Kevin Costner Screens 'Swing Vote' in D.C.

July 11, 2008 — -- Three months before millions of Americans vote in November, Hollywood imagines a presidential election that hinges on just one man's vote.

The film "Swing Vote" is Kevin Costner's latest vehicle that drives home the cliche that each and every vote counts.

Costner appeared at a special screening of the film in Washington, D.C., this week presented by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

The new political comedy hits the big screen in August.

Costner headlines the flick as Bud Johnson, an all-American, beer drinking, single dad from New Mexico who has never registered to vote, much less cast a ballot. But thanks to his ambitious daughter Molly, played by newcomer Madeline Carroll, he is thrust into the center of the presidential race.

Costner Attends D.C. Film Screening

The Hollywood actor appeared in person to introduce the film, stressing the importance of voting to the invited guests that filled D.C.'s E Street Cinema Wednesday night.

"This is our civic responsibility y'all," Costner told the audience."It's a privilege," he said of voting.

Costner said it's important for Americans to grapple with the issues head on.

He told the audience that the whole picture aimed to "take a few shots at something that burns so deeply" inside of Americans.

Among a Washington group of "opinion makers," as he referred to the crowd, he emphasized that the film was pure entertainment.

Costner sat through most of the screening but left before the end.

Movie Highlights 'Every Vote Counts' Theme

It's obvious from the beginning of the film that Johnson's 12-year-old daughter is light-ears ahead of her apathetic father when it comes to politics.

Winning an essay competition for her local news station about American voting, she is hyper aware of the year's political issues.

Her passion for both personal and civic responsibility lead her to not only register by mail for her father but actually manages to sneak into a polling site and vote in his place.

However, the story takes a twist when Molly's vote doesn't count due to a voting machine malfunction.

Ultimately, the entire presidential election hinges on Johnson's vote and he's told he has 10 more days to cast his vote.

The story is set in a small town in New Mexico, a state notorious for voting problems. The most recent example occurred when the state's total primary results in February were delayed due to voting inconsistencies.

The film's bizarre premise is given some legitimacy, thanks to the cameo appearances by television news personalities, including Bill Maher, Larry King, Campbell Brown, Arianna Huffington and Chris Matthews, all voicing their shock that the election has boiled down to one single vote.

The movie sets up an average Joe who suddenly has the power to select the leader of the free world.

His vote alone will decide the fate of the American presidency. New Mexico is a winner-take-all state, and somehow the votes in the town of Texico, N.M., were exactly tied.

It's a long-shot premise, however, not entirely implausible given the official 2000 election outcome in which President Bush won Florida over former Vice President Al Gore by a mere 537 votes.

And during the 2008 Democratic primary, rivals Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tied in Unity, N.H., with 107 votes each.

In the movie, Donald Greenleaf, played by actor Dennis Hopper, is appropriately the environmentally minded Democratic candidate and Republican incumbent Andrew Boone is played by Fraser's Kelsey Grammar.

Both fictional presidential candidates create a 10-day campaign aimed at this one wildly uninformed voter.

As the race heats up, both politicians begin to sprint toward the ideological middle, often making complete policy reversals.

Based on the whims of Costner's character, the Democratic nominee creates a campaign ad suggesting the candidate is against abortion and supports intelligent design.

In the Republican ad, the GOP candidate declares in front of an American flag with rainbow colors flying across the screen that his conservative administration has decided to say "I do" to gay marriage.

Courting voters is naturally what candidates must do, and "Swing Vote" makes a parody of real life candidates' excessive focus on specific demographics.

Johnson doesn't know what the issues are, much less where he stands on them.

He misguidedly talks about the need to curb "insourcing" when referring to immigrant labor, and when asked if he is "pro-choice" or "pro-life," Johnson jokes, "Yeah, hey, who isn't?"

As the politicians run into, over and away from each other, Molly accuses her father of "ruining America."

At one point, both candidates lament that they no longer seem to stand for anything anymore.

The hardline Republican campaign manager, played by Stanley Tucci, sternly corrects his candidate: "We stand for winning."

The movie takes an ever so sweet turn toward a trite and rosy resolution: The manipulative politicians find their moral compass, the journalists realize that the scoop shouldn't come at all costs, and one man understands the power of his vote.