BEFORE: I've got a path to August 31, but I think I'm going to flip a section of about 13 films around, so my last August film will be moved to 8/19 and I'll end August on a different film. Also I was one film short for August so I'm dropping this one in at the last minute - OK, the month is full now, no more adds. The reason for flipping is to move the film "Saturday Night" from a scheduled Tuesday to, you guessed it, a Saturday night. It could make the linking for September a bit tougher, but I can handle that. Totally worth it for the day-of-the-week tie-in.
I also had some time today to fool around with some possible chains for September, now that I have a new ending point for August. I now have a path that will connect to October 1, in fact I have two, so now I have to decide between them. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do that yet, maybe I'll lean toward the one with more fall sports themes, or more back-to-school films, that would be one way - but that path is harder to tweak, there are less films I can drop to make more room for slots in November and December. So, really, I'd better start figuring out the path all the way to Christmas, so I'll know what the limit is for each month.
David Corenswet carries over from "Superman" (2025)
THE PLOT: A young campaign aide gets in way over his head when he sleeps with the wife and daughter of a presidential candidate.
AFTER: OK, now I kind of regret dropping this one in at the last second - if this film makes me short a slot in December I'm going to be very upset, because this one just isn't worth it. It's a stupid film that makes no sense, and it's not based on the way politics really works in this country, of that I'm pretty sure. It's from 2018 but there's no way it could be about Trump, because movies take a few years to make and nobody really saw Trump winning in 2016. My theory is that even HE didn't think he would win, and in fact never planned to win in the first place, he was just trying to improve his brand, and if he lost then he could claim that the election was stolen and he could rile up his supporters and come back stronger four years later. He certainly didn't want to do any of the hard work that the job required, so why then did he run for the office? Well, duh, power and money and the ability to go golfing every day on the taxpayer's dime. Then he had to run a second time because he forgot to pardon himself before leaving office in 2021, and people took him to court after that, so he had to get back in there to give himself immunity again.
None of what's in this film is even close to that, except the senator portrayed here has something of an open marriage, well, we never see HIM cheat but his wife is DTF with the main character, so I can only assume they've got some kind of marital understanding. Later in the film Michael Lawson also sleeps with the senator's daughter, who's also kind of screwed-up, but in a very different way. And the film starts with Lawson banging a THIRD woman, some older lady who's well connected in D.C. politics, and that was just to get himself invited to a party, where he could then petition for a job with the senator's campaign. But this guy will sleep with any woman he can to get ahead, but really, that's all there is to the plot, Lawson sleeping his way to the top, the implication being that this is "just how it's done" in Washington, however it feels more just like some horny screenwriter's imagination.
I'm not even sure that the director understands the terms "left-wing" and "right-wing" when it comes to politics - there's barely a description of one party's policies over the others. And then we have the "Unity Party", which is some kind of third party, although largely conservative. It's a total fantasy to think that some kind of third-party candidate would have a viable shot in a U.S. Presidential election. Something like 47% of the voters in this country are registered with one of the two major parties, which means that if the independent voters could get together and agree, they could be the largest voting block of all - but it's unlikely to happen simply because they're all so independent. Even if the G.O.P. were to be completely rocked by scandals, they'd just change out the candidates and the head of the party and keep doing the same old shenanigans.
Lawson gets his job with Senator Baines' campaign by giving his campaign manager a flash drive with a video of another one of his conservative clients having a liaison with another man in a bathroom stall. So yeah, this movie doesn't really aim high. Lawson's roommate Callie seems to be the expert at getting these videos, and holding on to them, but for some reason not utilizing them to get ahead, and she gets really made at Lawson for giving up one of the videos from her collection. OK, but why have them if you're not going to use them for blackmail purposes? Is this just some private collection or fetish thing? The rent needs to be paid, and you've got a gold mine just sitting there in a box, why not use it to your advantage? Again, this makes no sense.
Lawson finds himself in a difficult situation because even though the Senator takes him on a fund-raising trip back to his home state of Texas, Baines only wants Lawson to watch his daughter, Darcy and keep her out of trouble. Well, damn, that's like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, isn't it? OF COURSE he's going to fall for her and OF COURSE he's going to be stuck in this love triangle, since he's already sleeping with her mother. Step-mother? I don't know, this all feels like it's from a certain category on PornHub or something. Meanwhile his leftist lesbian roommate can't stand living with him any more, she's tired of being told to leave the apartment so Lawson can have sex with the Senator's wife, so she decides to finally start monetizing her blackmail videos so she can get her own place. (What could POSSIBLY go wrong?)
Really, the ONLY reason to watch this is to see David Corenswet in a pre-Superman role. There's just not a lot here besides that to hang your hat on. The only other good thing I can even say about this movie is that it probably helped a bunch of under-employed actors keep their SAG cards for another year, based on the lack of crossover with other movies, and the fact that there are so many actors here who I've never even heard of. I know it's not from that studio, EFO, that made all those Bruce Willis films quickly and cheaply before his disease kicked in, but it kind of feels like it. This is the sort of film you'd see late at night on Starz or The Movie Channel just to fill up the hours between 3 am and 5 am when they're quite sure nobody is watching, only a few people might tune in because from the title they think it's a Skinemax special.
If you REALLY want to squint and find a tie-in here, you could make a connection between all these videos of politicians having illicit sex and think there's some connection to a certain bunch of files that everyone is talking about these days. But really, that's a pretty big stretch.
Directed by Eric Bross
Also starring Thora Birch (last seen in "Anywhere But Here"), Adrian Grenier (last seen in "Arsenal"), Mimi Rogers (last seen in "The Wedding Ringer"), David James Elliott (last seen in "Clockwatchers"), Grace Victoria Cox (last seen in "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile"), Faye Grant (last seen in "My Best Friend's Girl"), Richard Strauss, Brandon Hardesty, Eugena Washington, Michael Copon, Bonnie Johnson (last seen in "Rules of Engagement"), Amy Campione, Nate Walker, Sheila Lee, Betzaida Landin (last seen in "The War with Grandpa"), Deniz Olgac, Aaron Rouse, Danielle Strauss, Stephen Israel, Paul H. Chapman, Jeff Goins, James Keesler, Felicia Devorris, Ted Kaufman, Kenneth Altman, Dacey Shackleford, Gene Hansen, Donald Imm (last seen in "Better Living Through Chemistry").
RATING: 3 out of 10 secret meetings on park benches (which, umm, by definition aren't really all that secret)
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