BEFORE: Leaping ahead 8 years or 2 campaigns to the 2008 election - apparently the 2004 election didn't warrant an HBO movie. I figured with these big ensemble pieces there had to be a way to link them, and in fact it was simple - Bruce Altman carries over from "Recount".
THE PLOT: Follows John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, from his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election.
AFTER: Again, this hemmed pretty close to the way I remember the campaign going down, which sort of brings up the question over why it was made. If you're merely re-creating events instead of commenting on them, what's the point?
But there is value added here, and it's the ability to see the Republican campaign from within - where "Recount" needed to focus on the machinations of both campaigns, this film focuses on just one, and leaves us to wonder about what's going on over on the Democratic side. Barack Obama and Joe Biden even play themselves, via the use of stock footage.
We also get to see what went down when the cameras weren't on (which these days seems like it rarely happens), including the almost-selection of Joe Lieberman as McCain's running mate, and then Palin's preparation for the V.P. debate. The reasoning that led to Palin's selection seemed sound, but the lack of research done about her knowledge and unpredictability, not so much. According to this film, the most basic foreign policy question was enough to put her on the defensive, to cover up her lack of experience, and that would cause an overreaction, such as the famous gaffe "You can actually see Russia from Alaska!" (You can't.)
Still, there's no question that her selection tapped into something, whether it was the Tea Party or the soccer/hockey moms, but then came the flood of parodies, from Tina Fey on SNL to a series of pornos featuring a look-alike actress. Perhaps this sort of thing is just inevitable - if a candidate isn't parodied on SNL, then the show isn't doing its job, or perhaps the candidate isn't worth making fun of. But Palin's reaction to all of this wasn't positive, as you might expect.
According to this film, that's what led to her seemingly bi-polar responses, from blaming the "Liberal lame-stream media" to shutting down in a near-catatonic state. I found the reactions of the campaign team to be very insightful - these were the people who recommended Palin, then couldn't change the choice of Palin, and had to find a way to get her through the debate somehow. Instead of impossibly making her an expert, they just gave her 25 easy-to-memorize bullet points and pivoting tactics.
Palin's family is given short shrift here, but this probably has much to do with the fact that she mostly succeded in keeping them away from the media, or vice versa. In her defense, how many families would survive intact under such intense media scrutiny? But as a result we barely learn anything about them in this film beyond the simple facts. Whether you were for or against Palin, it's amazing that this individual was so close to being a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Also starring Julianne Moore (last seen in "Crazy, Stupid, Love."), Woody Harrelson (last seen in "Friends With Benefits"), Ed Harris (last seen in "Under Fire"), Jamey Sheridan, Peter MacNicol (last heard in "Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild"), Ron Livingston, with cameos from the usual media commentators in file footage: Wolf Blitzer, Katie Couric, Brian Williams, etc.
RATING: 4 out of 10 "gotcha" questions
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