Thursday Movie Picks: Political Comedy

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Set Locally (North Carolina)

Hey folks! Here we are, once again, on Thursday, that beautiful day before the day before the weekend officially starts. It is on this day every week I suggest some movies based on theme selected by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves.

Let's pause for a second.

Join us. Swing over to Wanderer's site, check out the meme, and post your own Thursday Movie Picks. Do it.

Okay. Let's get back to it.

This week's theme is 'Movies Set Locally.' Here's the deal. It's up to the blogger to pick their own location.

Hmmm...

There were only three places I even thought of when I saw this topic. The first was Queens, New York, where I grew up. The second was Hawaii, where I lived for two years. Neither quite suited my fancy, so I went with my third choice: North Carolina, where I currently live. For those of you who don't do maps, yes, that is North Carolina in the pic at the top of the page. However, North Carolina has a tricky relationship with the movie making world. Tons of movies (and TV shows) come here to film, particularly to the city of Wilmington, but NC usually winds up as a stand-in for some other place. Wikipedia has a pretty good list of stuff that's filmed here. That means not a ton of movies are actually set here. Of course, there are some. These are my faves...

Kiss the Girls

(1997)

Here, Morgan Freeman plays detective Alex Cross, who usually does his work in Washington, D.C. This time he heads down to Durham, NC because his niece, a college student in the area, has been reported missing. Shortly, he joins forces with Kate (Ashley Judd), who managed to escape from being kidnapped, herself. The added bonus for me is that a number of scenes are set not far from where I live.

The Campaign

(2012)

Okay, so I'll admit this one isn't an all time great. Still, it's fun. The short story on it is that it covers the election for the congressional seat in North Carolina's (fictional) 14th district. The two candidates are Cam Brady (Will Ferrell), the incumbent and Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), who has literally been plucked from obscurity to run for office. Does this have lots of sharp, biting, wit? No. It did make me laugh, though. (Full Review Here)

Bull Durham

(1988)

I mean, how could this not be here? The math is simple. I'm a huge baseball fan. I'm obviously a movie buff. This is one of the greatest baseball movies ever made. This one follows the Durham Bulls, and more closely the team's catcher, Crash Davis (Kevin Costner). He strikes up a romance with local baseball groupie Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) and tries to mentor hot, young pitching prospect Nuke Laloosh (Tim Robbins). It's a movie that just works wonders every step of the way. I live within minutes of where the actual Bulls play, which is a gorgeous minor league park that they often fill up, by the way. Watching games there is a blast. If you're ever in Durham during the summer, check 'em out.

Click here for my other Thursday Movie Picks.

The Campaign

Directed by Jay Roach.

2012. Rated R, 85 minutes.

Cast:

Will Ferrell

Zach Galifinakis

Jason Sudeikis

Dylan McDermott

Sarah Baker

Katherine LaNasa

Dan Aykroyd

John Lithgow

Brian Cox

Karen Maruyama
Thomas Middleditch

Cam Brady (Ferrell) is so popular he is about to be elected to his fifth term as Congressman for the 14^th district in North Carolina. Until he places an errant and sexually explicit phone call, that is. Sensing the end of Brady’s career, the billionaire Motch brothers (Aykroyd and Lithgow) set up the naïve Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) as a puppet candidate to run against him. Hijinks and shenanigans ensue.

If you’re looking for a razor sharp political satire, look elsewhere. What we have here is the political process taken to its most absurd extremes. That the two candidates play dirty goes without saying. The depths to which they sink are the things we imagine possible if the people who ran for office were allowed to really engage in a no-holds barred campaign. For instance, the commercials they put together go far beyond the limits of good taste. This isn't to say there are no merits to this approach to the material. Even through the zaniness we can catch glimpses of the situations that obviously inspired the movie. And perhaps it is stinging commentary that there is absolutely no difference in how the two parties are portrayed.

Your political leanings aside, what will really inform whether or not you like this film is how you feel about its stars. After all, they’re both on full blast right from the start. Cam Brady is nothing short of former Senator John Edwards crossed with Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby. Huggins is a true Galifianakis creation: an odd, naïve man who really wants to do the right thing but often has trouble pulling off the trick. To be sure, both men have their moments. That said, you already know if you find either, neither or both of them funny.

MY SCORE: 6/10