‘The Campaign’ lacks substance, but not laughs
The premise behind “The Campaign” isn’t complicated: Politicians sometimes do silly (obnoxious, deceitful, underhanded and even illegal) things. That we’re rarely surprised when an elected official resigns his position over sexting or is charged with public indecency further solidifies the trend.
“The Campaign” takes these crazy antics and runs wild with them. Fighting each other? Ha. There’s a baby’s face for that. Sexting? So 2000-and-late. Let’s throw a sex tape in there. And when moralistic quandaries threaten to ruin the good time (and they come dangerously close to impugning the core of this comedic farce), we’re quickly reminded Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, the movie’s hilarious leads, don’t believe in “the moral of the story” situations.
“The Campaign,” lest we forget, does actually center around an election for a North Carolina Senate seat. Said seat has been in the hands of Cam Brady (Ferrell) for the past four terms, and he’s is odds-on favorite to win it again, if in no small part to the fact that he’s running unopposed. Brady is the type of congressman who rabidly preaches about guns, God and family while being incompetent and adulterous at every turn. But Ferrell manages to inject some humor into the inanity of the Blue Dog Democrat he’s portraying, utilizing his trademark fraternity-boy smirk reminiscent of his G.W. Bush impersonations.
His challenger, Marty Huggins (Galifianakis), is a meek, squeaky-voiced, mostly-looked-over son of a local political star. The manager of a small-town tourist office and a bit of a dork, Huggins is naively dragged into the race thanks to the billionaire Motch brothers (John LIthgow and Dan Aykroyd), a pair of classic brandy-drinking, cigar-smoking villains who will buy any politician regardless of party affiliation if it advances their agenda. (In this case, a nasty deal with Chinese business partners.) And it’s not just you if you have a difficult time believing Galifianakis to be a true Republican (and those awful cardigans don’t help), but it really doesn’t matter in this movie. Both parties are ridiculous. Point in case: When Cam is caught in an affair, he adds of a shot of Bill Clinton to his campaign commercials.
Some may compare the Motch brothers to the real-life Koch brothers, though that would be too literal an interpretation. The Motch brothers could care less about which party it supports, seeking only to further its own causes. It’s a jab to both parties.
Directed by Jay Roach (“Game Change”) and written by Chris Henchy and Shawn Harwell, “The Campaign” has a immense amount of fun lampooning politics in a light manner. It’s hardly satire, and too soft-handed to be commentary on the modern course of bitter partisan politics. Instead, the trio works to find as many embarrassing situations for the leads as possible, and they do so with great aplomb, if not necessarily creativity. The movie is hilarious, but it’s not breaking any boundaries.
It’s only when morals start getting in the way does the movie falter. After seeing so many zany antics, it’s off-putting to be reminded that politicians have families and that they’re not merely punching bags. The cynicism prevalent in the movie more or less dissipates near the end, where idealism takes hold.
Because if there isn’t a happy ending, Hollywood isn’t happy. If only happy endings were mandated for real-life politics.
Three baby-punching stars out of five.
Silver Screening Reviews 
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