Swing Vote

"Swing Vote" is a delightful parody of the American political system. If the viewer can put aside their credulity - their sense of the logical - this film can be humorous and generally entertaining.

Kevin Costner plays the part of Bud Johnson, a man who mostly drifts mentally, and
simply does not care about politics and current affairs. Bud is sort of a poor man's playboy.

Bud has a daughter Molly, played by Madeline Carroll, who is smart, peppy, and knows much about American government and politics. Molly is a pre-teen who has a serious sense of public responsibility. Molly cares for her wayward father since her mother left when she was very young.

A Presidential election occurs and, Molly sneaks into the voting booth and signs a voter card for her father after he fails to arrive at the voting station before closing time.
Then, when the election results are counted they yield a perfect tie with one unfinished ballot that did not vote for the federal offices due to a power outage. The one vote to break the tie has Bud's name on it. He, alone, will determine the next president.

When the news becomes public, news media, lobbyists, politicians, and curious voters descend on Bud's home town like a plague of locust. Into that mess, both Precedential candidates and their staff come to seek an audience with Bud to get his vote.

The scenes are a riot. Pressure groups and politicians come prepared to offer Bud anything he desires in exchange for his vote. The interaction of the many organizations is very funny and educational. This part of the film is a must see for anyone interested in politics .

I highly recommend "Swing Vote". It is a fun movie.

If you enjoy 2 hours of Kevin Costner acting like a slob and 2 minutes (at the very end) of his heroic customary speeches in which his voice cracks down while defending his less fortunate fellow men, well, this is the movie for you. Personally I found this very similar to ARTHUR in which the prospect of watching the part of a stupid drunk for a long time gets more and more annoying. I also had a hard time buying his wholesome daughter and after watching her Mom and Dad it becomes impossible to understand how she could turn out that wonderful. The movie itself is all one clever idea with very mediocre dialogue, flat jokes and lacking any surprises.

Swing Vote surprised me, it was actually a decently entertaining movie. I thought it was as well written as it could have been for a movie that is somewhat limited in the direction it could take. There were laugh out loud moments and other moments of pure corniness. Kevin Costner plays a great Drunk and uniformed father but I thought the special role was played by his co star on screen daughter.

The movie fell short in some areas:

#1 once again the portrayal of American politicians whether democrat or republican was harsh and phony. How stupid can we make our president look?.

#2 This would have been better if they cut out the swear words and made it into more of a PG family film. It was right in that gray area where I wouldn't want young kids to watch but it could have been a great movie if they hadn't tried to make it more of an adult hit.

#3 If they actually wanted to make this movie more for adults then they didn't go far enough and they made every single character except for the daughter look too stupid to even live life. Or was that the point?

#4 Personally the way the movie sums up is a little rough. But that is for you to decide.

Overall will you enjoy this movie? Yeah I think so but it could have been better and I think you will wish the same thing? Is it better than a lot of movies out there? Yes so it isn't a complete life waster. Just warning you though it is somewhat enjoyable you will probably wish for changes by the end.