Well, I just saw "Our Brand Is Crisis" (how could I not see it, it's about political consulting, which is what I do!) and it was as good and as bad as I thought it would be. Good, because it does indeed show how political campaigns are run, for the most part, but bad because it has a stupid, but predictable, ending, and a Left-leaning bias throughout - which I guessed correctly was coming and simply chose to discount in my judgment of the film.
The film is based on, and takes its name directly from, a 2005 documentary about the 2002 election in Bolivia, in which a former president won the election with the help of an American firm led by legendary consultant James Carville. Billy Bob Thornton in the film resembles Carville in appearance, but here works for the opposition candidate.
Sandra Bullock starts off the film having left the profession of political consulting because of a bad event we learn about later. Personal scumbag Billy Bob Thornton - who plays one in the film, too – is her capable adversary. Both are running presidential campaigns in Bolivia.
Here's what rings true: the professional rivalries between consultants (who, nonetheless can be civil to one another) the scenes of actual campaigning, the strategies, families being divided by politics, the stress of campaigns, the fun people have during them anyway, the candidate who doesn't listen to his consultants, the backroom intrigue, and the dirty tricks.
What's silly is the whining about money in politics (in the intro only, don’t worry) and the fact that someone who’s been in the business doesn't seems to know that people are mean or that politicians do, in fact, lie.
Some of Bullock's lines are hilarious. How she pulls one over on the Thornton character before a big debate is brilliant. How she pulls back and listens in the beginning (though admittedly, she was ill) is exactly how one SHOULD start off a campaign before crafting and announcing a strategy. And the need to sometimes change strategies in mid-campaign is also well illustrated here.
The scene where the two candidate's buses happen to be on the same road, leading to a hilarious "backside" joke, is just the kind of stunt campaigns pull on each other, and there are several "dirty tricks" shown as well that are MORE than plausible.
Bullock’s character, "Calamity Jane," shouldn't be as surprised and alienated by the process as is depicted here, given her long history in the profession. But in films about political consulting – like the excellent 1986 Richard Gere/Denzel Washington film "Power" which this resembles in many ways, and which I highly recommend – sermonizing about how bad things can get and what's wrong with politics and managing campaigns is typical, and expected.
Sandra Bullock starts off the film having left the profession of political consulting because of a bad event we learn about later. Personal scumbag Billy Bob Thornton - who plays one in the film, too – is her capable adversary. Both are running presidential campaigns in Bolivia.
Here's what rings true: the professional rivalries between consultants (who, nonetheless can be civil to one another) the scenes of actual campaigning, the strategies, families being divided by politics, the stress of campaigns, the fun people have during them anyway, the candidate who doesn't listen to his consultants, the backroom intrigue, and the dirty tricks.
What's silly is the whining about money in politics (in the intro only, don’t worry) and the fact that someone who’s been in the business doesn't seems to know that people are mean or that politicians do, in fact, lie.
Some of Bullock's lines are hilarious. How she pulls one over on the Thornton character before a big debate is brilliant. How she pulls back and listens in the beginning (though admittedly, she was ill) is exactly how one SHOULD start off a campaign before crafting and announcing a strategy. And the need to sometimes change strategies in mid-campaign is also well illustrated here.
The scene where the two candidate's buses happen to be on the same road, leading to a hilarious "backside" joke, is just the kind of stunt campaigns pull on each other, and there are several "dirty tricks" shown as well that are MORE than plausible.
Bullock’s character, "Calamity Jane," shouldn't be as surprised and alienated by the process as is depicted here, given her long history in the profession. But in films about political consulting – like the excellent 1986 Richard Gere/Denzel Washington film "Power" which this resembles in many ways, and which I highly recommend – sermonizing about how bad things can get and what's wrong with politics and managing campaigns is typical, and expected.
But still, they manage to get a lot right, and it’s nicely entertaining even if you aren't a political consultant, so I recommend it.
