Watching television ads and theatrical trailers for Barry Levinson’s Man of the Year, one gets the impression it’s a nonstop laugh fest, a parody of American politics.  But the advance promotion does this film a real disservice.

      Funny, yes.  But Man of the Year is also a tense political thriller, a tender romance, and a serious satire on several faults of our body politic in the 21^st century.

      If you’ve seen the trailers, you have already seen many of the film’s funniest moments – the deadpan secret service man commenting, “The President’s been killed” after a paintball match, a snippet of Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) scoring points in the Presidential debate, Dobbs costumed as George Washington en route to address Congress.

      Not as publicized, though stated in the first minute of the film, is how Dobbs becomes President: a glitch in the software used for national computerized voting – and even though the film exaggerates the risk of paperless voting machines, the results should give us pause as the country moves toward just such computerized voting.

      The computer glitch generates the political thriller half of the film. Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), an employee of the company that manufactures the machines, discovers the error before the election.  Her boss ignores her warning, and her subsequent attempt to alert the country leads to draconian efforts to silence her.  Company lawyer Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum) argues chillingly, “The perception of legitimacy is more important than legitimacy itself.”

      Green’s effort to reach somebody who will do something leads her to Washington, where she seeks out President-elect Dobbs.  The scene of Green dancing with Dobbs is one of the movie’s gems – Dobbs bemused but intrigued by this strange, geeky woman, Green all fluttery nerves as she tries to tell the man she has already begun to admire that he really isn’t President, after all.

      Not like this should be a great mystery – Dobbs is only on the ballot in 13 states, but the computer has him winning every one of them, while the incumbent President takes all the remaining states where he is matched only against the Republican challenger.  The circumstances require a healthy suspension of disbelief; surely someone would suspect a problem with such peculiar results.

      The subtler, gentler side of Williams emerges in his scenes with Linney, but fans of the earlier, more manic Williams should not despair. He gives a classic torrent of sharp, funny observations as he takes over the pompous staged debate, reducing it to total disorder and delighting his audience – both the one on screen and the one in the theatre. Real-life political commentator James Carville accurately analyzes Williams/Dobbs’ performance in a cameo appearance: “not just funny but real political points.”

      Williams is good, but he is Williams; his character is pretty much what you’d expect from his previous career.  The truly impressive performance in this film comes from Linney – and I’m not just saying that because we share the same alma mater. Her character, Eleanor Green, endures violent attacks, forced drugging, a transcontinental pursuit, public humiliation, two hospitalizations, and near-universal suspicion.  She goes from a curious geek to an accused drug addict to the President-elect’s obvious love interest.

      Linney particularly shines in two scenes: an appearance in the company cafeteria after she has been drugged, in which she descends from simple irritation and impatience to full-blown schizophrenia, and the previously mentioned dance scene with Williams.  Her performance, more than any other in this film, is deserving of recognition by the major awards.

      This is an interesting film, a political comedy for thinking folks of all political persuasions.  It is not, however, without flaws.  The explanation of the computer glitch that puts Dobbs in the Oval Office is needlessly complicated, and there’s just a bit too much in-film commentary (by real commentators like Carville and by characters like Christopher Walken’s Jack Menken) that points out the main political critiques.  Satire works better when it’s not explained but rather allowed to work within the viewer’s head.

        This review appeared in the Aberdeen American News on October 15,  2006.

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This page last updated on October 23, 2006.