Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Tinsel

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Movie Review: Mr. Ferrell goes to Washington in ‘The Campaign’

Movie Review: Mr. Ferrell goes to Washington in ‘The Campaign’

Last updated on: August 9, 2012 at 10:27 pm by Rebecca Cusey

Movie Review: Mr. Ferrell goes to Washington in ‘The Campaign’ 2012-08-09T15:36:34-06:00 Rebecca Cusey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mitt Romney abandons people to die of cancer. Barak Obama has sent billions of stimulus money overseas.

Had enough yet?

It’s worse in the fictional North Carolina district in The Campaign. Cam Brady punches babies, but on the other hand, Marty Huggins lets people sleep with his wife.

That’s what a country boy calls lower than a tick on the belly of a blood hound.

If there’s one thing needed by a country staring down the barrel of thirteen more weeks of election campaigning, it’s a movie that mocks the entire concept.

The Campaign is that movie, but under the extreme behavior is an optimistic and pure-hearted quest to remind lawmakers why they ran in the first place.

Ferrell plays Brady, a sitting member of the US House of Representatives from North Carolina. Brady is pretty much what would happen if Ricky Bobby and Ron Burgundy had a son, and that son won a seat in Congress. Southern in accent and tastes, focused on his hair more than on his platform, and slicker than sow in a tar pit, he gives lip service to his lovely wife and family, his country, and Jesus. Behind the scenes, he’s just a guy with a hot mistress, a desperate need to keep his seat, and not much else on his mind.

Brady is unopposed until he makes the mother of all campaign errors: Recording a sexy message to his mistress and then mistakenly sending it out to his district as a campaign robocall. Local kingmakers enlist the square, loser son of a local bigwig to run against him.

Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) has a fat wife, two chubby sons, two pudgy pug dogs, and a fanatical desire to please his father.

He’s totally in.

The race becomes a battle between a hapless innocent and a jaded incumbent. However, the movie plays against type as Huggins becomes the one to be seduced by what politicans call special interests while Brady is surprised to find he just may care about the people after all.

In the meantime, the two run the most ridiculous and nastiest of nasty campaigns. Baby punching is only the beginning.

It’s a lot of fun to watch these over the top antics. Especially silly is a campaign tactic in which Brady defends his infidelity with an ad that says “Look at her, she’s hot. Anyone would do the same.” Apparently it polls through the roof with men but not so much with women.

In the first few scenes of the Southern setting of the film, the unsettling feeling sets in that the movie is mocking Southern, conservative Christians. But, like The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the movie can find humor in its Southern setting without being offensive about it. It mocks politicians that play homage to “America. Jesus. Freedom” without being able to recite the Lord’s Prayer, but not the actual faithful themselves. While it has a lot to say about Southern politicians, it treats Southern people affectionately.

More troubling is the concept that businessmen are evil overlords running the system. Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow play the two Motch brothers, businessmen tired of shipping their jobs to China. They’d rather ship China to the US, open up sweat factories, evade labor laws, and make a little slice of cheap product heaven in North Carolina.

Thinly – or not even so thinly – veiled references to the Koch brothers, the Motch brothers pump secret money into the system, buying any politician that will make the EPA look the other way and the DOL pretend not to notice anything.

This is the latest boogieman in politics and the “get the dirty money out of politics” message will be received well by both the Occupy Wall Street left and the Tea Party right.

We all know, or should know, it’s not that simple. A Congressman doesn’t have the power to block the EPA, for example. The screenwriters would have been well-served to hire an eight grade civics teacher to scan the script. As a comedy it works. But don’t watch it before taking your AP US Government exam. You would surely flunk. As a public service, I’ve listed the top five electoral errors in the film.

The core, however, of both Brady and Huggins is a desire to make life better for the people of their district. That desire may be buried under self-interest or expressed in strange and semi-legal ways, but it pulses in each heart. It is what makes the core of the movie almost corny. As in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, there is a lot corruption to avoid, but the underlying act of serving one’s country is noble.

They’re practically the same movie, if you take out the baby punching, sexual content, and R-rated language.

Rated R for crude sexual content, language, and brief nudity. About the same level as other Will Ferrell movies, which is to say it earns its R.

Previous Post

August 9, 2012

Embarrassing Truth: 5 Basic Things about Elections the Movie 'Campaign' Got Wrong

Next Post

August 13, 2012 Western Imperialism was Alive and Well at the Olympics, but the Wrong Kind

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Becky's Picks Children's Movies DVD releases Entertainment News Faith on Film Featured Hunger Games In Theaters Interviews Life, Etc. Mixed Nuts Movie Reviews Poliflix Scroogewatch slider Television Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was stored inside the Ark of the Covenant?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Incense Stone tablets, manna, Aaron's rod The golden calf Sand