The Campaign

Director:
Jay Roach

Lead Actors
Will Ferrel
Zack Galifinakis

Producer
Adam Mckary

Plot Synopsis
Cam Brady - Will Ferrell -  is a shoe-in as an incumbent US Representative for North Carolina's 14th district until pint-sized Marty Huggins signs up to run as well.

Huggins proves laughable as an opponent until a mysterious political consultant helps whip him into shape. Brady soon realizes that he's going to have to actually campaign on this one as Huggins begins to represent a formidable challenge.

Many current political topics are at play in this well-timed political satire - most namely outsourcing jobs to China. In this farce, the big evil company wants to actually import Chinese workers to North Carolina!

Who Would Like It
Ferrell and Adam Mckay loyalists. Galifinakis loyalists. Upright Citizen Brigade fans.

Why
Ferrell calls in a predictable performance as America's favorite lug - the same role he has been perfecting for the last 25 years. Seems as if Ferrell, who has done some great work post-SNL, needed to make some quick money with this hollow performance. But, again, this sort of thing still has its appeal to loyalists.

The pairing of Ferrell and Galifinakis might seem to be to some comedy fans what the the pairing of Dwayne Wade and Lebron of James is to some NBA fans - the best with the best.

Who Might not Like it
Anyone with half a brain who was sober enough to realize this is quite possibly the year's worst movie and quite possibly Hollywood's worst export since Gigli. This movie made me want to outsource movie making jobs far far from the hands of Jay Roach or Will Ferrell for the rest of eternity

Why
This movie insults 1) politics in general 2) American politics 3) North Carolinans 4) the movie goer's intelligence 5) Anyone who is serious about making good comedy using improv: the many many semi improv scenes revolve around juvenile jokes and Ferrell's selfish groundlingsesque comedy dominance, instead of mining the abilities of the supporting cast.

Roach and Ferrell, and well possibly Mckay is to blame here as well - they all seem hell-bent on making the average North Carolinan out to be base and dumb and completely lacking in any knowledge of local, state, national or world politics.

In one aweful scene Will Ferrell and Galifinakis are having a debate. Ferrell, or Brady begins to describe "Rainbow Land" as some sort of political utopia that some people are invited to and others aren't. The scene, for some reason I can't quite remember, soon devolves into a Jerry Springer free-for-all wherein the dog from "The Artist" gets punched

This somehow doesn't seem fitting for North Carolina - one of the earliest states in our blession union and host to some of the most influential, and important universities in the world in Duke and the University of North Carolina.

Highlights/Top Scenes
The one saving grace to this entire movie was seeing Galifinakis seemingly act from the inside out and display real emotion under fake circumstances. His face is always alive, and while he is an undeniable king of comedy, his dramatic side deserves a chance to show itself in a real drama.

There is also a scene in the beginning where John Lithgow, who naturally has a wierd-sounding high pithced voice, speaks Chinese while on a tour in a factory. Although probably not intentional, this was very amusing!

Synopsis
Roach, who is responsible for all three Austin Powers movies, was off his game. That is a shame because the world, now more than ever, needs healthy, robust political satire, and more importantly, well done and well thought out comedies. This disaster failed to fit into either one of those categories.



No Mike and Ikes.