Review: A Vot of Apathy for Robin Williams Political Satire

Oct. 13, 2006 — -- We've seen plenty of "Jon Stewart for president" bumperstickers, and it would be fun to see a straight-talking, scathinglysatiric guy like him on the campaign trail against the usualsuspects.

Barry Levinson's "Man of the Year" aims for that scenario,though, funny as he is at times, Robin Williams in thecommentator-turned-candidate role is a lightweight, almost as emptya suit as the career politicians he's up against.

With a premise too absurd for belief even alongside 2000'sphoto-finish presidential election, "Man of the Year" becomes acampaign of character, relying mainly on its cast to see itthrough.

Luckily for writer-director Levinson, Williams and especiallyco-stars Laura Linney, Christopher Walken and Lewis Black deliverwell enough to keep the movie in the race, making viewers careabout these people more than the story merits.

Mr. Williams Goes to Washington

The actor and filmmaker behind "Good Morning, Vietnam" team up againfor the story of Tom Dobbs, a political commentator who seems lessabout substance and more about the manic standup jabber on whichWilliams built his early career.

Williams' Tom is the comic host of a political talk show thatsupposedly tells it like a sick-and-tired electorate wants to hearit. We're led to understand that Tom's an insightful wit whoseassaults on Washington's power brokers have made him so beloved hisTV audience wildly cheers at his innocent comment about running forpresident himself.

The trouble with Levinson's screenplay is that Tom talks a lotbut doesn't say much. We essentially see Williams doing hisschtick, prattling in such a bluster that the mildly amusingmaterial sounds funnier than it is, with some generic politicallyrabble-rousing tidbits thrown in to establish him as a voice ofdissent, a title the character doesn't deserve.

Even so, Tom shakes up the establishment by jumping in as anindependent alternative to the bland Republican incumbent and theblander Democratic challenger. Though Tom polls like a respectablethird-party candidate, it's all meant as a lark and a reminder tothe real politicos that their job is to serve the American people.

Then the impossible happens. Under a new computerized votingsystem, Tom wins the election. As his sickly manager (Walken), headwriter (Black) and other minions prepare for the transition toultimate power, an employee of the company that developed thevoting system, Eleanor Green (Linney), turns up claiming a softwareglitch mistakenly handed the election to Tom.

It's left to Tom to reveal the possible mistake or keep hismouth shut and take the job.

Walken, Linney and Black Prop Up Script

With the exit-polling that private parties do in every election,Levinson's plot just crumbles. His far-better political satire"Wag the Dog," with its outrageously manufactured TV war todistract the electorate, was credible stuff by comparison.

It's outlandish that a guy on the ballot in just 13 states -- andpolling a distant third in those -- would be declared the winnerwithout an uproar. Yet the media, the political parties and thepublic simply shrug and accept the fact that Tom won.

What keeps "Man of the Year" alive is the homey interplay ofits principals, Tom's talk-show staff coming off like a fun familyof kooks. Walken's a grand old man as the entertainment manager whobecomes an unlikely kingmaker, despite an odd subplot about hischaracter's health problems from smoking.

Black, toned down from the bellow of his standup act, issurprisingly even-keeled as Tom's wise and wisecracking writer.Jeff Goldblum is thrown in to little effect as the dastardlycorporate attorney hiding the truth about whether thecomputerized voting system was flawed.

Linney's the real victor, creating a rich, noble, conflictedcharacter who's a much worthier successor than Tom to the everymanheroes of such films as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," whichLevinson seems to be emulating.

There was a much better movie tucked inside the story ofLinney's Eleanor, the meek corporate serf fighting back againstcorrupt bosses. If the title wasn't already taken by a KatherineHepburn-Spencer Tracy classic, Eleanor would have made a fineheroine for a movie called "Woman of the Year."

"Man of the Year," a Universal release, is rated PG-13 forlanguage including some crude sexual references, drug relatedmaterial and brief violence. Running time: 115 minutes. Two and ahalf stars out of four.