Saturday, January 24, 2009

Swing Vote (2008) Film Review - Kevin Costner

Plot Summary - In the small town of Texico, New Mexico, a sort of beer drinking, ne'er-do-well slacker named Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) is busy being raised by his precocious eleven-year-old-ish daughter Molly who basically orders him out of bed to take her to school and get himself to work each day - she pretty much has to run the roost herself. Come election day for U.S. President, Molly is gung-ho for dad to vote - but he gets laid off from his factory job packing eggs, then gets drunk at the local beer hall and forgets to show up at the voting place. Molly decides to sneak in after closing and place a vote on his behalf (and forge dad's signature!) - but when the lights go out, his ballet is stuck in the machine and not counted. Now here's the meat of this sort of surreal tale - the vote for President comes down to New Mexico and a single vote standing between the democratic candidate (Dennis Hopper) and the republican current President (Kelsey Grammer). Guess whose? Yeah, Bud becomes famous as the man who is going to place the vote and decide the country's future. Now each candidate's side tries to swing his vote their way - and they are not past changing their party policy issues in an effort to win Bud over!

Review - I thought this was a pretty good film with an interesting story and good cast, though it was definitely a bit long and dragged through the middle. Madeline Carroll, the young actress who plays Molly was quite good, and very likable to boot. Worth a watch. Rating - 8/10 stars

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