Wednesday, August 29, 2012

'The Campaign' is a riot

Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis in The Campaign/Warner Bros. Pictures

It's a scream!

The car! The snakes! The nipple!

The snakes?

Folks, this is your gross, blatant in-your-face kind of movie, sure to be enjoyed by those who like base and vulgar movies like me.

All the political junkies in the area (about 99%?) will love this flick and its release right on the eve of this year's conventions which could not have been better timed had a right-wing senator not spewed the wrong word at the tip of the hour.

Caution:  The language is strictly XXX, not for dainty ears, but all of it essential “for the meaning.”  (Meaning?)

For anyone who's ever worked on a campaign the characters and themes will be, oh, so familiar. And when is offense in the defense of extremism a vice?  (See “tea party.”)


Jason Sudeikis and Will Ferrell in The Campaign/Warner Bros. Pictures

Some of the scriptwriters must have worked on the 2004 race in West Virginia where campaign themes echoed up and down those hills to the tune of "guns, gays and God."  Ask not what you can do for your country, but what can the country do for you?

Of course, there are few better to play the main role than Will Ferrell.  And what more ideal setting than the site of this year's Democratic National Convention ready to begin next week in North Carolina where hurricanes don’t strike so far inland and the Chinese are ready to buy thousands of acres and start a new company and skirt federal minimum wage laws by 95% and, really, given this Congress, is it unthinkable? 

(Biographical note:  Will Ferrell's parents are from Roanoke Rapids, N.C., and co-star Zack Galifianakis grew up in the Tarheel State where his Uncle Nick, 84, was a North Carolina congressman from 1967 - 1973.  In 1972 Uncle Nick ran for a U.S. Senate seat against a North Carolina stalwart by the name of Jesse Helms.)

But back to the movie:  Dan Aykroyd was in it?

Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock was the perfect head of the perfect Christian household.   And  Dylan McDermott (swoon) dressed all in black was villain extraordinaire. 

 



Zach Galifianakis, left, and Dylan McDermott in The Campaign/Warner Bros. Pictures

The wives played by Katherine La Nasa and Sarah Baker were splendid; ditto, the dogs. Jay Roach directed.

On a weekend afternoon at Tysons Corner, huge numbers laughed and hee-hawed at the show which does carry a message with a twist at the end.  Brother, can you spare a dime? 

Enjoy! 

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

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