AverageBro: AB Goes To The Movies

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

AB Goes To The Movies - HBO's Game Change.

Maybe some of you with real lives were out having fun Saturday night, but married, 2 1/2 kids having political nerds like me were home watching HBO's Game Change. The movie, much like Recount, is HBO's retelling of an election from a behind the scenes perspective. Whereas the prior movie was about the much disputed 2000 election, Game Change focuses on the 2008 election, specifically the McCain/Palin ticket.

If you saw the movie, share your thoughts below. If you didn't, here's the trailer.

A few things about this movie stuck out.

1) You can try and spin it anyway you want, but this isn't a movie that makes Sarah Palin look good. Perhaps if nothing else, you feel a bit more sympathetic to her, since it's clear she was thrust into a situation she was not prepared for, at all.

2) Then again, the movie confirms everything we already knew about Palin. She's shallow. She's prideful. She's catty.

3) The McCain camp didn't discover her via YouTube. That's a dramatization. She'd been on the campaign's radar for months.

4) The McCain camp, did, however, only spend 5 days vetting her. The book goes into this in more detail than the movie, but either way, it's somewhat scary that the people "vetting" her didn't bother asking her questions about basic knowledge of history, foreign relations, or her background. Perhaps more scary than Vice President Palin is the fact that most of these same people who didn't vet her would have been high ranking officials in a McCain White House. Thank you, Jesus!

5) Ed Harris as McCain... didn't quite do it. He looked the part, but his voice and mannerisms were like 2 decades too young. We don't know enough about Steve Schmidt, but I know the guy's grossy overweight. Which is why Woody Harrellson's portrayal is only about halfway there. As for Palin, well, I don't know what award they give for TV movies (Emmys?!?) but I'm pretty sure Julianne Moore's getting one. She became Palin. It was scary at times.

6) Some on the right are complaining that this movie wasn't focused on Obama/Hilary or could have instead taken on John Edwards' obvious issues. Prolly true, but I don't see anyone stopping Conservatives from making their own movies. Actually, after drivel like Media Malpractice, and The Undefeated, it's probably better that they just stick to trashing Obama via cable news and radio.

Final Verdict - This movie wasn't perfect, but I'm sure it wasn't intended to be. It's a piece of disposable entertainment that probably would have seemed more timely had Palin run this year. Instead, it's just low key pro-Obama propaganda. Not that there's anything wrong with that. 3 Stars (Out Of 5)

Question: Did you see Game Change? Was the movie a fair portrayal? Is there such a thing as a fair portrayal?!?

A few things about this movie stuck out.

1) You can try and spin it anyway you want, but this isn't a movie that makes Sarah Palin look good. Perhaps if nothing else, you feel a bit more sympathetic to her, since it's clear she was thrust into a situation she was not prepared for, at all.

2) Then again, the movie confirms everything we already knew about Palin. She's shallow. She's prideful. She's catty.

3) The McCain camp didn't discover her via YouTube. That's a dramatization. She'd been on the campaign's radar for months.

4) The McCain camp, did, however, only spend 5 days vetting her. The book goes into this in more detail than the movie, but either way, it's somewhat scary that the people "vetting" her didn't bother asking her questions about basic knowledge of history, foreign relations, or her background. Perhaps more scary than Vice President Palin is the fact that most of these same people who didn't vet her would have been high ranking officials in a McCain White House. Thank you, Jesus!

5) Ed Harris as McCain... didn't quite do it. He looked the part, but his voice and mannerisms were like 2 decades too young. We don't know enough about Steve Schmidt, but I know the guy's grossy overweight. Which is why Woody Harrellson's portrayal is only about halfway there. As for Palin, well, I don't know what award they give for TV movies (Emmys?!?) but I'm pretty sure Julianne Moore's getting one. She became Palin. It was scary at times.

6) Some on the right are complaining that this movie wasn't focused on Obama/Hilary or could have instead taken on John Edwards' obvious issues. Prolly true, but I don't see anyone stopping Conservatives from making their own movies. Actually, after drivel like Media Malpractice, and The Undefeated, it's probably better that they just stick to trashing Obama via cable news and radio.