Man of the Year will not be movie of the year

Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover?” Well, in this case, “don’t judge a movie by its previews.” Based on the commercials, Man of the Year seemed to look like a hysterical political satire that would have audiences worldwide on the edge of their seat laughing. However, the film was the complete opposite and left many viewers disappointed at how this movie turned out. Man of the Year’s bad marketing is definitely what took away from this movie and kept it from being memorable. Man of the Year stars Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, and Laura Linney and is the story of a comedian who runs for President and wins the election. Pretty funny, right? After the independent party member becomes President, controversy begins to unravel with the new voting system. Tom Dobbs (Williams) is a political comedian similar to that of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert who discusses politics in his television show. Loved by viewers and fans nationwide, Dobbs is asked by a fan to run for President. Immediately following the episode, millions of Dobbs’ fans flocked to the web to create various petitions and to give their opinions on why Dobbs would make a great candidate for the President for the United States. A few weeks later, Dobbs decides to run for President and somehow wins the election, becoming the new President-elect of the United States. After a lady by the name of Elanor Green (Laura Linney) discovers a glitch in the new Delacroy computerized voting systems, she is chased and hunted by Delacroy head Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum). The glitch causes voters to not get who the one who they voted for in office; therefore Dobbs is not the real elected President of the United States. Afraid of Green leaking the glitch to the press, thus causing Delacroy to lose all of their money, Stewart does everything in his power to try and get rid of Green permanently, and this is when the political thriller comes in to play. The only one Green can trust is Dobbs and she is in a battle with Stewart and the rest of Delacroy to let Dobbs aware of the glitch in the voting system. Who in the world wrote the previews for this movie? Everything from the trailers to the poster, to online advertisements made this movie look like a funny political satire with Robin Williams performing another one of his hilarious roles. Those assumptions are inaccurate as the movie was a suspenseful political drama that was sprinkled with little bits of humor here and there. Only about 1/3 of the movie is funny, while the rest of it is suspenseful. Despite the misleading commercials, Man of the Year did a great job of mixing both comedy and drama. This is the type of movie that could make a person laugh and think at the same time. The film covered a variety of serious political issues such as same sex marriages, and abortion. The movie’s plot seemed very realistic as well. The idea of the movie was to get viewers to think the next time they vote. They need to think that they might not get the person that they are truly voting for because of a “glitch” that could rig the election. While no one will be standing on stage at the Academy Awards as Best Actor and Actress, the acting in the film was not too bad. Robin Williams was….well, Robin Williams. Christopher Walken and Jeff Goldblum did fantastic as usual in the roles given to them. Laura Linney proved to Hollywood that she really can deliver a solid performance and that her horrible acting in Jurassic Park was just a fluke. The director of the film, Barry Levinson, has also brought us some yet serious films as well. He has directed Rainman, Good Morning Vietnam, and another political film Wag the Dog. So, the film was in good hands as far as the directing and writing goes. Levinson put together a solid script with a solid cast. Too bad he just couldn’t hire a solid ad creator and preview writer. All in all, Man of the Year is a movie that makes its audience think about the political system, and think about the way they vote. If you walk in to the theater or rent the film thinking that it’s going to be the funniest movie of the year, you’ll be wrong. Man of the Year is a good movie that will be affected by its bad marketing.