"The Campaign", politics can be a fun mess!

The Campaign

A political satire is always a complicated film to do. Where do you establish the limits of your jokes? What message (if any) do you want to give? Weight or fun? "The Campaign" has a clear goal: aims to be an unpretentious film to make you laugh.

In my opinion, that's the key to enjoy this film. If you are looking for substance, this is not the place. Politics are not taken seriously here. It's like seeing a flesh & bone episode of Family Guy on American elections. It's also a very unbalanced film. But it does have a healthy dose of spite and a noteworthy amount of hilarious (brutal too, some audiences could find it a bit "too much" for their tastes) moments.

Sure, with that level of physical and verbal comedy, main characters have to be up for their task. And granted they are. Will Ferrell plays a extremely crazy and dumb role, as long-term congressman for one of the biggest districts of North Carolina Cam Brady, while Zach Galifianiakis, as the naive Marty Huggins, is quite brilliant as their impossible rival. There are no sides taken by director Jay Roach here. Democrats and Republicans are equally ridiculed, completely out of their minds, and ready to do what it takes to win the elections. If any, the message of the film is here: politicians are the mere puppets of corrupted CEOs, who are the ones that take the decisions (no spoiling).

Another very positive and "healthy" issue is that "The Campaign" also leaves room to criticise, with sharpness, the whole election system, the role of the media, and voters. Yes, campaigns are phony. Yes, shameful campaign ads and political mudslinging are common policies. In that sense, the film only exaggerates (to the maximum) the machinations and backstabbing among the candidates. With some amusing results. But, if we all know, why don't we try to do something about it?

But as I said before, "The Campaign" is not here to offer solutions. As a matter of fact, and at least to me, their only regrettable mistake is its "happy ending". If you have been building a no-hold-barriers lampooning of real politics, you shouldn't close the movie with an "out of the blue" final message that there's always hope. It would have been more much striking and coherent to leave the audience with the feeling that no matter who wins, we the citizens lose.

Anyway, "The Campaign" is not a great movie or a mind-changer for sure, but I'm also convinced it won't leave you indifferent. At least it will make you laugh.

SCORE: 6/10

"Ted”, teddy bears & Peter Pans

Ted

It seemed a good option to change, quite radically, for the sort of movie I have been watching lately. Besides, a comedy that was advertised as “Family Guy” gets “flesh & bone” seemed a pretty interesting choice. I’m not the biggest fan of the show (in my opinion, it’s pretty disjointed and uneven), but I do admit it’s hilarious, irreverent (mocking about everything and everyone is a healthy thing imo) and surreal.

And ”Ted” is “Family Guy” or “American Dad” indeed. A nice attempt to make a movie that could mix realistic characters with that sort of brutally surreal and let’s admit it, really funny, impossible situations that are the show's trademark. Of course, the “Family Guy” most obvious factor is Ted, the teddy bear, a mix between Brian and Stewie Griffin from “Family Guy” and Roger from “American Dad”. Motion-capture animation has allowed Seth MacFarlane (creator of both shows) to take his recurrent character that “shouldn't behave like humans but behaves like one” to the next level.

With that being said, "Ted" is a story about growing up, a premise that is quite frequent on the so-called “New American comedy”. Along with our peculiar teddy bear, now we have John Bennett, played by Mark Wahlberg, who is basically a 35 years old guy with a spectacular Peter Pan’s syndrome. Go figure, his best friend still is a teddy bear. The story development is simple. John would need to do something with his life, also forced by his girlfriend, played by Mila Kunis, who wants their relationship to move on. But that would mean change his friendship-for-life relationship with Ted. And there the problems and crazy situations begin.

It is clear the story itself is not original, and some parts, in particular in what refers to some secondary roles and the “kidnapping” subplot, never achieve its promise and feel out of place. MacFarlane clearly keeps the focus on John and Lori, and how Ted’s seem to be in the middle of them. But the script survives thanks to the "heart" on the love-story between them, as the situations might be silly, unbelievable and “ridiculous”, but both Wahlberg and Kunis seem very real in the exposure of their feelings, and, of course, because of the amount of hilarious situations. Pop culture references, job seeking, celebrities cameos, violence, drug abuse, sex and profanity coming from the mouth and actions of the most adorable teddy bear. Surprisingly, all this mixture works quite well, conforming a film that looks more cohesive than expected. “Ted” is not a succession of sketches.

It shouldn’t be topping the best-of-the-year films, but with a doubt, its an irreverent and funny one, with amusing moments.

SCORE: 6,5/10