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

Review No.117: Casa Di Me Padre

I always think it must be hard for English-speaking actors to star in a film were they have to speak in an entirely different language for example Kristen Scott Thomas who was utterly convincing as a Frenchwoman in brilliant films such as I've Loved You So Long and Leaving. This year Will Ferrell has also had a go at it by donning a Spanish accent to play a Mexican ranch hand in supposed comedy Casa Di Me Padre. Ferrell's Armando Alvarez lives works on his father's ranch but is a constant disappointment to him because, as we found out later in the film, he shot and killed his own mother after trying to defend her from bandits. Armando is worried that drug dealers are taking over the land he loves and killing off fellow citizens but as he is a weak man he can do nothing about it. Armando's brother Raul, played by Diego Luna, returns to the ranch with a new girlfriend Sonia who is actually the niece of Gael Garcia Bernal's drug lord El Onzo. Raul is the apple of his father's eye but Armando is shocked to discover that his brother is also a drug dealer and that's why he can afford to buy his future wife expensive items. Sonia though is drawn to Armando who is much more of a romantic than Raul but as she wants to stay loyal to her current beau she is torn between the two brothers. With rival drug lords in the area it's only a matter of time before a showdown occurs which also features crooked cops one of whom has a connection to the boys' mother but will they be able to save the day?

I will start by saying that I'm normally a big fan of Ferrell's in particular I love the films were he doesn't play it broad such as Stranger than Fiction or the recent Everything Must Go. In Casa De Mi Padre the central joke seems to be that the former Ron Burgundy is speaking Spanish however that wears thin fairly quickly. Former Y Tu Mama Tambien brethren Luna and Bernal both seem to be having a hoot as the drug dealers, with the latter playing a similar part in Contraband, but again there's not much humour to be had in the shoot-out. For me the funniest moments come when director Matt Piedmont is keen to point out that the film was supposedly shot on a small budget with very dodgy edits happening throughout. My favourite moment was possibly when the action stopped for one of the assistant cameramen to inform us that they did shoot a fight between two big cats however it got too violent as both got into the cocaine supply and ended up killing several crew members. For me though, while I smiled several times, I never once burst out laughing which for me is unusual during a film with Ferrell on stage. The exterior settings do add a certain authenticity to proceedings and all the cast did a good job but at the end of the day I felt Casa Di Me Padre was a little flat despite Ferrell's very convincing Spanish accent.

Verdict: A couple of good in-jokes about the overall production and Bernal and Luna's big performances stopped this from being a complete dud but because it felt fairly flat I can only give it 5/10