BEFORE: It's Easter Sunday, but I've got nothing to tie in with that - I've got little interest in watching "The Passion of the Christ" or even "Easter Parade" for that matter (though if I had thought to record it off TCM this morning, maybe...). Though I did watch two films about death and resurrection earlier this week - "Down to Earth" and "Switch", though I failed to make a Biblical connection there.
It's also Barbra Streisand's birthday, and I'd originally planned to suffer through "The Mirror Has Two Faces" - but then I remembered that my wife made me watch it years ago (I think it was some kind of boyfriend test, and I passed) because I remember calling it "The Camera Has One Angle". So I'm crossing that one off the list, making a nice even 300 films left on the list.
So I'm calling for a substitution - two of the last three movies had characters who were running for President, so I'll pick up on that little thread. And of course we link back from Eugene Levy to Chris Rock through "Down to Earth".
THE PLOT: When a presidential candidate dies unexpectedly in the middle of the campaign, Washington D.C. alderman Mays Gilliam is unexpectedly picked as his replacement.
AFTER: It's tough for me to get a reading on this film, because everyone probably views it now as being very prescient of the 2008 election - though the film was made in 2003 and takes place during the 2004 election. Did the filmmakers predict the outcome of the 2008 campaign, or is it just a coincidence? In depicting a black man running for president, was the attempt to show a possible set of events, or an extremely unlikely one?
I have to lean toward the latter, since the candidate here acts in ways which, by the movie's own admission, would make him un-electable. Would any presidential candidate, black or white, be taken seriously if he made a music video, or dressed like a rapper?
Also, by the movie's own admission, it would make more sense for a party (presumably Democratic, though that word is cleverly absent here) to pick a respected Senator or Governor to replace a candidate so close to an election. But this is sort of covered by the fact that Chris Rock's character is chosen merely as a gesture to minorities, his party leaders don't expect him to win - it's only when he decides to go off-message and speak his mind that he gains ground in the polls (see also: "Bulworth").
Regardless of the intent, this is another clever way to work the comedy routines of Chris Rock (last seen in "Down to Earth") into a narrative framework - just make them part of his campaign speeches!
But the movie doesn't think very highly of Californians, does it? The implication is that a lot of them are racists, who would rush to the voting booths to prevent a black man from being elected. Isn't California notoriously a liberal "blue" state, one that went for Obama?
Also starring Bernie Mac (last seen in "Soul Men"), Dylan Baker (last seen in "Road to Perdition"), Lynn Whitfield, James Rebhorn (last seen in "The Talented Mr. Ripley"), Robin Givens (last seen in "Blankman"), Stephanie March (last seen in "The Invention of Lying"), with a cameo from Tracy Morgan (last heard in "G-Force").
RATING: 5 out of 10 endorsements
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