Dahl proved he could handle Noir terrain in his own right with the excellent Red Rock West.

The film finds wounded war veteran Michael (Nicolas Cage) in the middle of the western desert looking for work that keeps eluding him because of his bad leg and his honesty about it in interviews.
 
When he’s mistaken for someone else, Cage agrees to a job from bar owner Wayne (J.T. Walsh) before realizing that the man thinks he’s the hit man he’s hired to kill his young, sexy, unfaithful wife played by Lara Flynn Boyle.

Boyle gives Cage even more money to get Wayne out of the picture and he figures he’ll take the money and leave town before a number of ridiculous but believable events make it impossible for him to leave Red Rock, such as the arrival of the real hit man played by the always over-the-top but affable Dennis Hopper.

Like Michael, Hopper’s Lyle is a former veteran of the war and there are some minor political implications throughout the work along with excellent uses of the environment for irony.

A Hitchcockian wrong man thriller, Dahl has fun with this influence in a nod to North By Northwest that finds Michael nearly run over by a car similar to Cary Grant’s battle with the crop duster.

Red Rock West also pays tribute to Rear Window given the film’s treatment of the disability to serve as a symbol of Cage’s “impotence” as a man without power a la James Stewart in Window.

A treat to watch, the film-literate script penned by John and his brother Rick Dahl has a blast taking archetypes like Boyle’s femme fatale, Cage’s unlucky mark, and Hopper’s thuggish villain and making them vastly more complex as each evolves in a multitude of ways from one act to the next.

Likewise, it serves as wonderful study for aspiring screenwriters as we watch our refreshingly relatable main character Michael time and time again doing things that viewers themselves think they might do (like writing a note to authorities, etc.) but yet keep getting stuck in that dark, Noir town in the middle of nowhere.

Poorly handled in its initial release by producers unsure if a western Noir would ever catch on, the film (which played on cable before being released overseas) happened to strike a chord with the right viewer at the right time, bringing it to the Toronto International Film Festival where another fan picked up the baton to serve as its champion.

Released in a few theaters in San Francisco where it broke records, Red Rock West became a critical and word-of-mouth hit just weeks before it was slated for its original video release, forever making it an underrated treasure worthy of cult status as one of Cage’s best pre-Oscar performances and John Dahl’s best film.

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

DVD & Blu-ray Review: Swing Vote (2008)

Campaigning for Your Vote
On DVD & Blu-ray
1/13/09

In 2007, the world was introduced to the young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan with her Oscar nominated turn in director Joe Wright's acclaimed Golden Globe winning heartbreaker Atonement, based on the novel by Ian McEwan.

While admittedly, director Joshua Michael Stern's political satire Swing Vote doesn't aim for the same high brow art house crowd, those who sought out the 2008 film in its August release, became acquainted with a young, extraordinarily talented eleven-year-old American actress named Madeline Carroll.

Turning in a performance that was both bittersweet and mature, the young girl whom actor Kevin Costner called the film's "little home run" in the DVD & Blu-ray Making-of Featurette managed to keep us interested, even when the sometimes bloated film began to veer off course.

Holding her own opposite not only Costner but Stanley Tucci and other acclaimed professionals more than three times her age, it was young Carroll who managed to stop the film from becoming a spoiled ballot, despite a number of fine supporting performances and an ingenious concept.

Now arriving on DVD and Blu-ray in the same month that our country finds ourselves being given a new opportunity with a change of leadership, it's the right time to check out a political comedy now that we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief that campaign media coverage has ended.

And although I can't altogether recommend the film which moves unevenly in tone-- I have to recommend that you seek it out regardless as young Carroll definitely earned the vote of this reviewer in a performance that I listed as one of the standouts of the year in Film Intuition's 2008 Year in Review.

However, before I delve into the aspects both the DVD and Blu-ray disc themselves, I'll break this post up into three parts beginning with my original theatrical review of the film.

I. The Movie

Director: Joshua Michael Stern

To precocious twelve-year-old Molly Johnson (an impeccable Madeline Carroll), voting is not only an optimistic privilege but it’s also an American citizen’s “civic duty.” However, to Molly’s under-achieving father whom — for the zero parenting he offers — she fittingly calls Bud (Kevin Costner), voting in America simply risks the chance that you’ll wind up on the fast track for jury duty. Unfortunately for Bud, along with making the family budget and packing his daily lunch, Molly registered her father to cast his vote, aligning him as a political “independent” since she proclaims that “the two-party system neglects the working poor.”

While Lou Dobbs would no doubt beam with pride, Bud struggles to make sense of his daughter. This is especially the case when — in equal fascination of the electoral process as well as her tie-in school project — Molly reveals that she took the trouble to fill in her parental political questionnaire for Bud because she wanted to make him “sound smart.” Despite his protests and canned statements that voting is useless, Molly demands that her father meet her at the polling place after school with a peck on the cheek and a warning to Bud, namely, “screw this up and I’m leaving you.”

And while Molly has a fruitful day delivering a beautifully worded political essay and ends up on the news after local Texico, New Mexico reporter Kate Madison (Paula Patton) decides to feature it in the evening broadcast, Bud’s prospects that day are far less successful. With incriminating footage that depicts Bud ruining more of the eggs than he’s able to neatly package in the plant where he works — not to mention the fact Bud hasn’t punched in on time in six months and proceeded to take thirty-one sick days — before he’s officially laid off, his boss and former high school friend asks him to give him one good reason not to let him go. Foreshadowing his inability to make a decision which will propel the rest of Swing Vote's plot, needless to say Bud can’t offer him any explanations.

Later, predictably forgetting his promise to Molly until it’s nearly too late, Election Day ends on a far stranger note after a bizarre computer error concerning Bud’s vote makes the results of the day — already in a deadlock for the presidency — all boil down to whom Bud will vote for ten days later when, by oath, he swears he must recast his vote. Literally holding the fate of the government in his hands as his vote will decide which candidate earns swing state New Mexico’s five electoral votes and ensures him the presidency, Bud is overwhelmed by the media reaction as every major outlet from MTV to CNN to the BBC sets up a stakeout right outside his trailer. And just as quickly, political organizations start flooding into the tiny town that — before the gaffe — had been so inconsequential it wasn’t even on the state map.

However, the story really heats up when both candidates journey out to try and win over Bud by any means necessary. Pulling out all the stops and White House goodie bags he can carry, the first of the two competing front-runners, the favored Republican incumbent President Andrew Boone (a pitch-perfect Kelsey Grammar) arrives in Texico complete with the aptly named Martin Fox, his amoral strategist, in tow (Stanley Tucci). Also vying for Bud’s ear — or rather his vote — the earthy Democratic challenger Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper), who along with his campaign manager Art Crumb (Nathan Lane) promises a racially blind, all inclusive “rainbow” White House, pack up their “Truth Train” and “Operation Real Deal” to make the long trek to the desert. Although the Dems learn that — while they can’t even begin to compete with Air Force One — their secret weapon is none other than Willie Nelson, who was the subject of a tribute band that Bud had played in before his rhythm section ended up in the slammer.

In an effort to better understand Bud, the candidates and their smarmy managers resort to shameless pandering, insincere flattery, and manipulation, including letting the dimwitted, perpetual beer drinker win at poker or using cue cards to make small talk with Bud about fishing. Most memorably, this results in a wonderfully hilarious speech by Grammar likening his role as commander-in-chief to that of a quarterback, breaking foreign policy down with the aid of football terminology. Grammar nails every scene he’s in and nobody plays a buffoon or the prototypical blue collar American male quite like Kevin Costner, although he’s essentially recycling the far more likable characterizations he crafted in Bull Durham and Tin Cup.

However, by making our lead character such an idiotic Homer Simpson-like oaf, we’re laughing at Bud rather than with him throughout the film’s entirety. And far more often than I felt empathy for him, I was surprised to find myself actually loathing him numerous times throughout because of his complete inability to see beyond himself and understand not just the gravity of the situation but recognize how it’s all affecting his daughter. Speaking of which, as Molly, the young Madeline Carroll completely steals the film and our hearts in the process, especially in a scene wherein she shows far more worldliness and morality than her father ever could, while breaking down in tears in front of her classroom, telling white lies in order to make her father sound like he actually cares about the country he’s living in and his fellow Americans.

For a comedy, Swing Vote is a bit more melancholic than perhaps director Joshua Michael Stern, along with his co-writer Jason Richman, had planned since there’s nothing funny about child neglect; but they try to keep the satire swinging along with the mystery of Bud’s vote and make great use out of their supporting players in the process. As the candidates begin to address Bud directly in a series of new political ads, suddenly Costner’s Bud becomes his very own Truman Show, being followed and analyzed around the clock in every journalistic medium. Although quality wise, Swing Vote is less like Truman Show and more like EdTV.

However, hilarity ensues as the candidates embrace political flip-flopping as the Republicans suddenly promote gay marriage and environmental protection with the Democrats tackling illegal immigration and embracing the pro-life movement simply because the inarticulate Bud misspoke a few times while being interviewed by the beautiful local, ambitious newswoman Kate Madison. In an underdeveloped subplot, Madison, who shares a bond with Bud’s brainy daughter, must reconcile her ethics with her desire to get ahead in the business, seeing Bud’s story as the ultimate break in getting the hell out of her tiny town and station run by George Lopez in order to follow in the footsteps of idols like Paula Zahn.

With the inclusion of an “everyman” and a “reporter with a conscience,” Stern reaches to emulate the type of underdog film that Frank Capra perfected with Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. And while the performers elevate the material, Stern forgot the fact that what made Capra’s films such a success is they delivered us a hero we could root for and one whom - despite not being the smartest - had a heart as big as the White House and therefore endeared us to him from the get-go. Predictably, Costner’s Bud has a wake-up call late into the film but it’s rushed and protracted — crammed into the last twenty minutes, making it pay off less than it could have had we seen glimmers of his goodness earlier on.

While it’s not as cynically intelligent as Wag the Dog or Bulworth, nor as paranoid as the underrated Man of the Year, there’s no doubt this film plays much better during this particular election year with audiences growing weary of endless coverage of the candidates and outrageous accusations and distracting spin. Despite this, Swing’s sound bites and satire get awfully repetitive in the last hour of the film’s surprisingly lengthy running time.

And similar to the way that the issues a voter cares most about are often neglected as soon as their candidate hits the Oval Office, on my way out of Stern’s film I felt like I’d just voted again. For instead of contemplating any food for thought by recalling some truly terrific scenes and stellar performances, I wondered what would have happened if the film hadn’t been ultimately overshadowed by such an inconsistent screenplay. Now that’s something that calls for a re-vote or at least, in the case of Swing Vote — political comedy reform.

II. The DVD

Featuring an audio commentary by the two friends turned professional collaborators, writer/director Joshua Michael Stern and his fellow scribe Jason Richman, this beautifully transferred widescreen DVD from Walt Disney Home Studios Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures arrives with great new cover art to highlight the film's stellar cast via an Altman-like design although unfortunately Carroll isn't billed in either side of the box.

Revealing that the impetus behind the film was following the shock of the 2000 election and the scary idea that the presidential decision could be narrowed down to "a tiny district in Florida," Stern and Richman share that they figured narrowing it down even further to just one man wasn't only not far fetched but great comedy fodder.

When it came to casting, the two who share that they "always wanted Costner" for the lead in order to "deconstruct his movie star persona," gratefully reveal the actor's generosity in arriving on the set as an actor first and foremost and leaving his "director's hat" at home (so-to-speak), ensuring that the film was the young director's vision through and through.

Crediting the richness of the script and the way it moved from humor to great emotion, numerous actors reveal the way that they were drawn to the piece because of precisely that mixture and the added bonus that it would make audiences think as well.

"Let's face it, we're making fun of ourselves as a country," one interviewee notes in the extra "Inside The Campaign: The Politics of Production," but in doing so, the filmmakers wanted to add as much credibility and authenticity as possible in persuading reporters, anchors and pundits from Larry King to Arianna Huffington to Bill Maher to make brief "TV Cameos" to heighten the film.

Additionally, it features some great tongue-in-cheek remarks from the cast including Grammer who notes that he couldn't turn down the opportunity to act opposite an elephant (as we discover in the deleted scenes) and Dennis Hopper who jokes that although this is a long ways away from Easy Rider and Blue Velevet, he doesn't "want to give up my day job playing villains."

Likewise, we also gain a greater appreciation for Patton's turn as the actress shares the way she studied the posture, intimations, and delivery of CNN and other channels to nail her character, along with Tucci who we discover improvised one of the funniest lines of the film that made it into the trailer (a spontaneous response to Carroll's charge that he would sell his own mother).

Additionally, although it's standard DVD fare, when it comes to Swing Vote, the deleted and extended scenes (with optional filmmaker commentary) are actually worth watching as-- in the two best ones that add more humanity to the politicians-- we see a hilarious "what if?" moment as Tucci and Lane hypothesize the way they could change Washington, Hopper and Grammer get in touch with the real reason they entered politics in the first place (including that aforementioned elephant).

Also boasting the "Hey Man, What About You?" music video from Costner's band Modern West which fuses footage of the film together and giving fans a better gauge of the actor's true musical talent (in lieu of the purposely overdone Bud Jams with the Democrats sequence in the film), the DVD also includes an insert for the debut album by the band-- Untold Truths-- which you can learn more about on the official website.

III. The Blu-ray Disc

As Walt Disney Home Entertainment was generous enough to send out both formats for Swing Vote, I was able to judge the technical quality of the film's Blu-ray version as well. Boasting the same featurettes that comprise the DVD (as described above) and a fun interactive menu that uses the sound of camera "flash bulbs" as you move through the options, the Blu-ray's quality is predictably far superior to the DVD with the soundtrack blaring out as though we were in a rock arena in 5.1 DTS-HD surround (especially evidenced in one of the earliest scenes as Bud drives Molly to school).

Seducing owners of Blu-ray players with a plethora of pre-feature trailers to experience the works of Miramax, Paramount Vantage, and other Disney owned films in the HD format, you'll get chills seeing some clips of your favorite films like Kill Bill and There Will Be Blood in their Blu-ray glory (which I can actually attest to, having rented Blood recently on Blu).

As for the feature film itself, Swing Vote's Blu-ray transfer is crystal clear from the far left of the screen to the far right as we can see heightened detail in flesh-tones, individual hairs blowing, and a wondrous magical effect of the chicken feathers flying as though they were snow at Bud's workplace near the beginning.

With heightened 3D like depth perception and a super sharp contrast, Swing Vote excels. This is particularly noticeable in scenes where the politicians and reporters all clamor together dressed in dark business suits, holding cameras and microphones with a high transfer of the deep, rich black tones that don't blur together to a muddy effect to which some Blu-rays have fallen prey. Thus in the end, it offers home viewers an even better Voter experience than the one I witnessed via the print I viewed during a crowded press screening back in August of '08.

Hell Ride (2008)

In one of the many featurettes stacked onto the DVD release of Hell Ride, most likely hoping to make up for the feature-length train wreck that is the main film itself, writer/director/producer and star Larry Bishop shares that "if you make a biker movie and your family is still talking to you, you haven't made a biker movie." To Bishop-- a biker B-movie "icon" and star of such decades old films as Chrome, The Savage Seven and Hot Leather-- the proof you've made a successful "biker movie" is when "everybody stops talking to you." While admittedly, sure that may be the case but when we're talking about Hell Ride, it's probably because the film is so bloody awful that people will instantly want to walk in the other direction to disassociate themselves from Bishop any everyone else involved with this Ride through movie-going Hell.

Something tells me he won't exactly be in line for an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award or a spot cozying up to James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio. And while obviously that's be the the worst reaction for a bad-ass testosterone biker movie, Bishop's assertion that shocking the hell out of everyone means you're successful sounds a lot like the school bully trying to justify why nobody wanted to come to their birthday party. Simply put, maybe he's just a self-important bully himself.

And while I hesitate to call names-- in the same featurette, he justifies the endless parade of naked silicone enhanced skanks delivering lines that sound like they belong in really bad Penthouse letters by comparing one such nude to a Modigliani painting. Yeah, dry that one out and you can fertilize the lawn as they say in Ferris Bueller. No, instead of celebrating the female form, we have cinematographer Scott Kevan filming these women in a way that would even make the horny cameramen from American Bandstand and Girls Gone Wild have second thoughts as they film very young women wrestling in mud, delivering horrid come-ons that sound uninspired (well considering they're uttered to men like Bishop, Michael Madsen, David Carradine, and Dennis Hopper, let's just say they definitely had to be imagining others for motivation), and invite the grisly Bishop in for a group orgy even though their combined age is probably still younger than their director. Generally the "babes of Hell Ride" as another featurette describes them get treated as though they were less than the men's coveted bikes. While the babes are interchangeable, the motorcycles are not for as the back of the box promises, "the women are hot, [and] the bikes are even hotter."

The barely comprehensible plot centers on the All-American idea of revenge as Bishop's character Pistolero (no, I'm not making this up) keeps a more than thirty year old promise to a gunned down woman by seeking bloody justice against the rival gang, The 666ers but any attempt to keep us involved is lost in the ridiculousness of the entire film. Conceived as a vanity project by both Bishop and his huge fan and co-producer Quentin Tarantino to-- as the press release notes-- "make up for the lack of true hardcore biker flicks over the last few decades," when Bishop claims in the same making-of featurette that he didn't care what anyone thought of the film except for Tarantino, we realize that may have been Hell Ride's undoing. Besides, was anyone else aside from Tarantino and Bishop really missing hardcore biker flicks that much? Easy Rider and The Wild One still hold up quite well so why take us down this horrific path of excess and waste?

With dialogue that sounds like recycled Tarantino as a character states "something is rotten in the state of Pistolero" which is a play on Shakespeare's Hamlet that's found its way into other Tarantino scripts and dragging QT's ensemble along for the ride like Madsen (honestly the best thing in the movie as the fancily dressed rider nicknamed "The Gent") and Carradine, it reminded me of airplane food that's been unthawed, warmed up, refrigerated, reheated again and again in a cheap imitation of the original meal. Needless to say it was by riding on the coattails of Tarantino that found Hell Ride included in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and man, would I have loved to have heard the post-film discussion as critics filed out, no doubt feeling as though they'd just witnessed dental torture.

By paying homage to QT, many have met their creative downfall but even QT would've drawn the line at several of the film's scenes that are so far-fetched, nonsensical and downright annoying that they begin to make even someone such as myself who has enjoyed every one of Tarantino's films (including Death Proof) have second thoughts about the careless way he attaches his name to so many things.

Decision-wise, it's about as smart as his starring in Destiny Turns on the Radio but sadly, I'd rather watch Destiny Turns on the Radio ten times in a row (if it were anywhere to be found) than spend another minute watching Larry Bishop's misogynistic, pretentious, and yawn-inducing garbage that may as well have served as a raunchy combined ad for Viagra and Harley Davidson. Unfortunately, Hell Ride can't even muster up so much as a smile when we see familiar biker faces like Dennis Hopper who (along with Peter Fonda) must have an open-ended invitation to any American film involving motorcycles as evidenced in Wild Hogs which seems like the work of Scorsese next to Bishop's hellishly awful Ride.

Avoid it like the plague and don't worry, Bishop will find the fact that you don't want to speak to him complimentary that he's made a damn good "biker movie" or as he and Quentin Tarantino aspired, "the greatest biker movie of all time." Whatever you say; I'd ask but I'm not talking to either of you... so mission accomplished.

If Still Curious...

 

Henry Jaglom's Films Available on iTunes

Visit His Official Site

First famous for his editing contributions to Easy Rider, the British born and Actors Studio trained actor/editor turned writer/director Henry Jaglom has dedicated several of his cinematic creations since his feature filmmaking debut in 1971 to exploring the many issues surrounding women and men in contemporary society.

His most recent film, Hollywood Dreams, offered a phenomenal role for its lead actress Tanna Frederick and was featured as an Official Selection at our very own Scottsdale International Film Festival, which incidentally kicks off tonight.

Nearly a dozen of the groundbreaking, experimental, and acclaimed independent filmmaker's classic works starring such notable performers as Orson Welles, Vanessa Redgrave and Dennis Hopper have been made available for the digital generation as iTunes feature length downloads, which you can learn more about below.

Tracks (1976)
Starring Dennis Hopper, Taryn Power, Dean Stockwell.
Introducing Michael Emil and Zack Norman.
With Topo Swope, Alfred Ryder, Barbara Flood
and Richard Romanus (International Rainbow Pictures).




Sitting Ducks (1980)
Starring Michael Emil & Zack Norman. Introducing Patrice Townsend.
With Irene Forrest, Richard Romanus. And Henry Jaglom
(International Rainbow Pictures/United Film Distribution).




Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983)
Starring Karen Black and Michael Emil. With Michael Margotta, Frances Fisher, Martin Harvey Friedberg, Robert Hallak, Larry David
(International Rainbow Pictures/Castle Hill).




Always (But Not Forever) (1985)
Starring Henry Jaglom and Patrice Townsend.
With Alan Rachins, Joanna Frank, Melissa Leo, Jonathan Kaufer, Andre Gregory, Michael Emil, Amnon Meskin, Bud Townsend and Bob Rafelson (Jagfilms/Samuel Goldwyn Co.).




Someone to Love (1987)
Starring Orson Welles, Henry Jaglom, Sally Kellerman, Andrea Marcovicci and Michael Emil.
Introducing Dave Frishberg and Stephen Bishop.
With Oja Kodar, Ronee Blakley, Kathryn Harrold, Monte Hellman, Barbara Flood
(International Rainbow Pictures/Castle Hill).




New Year’s Day (1989)
Starring Henry Jaglom, David Duchovny and Maggie Wheeler.
With Gwen Welles, Harvey Miller, Irene Moore, James DePreist, Michael Emil, Robert Hallak, Katherine Wallach. And Milos Forman
(Jagfilms/Rainbow Releasing).




Eating (1991)
Starring Mary Crosby, Frances Bergen, Gwen Welles, Lisa Richards.
Introducing Nelly Alard. With Marlena Giovi, Daphna Kastner, Marina Gregory, ElizabethKemp, Beth Grant, Savannah Smith Boucher, Taryn Power
(Jagfilms/Rainbow Releasing).




Venice/Venice (1992)
Starring Henry Jaglom and Nelly Alard. With Suzanne Bertish, Daphna Kastner, Melissa Leo, David Duchovny. And Suzanne Lanza, Diane Salinger, Marshall Barer, Zack Norman.
And John Landis
(Jagfilms/Rainbow Releasing).



View the Trailer Below




Babyfever (1994)
Introducing Victoria Foyt. With Frances Fisher, Matt Salinger, Dinah Lenney, Zack Norman, Elaine Kagan, Eliza Roberts, Charlayne Woodward, Tracy Swope.
And Eric Roberts.
(A Jagtoria Film/Rainbow Releasing).




Déjà Vu (1998)
Starring Stephen Dillane, Victoria Foyt and Vanessa Redgrave.
With Glynis Barber, Michael Brandon, Vernon Dobtcheff, Graydon Gould, Noel Harrison, Aviva Marks, Anna Massey. And Rachel Kempson
(A Jagtoria Film/Revere Entertainment/Rainbow Releasing).



View the Trailer Below




Hollywood Dreams (2008)
Starring Tanna Frederick and Justin Kirk.
With Zack Norman, David Proval, Melissa Leo, Karen Black, Kim Kolarich and Keaton Simons. And Eric Roberts and Jon Robin Baitz.



View the Trailer Below




Read the Film Intuition Review of Hollywood Dreams

Swing Vote (2008)

Read the DVD Review


Director:
Joshua Michael Stern


To precocious twelve-year-old Molly Johnson (an impeccable Madeline Carroll), voting is not only an optimistic privilege but it’s also an American citizen’s “civic duty.” However, to Molly’s under-achieving father whom — for the zero parenting he offers — she fittingly calls Bud (Kevin Costner), voting in America simply risks the chance that you’ll wind up on the fast track for jury duty. Unfortunately for Bud, along with making the family budget and packing his daily lunch, Molly registered her father to cast his vote, aligning him as a political “independent” since she proclaims that “the two-party system neglects the working poor.”

While Lou Dobbs would no doubt beam with pride, Bud struggles to make sense of his daughter. This is especially the case when — in equal fascination of the electoral process as well as her tie-in school project — Molly reveals that she took the trouble to fill in her parental political questionnaire for Bud because she wanted to make him “sound smart.” Despite his protests and canned statements that voting is useless, Molly demands that her father meet her at the polling place after school with a peck on the cheek and a warning to Bud, namely, “screw this up and I’m leaving you.”

And while Molly has a fruitful day delivering a beautifully worded political essay and ends up on the news after local Texico, New Mexico reporter Kate Madison (Paula Patton) decides to feature it in the evening broadcast, Bud’s prospects that day are far less successful. With incriminating footage that depicts Bud ruining more of the eggs than he’s able to neatly package in the plant where he works — not to mention the fact Bud hasn’t punched in on time in six months and proceeded to take thirty-one sick days — before he’s officially laid off, his boss and former high school friend asks him to give him one good reason not to let him go. Foreshadowing his inability to make a decision which will propel the rest of Swing Vote's plot, needless to say Bud can’t offer him any explanations.

Later, predictably forgetting his promise to Molly until it’s nearly too late, Election Day ends on a far stranger note after a bizarre computer error concerning Bud’s vote makes the results of the day — already in a deadlock for the presidency — all boil down to whom Bud will vote for ten days later when, by oath, he swears he must recast his vote. Literally holding the fate of the government in his hands as his vote will decide which candidate earns swing state New Mexico’s five electoral votes and ensures him the presidency, Bud is overwhelmed by the media reaction as every major outlet from MTV to CNN to the BBC sets up a stakeout right outside his trailer. And just as quickly, political organizations start flooding into the tiny town that — before the gaffe — had been so inconsequential it wasn’t even on the state map.

However, the story really heats up when both candidates journey out to try and win over Bud by any means necessary. Pulling out all the stops and White House goodie bags he can carry, the first of the two competing front-runners, the favored Republican incumbent President Andrew Boone (a pitch-perfect Kelsey Grammar) arrives in Texico complete with the aptly named Martin Fox, his amoral strategist, in tow (Stanley Tucci). Also vying for Bud’s ear — or rather his vote — the earthy Democratic challenger Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper), who along with his campaign manager Art Crumb (Nathan Lane) promises a racially blind, all inclusive “rainbow” White House, pack up their “Truth Train” and “Operation Real Deal” to make the long trek to the desert. Although the Dems learn that — while they can’t even begin to compete with Air Force One — their secret weapon is none other than Willie Nelson, who was the subject of a tribute band that Bud had played in before his rhythm section ended up in the slammer.

In an effort to better understand Bud, the candidates and their smarmy managers resort to shameless pandering, insincere flattery, and manipulation, including letting the dimwitted, perpetual beer drinker win at poker or using cue cards to make small talk with Bud about fishing. Most memorably, this results in a wonderfully hilarious speech by Grammar likening his role as commander-in-chief to that of a quarterback, breaking foreign policy down with the aid of football terminology. Grammar nails every scene he’s in and nobody plays a buffoon or the prototypical blue collar American male quite like Kevin Costner, although he’s essentially recycling the far more likable characterizations he crafted in Bull Durham and Tin Cup.

However, by making our lead character such an idiotic Homer Simpson-like oaf, we’re laughing at Bud rather than with him throughout the film’s entirety. And far more often than I felt empathy for him, I was surprised to find myself actually loathing him numerous times throughout because of his complete inability to see beyond himself and understand not just the gravity of the situation but recognize how it’s all affecting his daughter. Speaking of which, as Molly, the young Madeline Carroll completely steals the film and our hearts in the process, especially in a scene wherein she shows far more worldliness and morality than her father ever could, while breaking down in tears in front of her classroom, telling white lies in order to make her father sound like he actually cares about the country he’s living in and his fellow Americans.

For a comedy, Swing Vote is a bit more melancholic than perhaps director Joshua Michael Stern, along with his co-writer Jason Richman, had planned since there’s nothing funny about child neglect; but they try to keep the satire swinging along with the mystery of Bud’s vote and make great use out of their supporting players in the process. As the candidates begin to address Bud directly in a series of new political ads, suddenly Costner’s Bud becomes his very own Truman Show, being followed and analyzed around the clock in every journalistic medium. Although quality wise, Swing Vote is less like Truman Show and more like EdTV.

However, hilarity ensues as the candidates embrace political flip-flopping as the Republicans suddenly promote gay marriage and environmental protection with the Democrats tackling illegal immigration and embracing the pro-life movement simply because the inarticulate Bud misspoke a few times while being interviewed by the beautiful local, ambitious newswoman Kate Madison. In an underdeveloped subplot, Madison, who shares a bond with Bud’s brainy daughter, must reconcile her ethics with her desire to get ahead in the business, seeing Bud’s story as the ultimate break in getting the hell out of her tiny town and station run by George Lopez in order to follow in the footsteps of idols like Paula Zahn.

With the inclusion of an “everyman” and a “reporter with a conscience,” Stern reaches to emulate the type of underdog film that Frank Capra perfected with Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. And while the performers elevate the material, Stern forgot the fact that what made Capra’s films such a success is they delivered us a hero we could root for and one whom - despite not being the smartest - had a heart as big as the White House and therefore endeared us to him from the get-go. Predictably, Costner’s Bud has a wake-up call late into the film but it’s rushed and protracted — crammed into the last twenty minutes, making it pay off less than it could have had we seen glimmers of his goodness earlier on.

While it’s not as cynically intelligent as Wag the Dog or Bulworth, nor as paranoid as the underrated Man of the Year, there’s no doubt this film plays much better during this particular election year with audiences growing weary of endless coverage of the candidates and outrageous accusations and distracting spin. Despite this, Swing’s sound bites and satire get awfully repetitive in the last hour of the film’s surprisingly lengthy running time.

And similar to the way that the issues a voter cares most about are often neglected as soon as their candidate hits the Oval Office, on my way out of Stern’s film I felt like I’d just voted again. For instead of contemplating any food for thought by recalling some truly terrific scenes and stellar performances, I wondered what would have happened if the film hadn’t been ultimately overshadowed by such an inconsistent screenplay. Now that’s something that calls for a re-vote or at least, in the case of Swing Vote — political comedy reform.

Americano

Director: Kevin Noland

In their decision to-- as one character surmises-- rethink whatever it is they think they thought by escaping the realities of student loans, the 9-5 grind, and obligations, three friends head to Spain for one last adventure following college graduation.

Hoping to participate in the Fiesta de San Fermin a.k.a. the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, Ryan (Timm Sharp), his girlfriend Michelle (Ruthanna Hopper), and their unofficial leader Chris (Joshua Jackson) find themselves all uniquely affected by their surprising foreign experiences and the intriguing characters they meet along the way such as a strange, Beat styled philosophizing club owner Riccardo (Ruthanna’s father Dennis Hopper) who advises Chris not to “fall for the con—the Ameri-con.”

Coming to grips with, as Ryan explains, the old adage that if you really want to get to know someone better, travel with them, his relationship with Michelle becomes strained both by his yearning for home and his preference to zone out with Vicodin and keep everything at an arm’s length. While those two seem to be nearing the conclusion of their relationship, artistic Chris, whose backpack is stolen at the start of the film, realizes that instead of material belongings, he’s discovered bliss in the simple, unhurried practice of wandering around, scribbling and sketching in his journal.

His love for his new way of life is infinitely deepened when he meets the gorgeous, aggressively confident and I daresay nearly macho fly-fishing actress Adela (Leonor Varela). Drawn to her insistence that bullfights are sensuous dances wherein the matador adorns feminine clothing to look as beautiful as possible before seducing and killing the bull, Chris finds himself seduced by her own tantalizing dance-like conversation and the two embark on a tentative friendship with developing flirtation as the film continues.

Despite too much screen time devoted to a highly bizarre and off-putting Dennis Hopper whose aimless character runs a club (aptly named Americano) which seems to be a twisted version of Moulin Rouge,the film Americano is an engaging and charming sleeper. Admittedly Hemingway purists will find the film’s frequent parallels to the author and his masterwork The Sun Also Rises wearing on their nerves rather quickly, yet writer/director Kevin Noland’s breathtakingly photographed and engaging 2005 film festival favorite (which was screened in Palm Springs, Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles, Vail, Milan, and Newport Beach) is well worth the investment.

Sleepwalking

Director: William Maher

Returning to the same bleak and gritty territory she explored in works such as In the Valley of Elah, North Country and Monster, Charlize Theron proves her devotion to indie sleepers with her involvement as both a supporting actress and producer on Sleepwalking. An Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival and a feature debut for former assistant director William Maher and his former Chumscrubber colleague (writer Zac Stanford), Theron stars as Joleen, an irresponsible, unlucky, self-involved and promiscuous mother who, after her live-in boyfriend is arrested for growing marijuana, packs up her belongings and brings her eleven year old daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) to stay with her younger brother James (Nick Stahl).

After a one-night stand with a trucker, Joleen impulsively leaves, abandoning her daughter with her clueless brother and a vague letter explaining that she’ll be back in a month in time for Tara’s birthday. Barely able to take care of himself and without a driver’s license, James struggles with his newfound responsibility and it isn’t long before he loses his job, apartment and social services starts calling until he and Tara ultimately decide to go off on their own. While my summary ends there, the film’s marketing campaign wasn’t quite that tactful, saddling Sleepwalking with one of the most wholly revealing film trailers in recent memory. From only one viewing, I’d venture to guess that 99.9% of the viewers will be able to predict the entire plot in detail so this being said, if you have any desire to see Sleepwalking, avoid the preview like the plague.

With fine support from character actors Woody Harrelson (the film’s sole comic relief) and a chilling, one-note Dennis Hopper who seems to be, at this point, playing a Dennis Hopper stereotypical baddie, the film is filled with the typical depression and purposely dirty, ugly and gray cinematography to superfluously establish the tone. In a sea of endlessly depressing indie works, Sleepwalking rates about average and the film's simplistic feel makes one realize that it may have been more successful as a work of fiction. While not as good as the aforementioned Theron films or nearly as brilliant as Nick Stahl’s similarly themed picture In the Bedroom, it provides Stahl with an even greater opportunity than his brief role in Bedroom to show his impressive range and although it’s hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, the viewers (just like the characters of Joleen and Tara) tend to put their trust in him and are lucky that their belief is largely justified… even if I can’t say the same for the film.