Man of the Year (2006)

Very disappointed :(

Powerful

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The acting in this movie is really good.

There are some movies that almost look like prophecies. In this film, a highly popular comedian leverages his fame and notoriety to create an independent, largely Internet-based support platform, through which he launches an election run to the White House.The film debuted in 2006, isn't one of the best known in Robbin William's filmography but remains very pertinent and current if we take into account the latest developments in US politics, and the election of the current president, Donald Trump. Like the protagonist, Mr. Trump had no prior political experience and used all of his fame and notoriety to reach the presidency. Both are outsiders, who apply to please those who are tired of conventional politicians. Curious, is not it?Williams is good in the lead role, which is basically the typical comic character that he knew how to do very well. So, without surprises, he stands out and does a very good job. Behind him, we can see a competent cast of supporting actors. Laura Linney is, perhaps, the actress whose character is more within a dramatic profile. Its around her that a conspiracy revolves around, preventing an electoral error from becoming public and ruining all future prospects of a large technology company. Christopher Walken, for his part, plays a clever political aide with an eye for the show.

See this again, and listen to the one-liners.....all hitting on the garbage we have allowed our government to become. Politicians should be like dirty diapers: changed frequently and for the same reason.Watch him skewer the politicians who are on the take from oil companies, as is our present Ma governor, but they call it 'campaign funds'. Now see if we can get any support for the solar panels our roofs.So and so on. This was about the time the electronic voting machines were being queered by complicit voting companies who would come in and 'fix' a machine on the fritz, by inserting a chip that would flip the votes. As a software engineer who analyzed bugs, I would give lectures on how easy it is to queer an election. YOu see it here as well.Please see this and listen to the lessons told as jokes. And bring back Stephen Colbert and get Jon Stewart to run. or at least to sponsor a candidate. And throw the money out of elections so we can get an honest candidate.

Man of the year is an odd film to describe, let alone review. Is it meant to be a comedy? A thriller? Or even a romance.Sadly the filmmakers themselves seem to be at a loss as to what the film is and so ultimately it ends up being a weird mish-mash of all three. But oddly it sort of works and I enjoyed the film a lot more than some of Robin Williams' other so called 'hits'.Robin Williams had a knack for making clunky material and sometimes clunky films work,and he really does well here. It's a role that allows him to show his ability as a stand up comic but also as a serious actor. The romantic scenes with Laura Linney also shouldn't work but somehow they seem real.Yes, there are dud scenes and too many bits and pieces being thrown at the film to try to make it work, but strip all that away and you end up with a nice performance from all involved - including the much missed Robin Williams.

I found this movie to be ... awkward. It wasn't bad. There are parts of it that are actually quite good. But it struck me as what you might call overly ambitious. There are basically two movies here. They're certainly connected; in fact in the context of this movie they're inseparable. But they're very different stories, and the combination of the two was - again - awkward.After what I thought was a pretty slow start with what was a rather lengthy narration style opening from Christopher Walken, playing Jack Menken, who was the manager for Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams), the movie started out really well. Dobbs is a political satirist, a la Jon Stewart. On his TV talk show he skewers politicians and rants against the system, and then suddenly and unexpectedly declares his candidacy for President of the United States. Starting out as a serious campaigner, he cuts loose as the political satirist he really is during a televised debate, his campaign catches fire and he gets elected, to everyone's surprise. This was working for me - and it was working really well. It wasn't outrageously funny, but it was a wonderful poke at the system, and I was seriously looking forward to seeing Dobbs poking the system from inside as he takes over the Oval Office.Then comes the awkwardness, as a completely unnecessary storyline gets introduced. The United States was trying out a new computer-based voting system. Now, I may not be an American but I'm familiar with the American electoral system. That's almost impossible. Each state runs its own version of the presidential election in its own way according to its own rules. To expect that every single state would sign on to this system is ridiculous. But that's the story. It then moves on to the fact that a computer glitch is what got Dobbs elected. You know what? I really wanted him as the legitimately elected President - a poke in the eye to the system from the voters. But he's not. The company that developed the computer voting system wants to cover the glitch up of course. So what if the glitch screwed democracy - it will hurt us in the pocketbook if people find out. But Eleanor (Laura Linney) - who works for the company - doesn't agree, wants to go public, and so the company sets out first to discredit her and then to eliminate her. So what started out as an enjoyable and light-hearted political satire becomes a political thriller about an electoral conspiracy. That could make for a good movie on its own, but to tie it in with the first part of the movie, where Dobbs gets elected in a huge upset was - I'll say it again - awkward. Both stories had a lot of potential. Because of the hybrid nature of the movie, neither story reached its full potential.To give credit where credit is due, though, Robin Williams was, I thought, superb in the role. He seemed credible, sincere and completely believable. I'm not always a big fan of Robin Williams; this movie was one of the best performances I've seen from him. Linney was good; Walken was probably underused. The movie's not bad. I just think it tried to do too much, and it would have been more fun and more interesting and maybe more thought-provoking if the whole political thriller angle had been dumped and we could have seen Dobbs actually and legitimately behind the desk in the Oval Office. (5/10)