Review No.186: The Campaign

Plot: Will Ferrel stars as Cam Brady a Democratic congressman who is standing in his district unopposed for the fifth time however his whiter than white image is damaged after a dirty message to a mistress is accidentally left on a different family's telephone. Eager to have an upstanding congressman, political fixers the Motch Brothers approach Zach Galifianakis's Marty Huggins to run however his innocent nature isn't a match for Cam's underhanded approach. The Motches than hire Tim Wattley as Marty's campaign manager who helps him look great in the eyes of the voters while smearing Cam's name at the same time. Marty's time on the campaign trail has an adverse effect on his relationship with his family so Cam decides to capitalise on the loneliness of Marty's wife. Marty eventually finds out the true reason why the Motches wanted him to run in the first place so he has an ethical decision to make as regards his political future.

Positives: At 85 minutes the film flows along quite nicely and the plot is easy enough to follow. Dylan McDermott's campaign has every hallmark of a sleazy Washington type that knows how to get stupid Americans to vote for whoever he wants them to. Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow are a great double act as the Motch brothers to the extent where I wish they were in the film a little bit more.

Negatives: Though the narrative of the film is easy enough to follow for a comedy there aren't nearly enough laughs and as a political satire its nowhere near as biting as it should be. One of the problems for me is that both Ferrell and Galifianakis are playing broad comic characters which means that they cancel the other out. I think a film like this needs a straight man to balance out the broader character however that isn't the case here and therefore I think it is harder to care about either of these men who both come across like caricatures.

Verdict: An inoffensive if unfunny Ferrell/Galifianakis double-header this doesn't have nearly enough biting satirical moments though there are a couple of great supporting performances so for those reasons I will award The Campaign 5/10