Swing Vote

I saw Swing Vote about 2 weeks ago, been busy with things so I'm just getting around to my reviews now. The trailers intrigued me, and who doesn't love Kevin Costner. I mean Field of Dreams is a great movie.

Swing Vote had an interesting concept. After all of the votes were tallied, one vote hadn't counted because of a computer malfunction and the race was so tight that the entire Presidential Election came down to that one vote, Bud Johnson's (Kevin Costner) vote. When this happened, both Presidential candidates flew to the middle of nowhere to try and persuade him to vote for them. Then humor, chaos and the weight of responsibility ensued.

The story was a little slow for my taste, but I enjoyed it anyways. I don't think it's one of those movies I could watch over and over again like I do with Harry Potter. It definitely made me think as well. I'm not very into politics and I had never really cared about voting, but now I know that voting does count so that is one benefit I gained from this movie...or perhaps it was the government's benefit. Either way the story is quite far fetched but that's what movies are for, an alternate reality to an extent.

Kevin Costner played Bud Johnson, an alcoholic, single father living in Texico, New Mexico (mainly the middle of nowhere). Costner portrayed this role well I thought, but Madeline Carroll who played Bud's daughter Molly stole the movie away. She was intriguing, mature and brought the whole movie together. I thought she was adorable and without her the movie wouldn't have been half as good.

The supporting cast was great as well. I was a big fan of the Republican party in the movie, mostly because I love Stanley Tucci (also in The Devil Wears Prada). Tucci played the advisor to President Andrew Boone, played by Kelsey Grammar. And who doesn't love Kelsey Grammar? The Democratic candidate was Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper) and his advisor Art Crumb (Nathan Lane). They all made the story a little more interesting because they all lost who they really were while trying to win over Bud. Just goes to show what politics will really do to win.

So this movie was ok, I would recommend waiting until it's released on DVD, or for you old schoolers out there, VHS.