I'd Campaign for it.
When you see as many movies as I do, you tend to see the same trailers over and over again. Most of the time, I completely forget them when the movie starts, but sometimes, there is that one special trailer that either blows me away or annoys the heck out of me. Unfortunately, its usually the latter. In fact, when I did weekly reviews for my college radio station, I had to sit through the Madagascar 3 trailer six weeks in a row. In it the zebra character dresses up like a clown and sings "Afro Circus" for ten seconds. Needless to say, it was annoying and I think it made me hate going to the movies for awhile. But, it did make me remember the movie, so the trailer succeeded there.
I'm not afraid of clowns, but I am afraid of Chris Rock.
The Campaign did something a little different to get me to remember it's trailer. It wasn't annoying or particularly good (Actually, it was leaning towards kind of bad). It starts out with the basic plot of the film. Will Ferrell is a congressman up for reelection when Zach Galifianakis steps up to challenge him. We see a montage of the two of them going at it through the political race. Will Ferrell gets attacked by snakes, Zach offends a lot of Jewish people, and the two fight a few times. Then at the end of the trailer, Will Ferrell punches a baby. He literally (accidentally) punches a baby in the face. Now that is something that you don't simply forget and even though it does cut away at the last second, a baby was just punched right in front of me. I couldn't get over it, and after seeing that trailer five times, it became known as "that movie where Will Ferrell punches a baby" with my friends and we had no choice but to see it. I guess the trailer did its job in getting me to go see the movie, even though it had to punch a baby to do it.
I would never punch a baby to get you to read my blog. Just another reason why I am a better person than Will Ferrell.
The movie starts out with slick Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) preparing for his next reelection. Cam Brady has never had an opponent all five times he ran and thus, wins the seat by default. However, all of that changes when awkward family man, Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), steps up to challenge him for the spot. Now the two set off on a campaign that gets more childish and violent by the second and no matter who wins, we all lose.
A photo of Obama/Romney with a caption "Don't they all" is just way too easy of a joke, so instead here is Kevin James and a Gorilla on a roller coaster.
Will Ferrell has always been an hit or miss actor for me. Every time he makes a movie I love, like Anchorman, he seems to make one I'll hate, such as Kicking & Screaming. Fortunately, I like him in The Campaign. He plays the crazy, womanizing, and generally terrible Cam Brady well and the role seems to suite him. His serious delivery on his strange lines is topnotch and shows everything we love about Ferrell. However, he isn't perfect in the movie, either. One of the things I find annoying about Ferrell is when he ab libs his lines. Many of his movies seem to be written up to allow him room to do this, for example, there is a part in the movie where he is bitten by a snake and he shouts, "Ouch, shove a throwing star up a Chinese monk's ***". I don't see how that is funny, he is just shouting an absurd line that sounds like he made it completely up. Ab libing is tricky, it only works when its thought out and when you actually say something funny or relevant to the scene, like Tony Stark's bantering in Iron Man. It does not work when you shout a bunch of random words and hope you form a joke.
If it were only so, Mr Burgundy.
A big surprise in this movie is Will Ferrell's co-star, Zach Galifianakis. I wasn't sure how to feel about his character towards the start. The trailers didn't really do much to get me excited for the character, but he easily steals the show with his portrayal of Marty. His bubbly, upbeat, and off kilter performance made it easy to side with the pug loving southerner and it makes it all the harder for the viewer to watch when he falls to the dark side of the political game. His southern accent he puts on is fairly convincing and its impressive to see him maintain it throughout the movie. There wasn't much to complain about the character and it was a blast watching him.
The Campaign is easily one of the funniest comedies I've seen in a while (Not saying much looking at my other reviews). A lot of the jokes worked and this set up is great for a comedy. We are able to see how the two characters respond to the same situations and its entertaining to watching them trying to one-up the other. Its a kind of movie that really writes its self. As I mentioned before, Will Ferrell punches a baby in the face and now here is the context. The two are just coming out of a heated debate when they spot a baby at the same time. Its tradition for politicians to kiss baby when campaigning, so the two race to get to the baby first. Marty is about to make it when Brady comes from behind and raises his fist. Here it shifts into slow motion, Marty dodges the punch and Brady hits the baby right in the face. It didn't cut away like in the trailer, you see the fist make contact as the CGI baby's face absorbs the blow. Now, I'll admit I laughed for about a second, then stopped and thought, "Is this really alright to laugh at?". It does seems to be in poor taste, but the whole theater was in stitches from laughing so hard. I figured it was alright, whether that says something about today's movie going audience is up to you.
They probably would have liked it better in 3D.
For a movie about politics, it surprisingly does not fall pray to making easy jokes or low blows. The whole thing could have been filled with Obama references or jokes about republicans and other political stereotypes, but the writers instead chose to make the two characters unique. Their respective parties don't seem to take a role in who the character is, and for the most part, you could switch them and it wouldn't change a thing. What the movie instead focused on was the issues that affect politics today. How many politicians seem to mud sling, many of the corrupt aspects in some campaigns, and the fear of big money running the country. There is a sub-plot, where two rich brothers are funding Marty's platform because they feel like he is stupid enough to control. The idea of big money funding elections is a relevant concern in today's political landscape and this served as a perfect plot to the film. It isn't the main focus and this drama does not become preachy in any regard. It merely points these things out and does not forget that its trying to make you laugh.
Just another reason why The Campaign is a better person than Will Ferrell.
Overall:
The Campaign is surprisingly better than the trailers made it out to be. While its no Anchorman, its close. Its funny, smart, and respectable to portraying both sides of the political spectrum. If you are looking for something funny to watch, you can easily do worse than The Campaign.
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