The Campaign
(2012)
I’d forgotten that Jay Roach was
responsible for this Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis pairing, assuming the
director was Ferrell-regular Adam McKay (who gets a writing credit). It often is easy to forget who calls the shots on
US comedies as stylistically they are so anonymous. Roach is as much of a
journeyman as the rest; initial hopes that he might be another John Landis were
dashed when he settled on the likes of Fockers.
Nevertheless, he attracted plaudits for his Game
Change TV movie (dramatising Sarah Palin’s running for VP). That might have
suggested some political bite, but the satire in The Campaign is mostly of the broad-stroke, easy-target variety.
While the screenplay takes swipes at the political
clout of big business (including vote-rigging) and profit-for-profit’s sake,
nothing within it could be regard as genuine commentary; this isn’t even Trading Places (to which the Dan Aykroyd
and John Lithgow moneymen here are surely a reference), let alone Bulworth.
Rather than policy, the focus is campaign
management and dirty tricks. Which provides ample opportunity for the kind of
freewheeling improvisation that is Ferrell’s forte. Ferrell is always
watchable, even when mired by his strange obsession with making sports
comedies, and here he runs with the usual bag of tricks as Congressman Cam
Brick; nonsensical and insulting verbiage, crazed and enraged episodes, affable
dimwittedness. All wrapped up in a version of his SNL George W Bush impression. Galifianakis varies his cuddly fat
slob routine, making Brick’s rival, Marty Huggins, cuddly, fat and camp.
Many of the gags are familiar, but that with
Ferrell and Galifinanakis the appeal is in the performances rather than
originality. Doing the unspeakable is usually a rich vein to mine, So Cam
punching a baby, then compounding his sin by hitting Uggie from The Artist, is a highlight. And most of
the antics that result in a lift or fall in either candidate’s poll ratings are
amusing, particularly as they never fail to point to voter fickleness as the
decider of a country’s fate. So, without fail, boosts are down to the likes of
snake bites, one candidate shooting another, even one candidate having sex with
the other’s wife. And knocks in the polls come from appealing to racism, xenophobia,
religious leaning or intolerance (Huggins owns Chinese dogs, therefore he’s a commie; he also has a moustache, which makes him a member of Al Qaeda; Cam
wrote a story about Rainbow Land as a child where everything was free, which is labelled a communist manifesto and gets a sales ranking on amazon.com).
Supporting cast-wise, Aykroyd and Lithgow
aren’t best served, but Dylan McDermott (aka “Dermot Mulroney”) makes the most of his role as Marty’s
unscrupulous campaign manager. Jason Sudekis is a good sport, typecast in the
straight man role (as McDermott’s opposite number) while Sarah Baker deserves a
mention too, as the unbridled Mitzi Huggins.
The
Campaign is mostly quite amusing, and certainly likable,
but it should have been sharper (even The
Dictator, which was much broader, managed to take a few well-aimed
potshots). Why make a political comedy if it’s going to be benign and
toothless? The funniest scene is probably the round-table confessional at the
Huggins’ house, where Marty’s children and wife reveal more and more appalling
things they have done. But it’s a scene that could have appeared in any film
from these comedians. Likewise, at one point Cam goes on a Wolf-esque rampage (already
seen in Seinfeld, about 15 years ago…
), which is goofily random but entirely off-message.
Perhaps most-damningly, the filmmakers have
the gall to run with a sunny, upbeat, happy ending. Actually, strike that. Most
damning is the cameo from Piers Morgan. Any credibility was lost when they
decided to fawn to his ego.
***