Movie Review: Swing Vote

Movie Review: Swing Vote

Reviewed by Ben Kayser

Plot: Swing Vote takes place during the 2008 elections with two presidential candidates. Incumbent Republican Andrew Boone is in a heated race with Democrat Donald Greenleaf. At the same time, in the small town of Texico, New Mexico 12 year old Molly tries to convince her drunkard irresponsible Dad (Bud Johnson) to vote. Through a series of mishaps her dad couldn’t make it because he lost his job that day and decided to get drunk. Frustrated, Molly sneaks into the polling center and somehow manages to vote undetected. But while she was voting someone accidentally unplugged the voting machine and her vote did not go through. As the evening progresses the candidates are at a dead heat. All the votes are counted and the two candidates are completely tied. Except one vote didn’t go through all of the way, and that would be Bud Johnson’s vote. The officials give him ten days to vote for a candidate. The media finds out and they bombard his home in New Mexico trying to find out his political views. Not having a political bone in his body, he says he has an open mind for either candidate. This leads the two candidates on race to win Bud over. Bud falls for the bribes the two candidates give, going to fancy parties and meeting famous celebrities. But Molly sees through it all and tries to convince her Dad otherwise.

Morals: The first moral to the story was this. Dads need to live up to their responsibility. I felt that the presidential elections were a sub plot, and Buds relationship (or lack thereof) with Molly was the main plot. Bud quickly realized that his self-centered life needed to change to a selfless life.
The second moral to the story was that politicians should not flip-flop on the issues. They really showed the lack of principle many politicians have these days. It was sad (yet funny) to see the Republican moving over to a gay rights position and the Democrat moving over to a pro-life stance JUST to please Bud Johnson.
The third moral to the story was that being apathetic is pathetic. Get involved with politics!



Technical Aspects
Acting: Although Kevin Costner (Bud) and Kelsey Grammer (Andrew Boone) did a fine job. The movie fell towards Madeline Carroll who stole the audiences with her character Molly. Madeline did a fantastic job at convincing the viewers she was real. I have to give a hand to the director Joshua Stern for handling all of the difficult and diverse moods very skillfully.
Screenplay: I felt at some points during the film the flow of the story was choppy and a little slow. But they did a good job at mixing drama with comedy without confusing people. I also liked that they focused more on Bud and Molly rather than the elections. Many screenplay writers get sidetracked into the story and forget about character development.
Soundtrack: John Debney did a great job at mixing his music with the moods of the story. I could even find myself a little teary at a few parts due to the music. For those who don’t know John Debney did the music for the Passion of the Christ. Which is one of the greatest soundtrack albums ever.

The Bad: One of the main problems that I had with the movie was its foul language. Now, I can handle a little swearing. But it’s when they start taking God’s name in vain when I get upset. Even though Molly gets on her dads case for using God’s name irreverently. It doesn’t make up for the usage. (Although it does say something that the writer would put something like that in.)

Conclusion: I was pleased that they ended the movie without endorsing either candidate. We all know that Bud won in the end because he saw his own sin in his life. Because of the language, I can’t recommend this movie without some sort of language blocker (which I have.) It’s sad that you can’t watch a movie these days without dishonoring God’s holy name. Overall, I give this movie a –3 for content and a +1 for worldview.