Upcoming
August 27
August 29
Disaster Movie
My Mexican Shivah
September 3
The Pool
September 5
August Evening
Bangkok Dangerous
Save Me
Red Dad, Blue Daughter
Swing Vote (Disney, 8.1) is, I've been told, "mushy" in a typically Hollywood way. Its main character is a selfish and decidedly jowly bad dad (Kevin Costner) with a sluggish red-state attitude about voting, and the film, I'm hearing, essentially embraces the old cynical saw about politicians being chameleons out for themselves, blah, blah. And that it basically treads water without swimming in this or that direction.
But there doesn't seem to be much to support the flimsy idea that it has an anti-liberal slant because of the right-leaning views of certain cast members. Costner played golf with the elder George Bush back in the early '90s, but his political contribution record shows he's mostly supported liberals. Costars Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper have contributed to right-wing candidates, yes, but they're just actors doing a job. have been mostly to liberals. (I haven't been able to determine the political contribution records of director Joshua Michael Stern or co-screenwriter Jason Richman.)
In a piece about Swing Vote that ran a couple of months ago, Politico's Jeff Ressner wrote that it's "likely to draw ire from members of the two major political parties" with "the script [playing] off of stereotypes that annoy and inflame the party faithful on both sides."
The film "depicts Republican strategists as nasty connivers without souls, willing to change their views on gay marriage and the environment just to get elected," Ressner noted. "Democratic campaigners are shown to be similarly hypocritical, spinelessly flip-flopping their long-held positions on abortion and immigration to win the election.
“Swing Vote revolves around a low-life trailer park drunk (Costner) who, by virtue of his young daughter's idealism, becomes responsible for deciding the fate of a closely tied presidential election. Both the incumbent Republican commander-in-chief (Grammer) and the milquetoast liberal Democrat challenger (Hopper) descend on his small town and vie for his vote by shamelessly courting him, even going so far as to change their strongly-held beliefs to align themselves with what they mistakenly believe are his views."
In other words, as a conservative-minded blogger commented to Ressner a few weeks back, "It's about a red-sate dad with a blue-state daughter."
Swing Vote, Swing Shift, Swing State, Swingtime, Sling Blade.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 23, 2008 at 2:47 PM
comment #1
T. S. Idiot says ...
Again with the golf. What is it? Did Tiger Woods splash mud (tiger stripes) all over his pretty yellow motorsickle?
Posted by T. S. Idiot at July 23, 2008 3:46 PM
comment #2
Josh Massey says ...
Three days tops until Jeff refers to the film as Swing Shift.
Posted by Josh Massey at July 23, 2008 3:56 PM
comment #3
Mr. Muckle says ...
Dennis Hopper as a milquetoast? Now that's acting!
Posted by Mr. Muckle at July 23, 2008 4:01 PM
comment #4
nemo says ...
Hopper already played a milquetoast in Basquiat. He played Bruno Bischofberger, the much put-upon art dealer to Andy Warhol, played by David Bowie. Hopper was good at it, quite funny.
"Andy, those are mine now," Bruno/Hopper whines, as Andy/Bowie pockets some postcards painted by the then unknown Basquiat, after Andy/Bowie pressures him into paying $10 for them ("Come on, Bruno, you always carry some money.")
Posted by nemo at July 23, 2008 4:21 PM
comment #5
Joel says ...
Swing Vote, not Swing State.
Posted by Joel at July 23, 2008 6:01 PM
comment #6
movieirv says ...
I thought that Kelsey Grammar usually supported conservative candidates and one of the reasons Peter fonda doesn;t talk to dennis Hopper anymore is because ofhis rightwing ways (along with a decades-long squabble over money and credit for Easy Rider). .
Posted by movieirv at July 23, 2008 7:18 PM
comment #7
MovieBob says ...
Yeah... you want any MORE evidence that the 60s are totally over? Easy Rider is voting for John McCain ;)
The "campaign ad" trailers for this that they've been running intermitently on the Daily Show and such are pretty damn clever, I must say - basically ULTRA-extreme ads in favor of gay marriage and against abortion as-presented by the "wrong" party. Clever.
Posted by MovieBob at July 23, 2008 8:14 PM
comment #8
Walter Sobchak says ...
"(I haven't been able to determine the political contribution records of director Joshua Michael Stern or co-screenwriter Jason Richman.)"
Well dammit, somebody find out! Also, I'd like the voting records, party affiliations and whatever else you can dig up on any of the other cast or crew members. Mark my word, if there's a conservative in there we'll get him!
Posted by Walter Sobchak at July 23, 2008 9:43 PM
comment #9
Rev. Slappy says ...
Dennis Hopper is a Republican? The Dennis Hopper who directed Easy Rider? My brain is having some trouble processing that, similar to the time I found out Michael Savage lived in San Francisco.
Posted by Rev. Slappy at July 24, 2008 12:21 AM
comment #10
Sendyhong says ...
Have u guys heard that he ever appeared on the wealthy dating club ***R I C H L O V I N G.C O M*** for hot singles to hook up for Hot Love and Sexy Dating? There are his hot photos and Lots of hot girls are found in his circle there. I've been there for day, it seems the girls are not hard to hook up.lol
Posted by Sendyhong at July 24, 2008 2:58 AM
comment #11
Mgmax says ...
Can't we just call them in front of a Congressional committee and question them?
Or maybe when the truth commissions are established after the Bush regime:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/opinion/06kristof.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
we can send the intelligentsia to the hinterlands to learn proper thinking from the peasants.
Posted by Mgmax at July 24, 2008 5:18 AM
comment #12
Josh says ...
I think it tells you all you need to know about what liberalism and has become if Dennis Hopper is now a conservative.
Posted by Josh at July 24, 2008 6:31 AM
comment #13
Bob Violence says ...
I think it tells you all you need to know about what conservatism has become if Dennis Hopper is no longer a liberal.
Posted by Bob Violence at July 24, 2008 7:21 AM
comment #14
George Prager says ...
Everyone who commented on this silly thread needs a spanking.
Posted by George Prager at July 24, 2008 10:44 AM
comment #15
Richardson says ...
"I think it tells you all you need to know about what liberalism and has become if Dennis Hopper is now a conservative."
At this point, you can have him.
The guy who directed 'Easy Rider' was a liberal. It's the guy who directed 'Chasers' that's a conservative.
Posted by Richardson at July 25, 2008 8:03 AM
Post a comment