Game Change
Tags: historical

Plot synopsis:
The film opens in 2010 with a frame story: Republican strategist Steve Schmidt is being interviewed by Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes. Cooper poses a difficult question regarding former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin: was she selected because she would make the best vice president or because she would win the election?
The story flashes back to Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, which is struggling to compete with other Republican candidates during the primary season. A desperate McCain places a call to Schmidt, who tells him that he has decided to sit out the 2008 race. McCain, however, convinces Schmidt to reconsider.
Months later, Schmidt is serving as McCain's Senior Campaign Strategist, and with his help, McCain has clinched the Republican nomination. McCain's preferred running mate, Senator Joe Lieberman, is rejected by the majority of his senior advisers – including Schmidt – because he will not help compete with the celebrity of their opponent, Democratic Senator Barack Obama. The strategists quickly look for a "game change" candidate. The replacement must do four things: excite the conservative base, win the vote of independents, distance the campaign from the Bush administration, and close the "gender gap" – the GOP's 20-point deficit with women. Investigating prominent female Republican politicians, the campaign finds Palin, the governor of Alaska, to have the charismatic qualities they want. After an exceptionally brief vetting process, she is selected. Palin's eventual public reveal creates the buzz that Schmidt and McCain were looking for, bringing them to even or better with Obama in the polls.
While Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention is well received, the campaign becomes concerned that she is ignorant about many political issues and grossly unprepared. Schmidt handles controversies from her past, such as Troopergate and "Bridge to Nowhere", while other staff attempt to fill broad gaps in her understanding of domestic and foreign politics. While prepping for the interviews, she is preoccupied with her approval ratings in Alaska and the absence of her family while campaigning, eventually becoming unresponsive to advisers who begin to question her mental state. Several prominent blunders in major interviews, such as those with Katie Couric, are a source of mockery in the media and frustration in the campaign. Overwhelmed and poorly prepared, Palin lashes back at attempts by Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace to give her a crash course on the major issues, then blames them for setting up public interviews that ultimately reveal her lack of knowledge. Schmidt opines that YouTube has altered the media landscape in that Palin's gaffes are seen online repeatedly rather than being forgotten in the news cycle.
By late 2008, with prospects appearing poor, the campaign staff boosts a negative campaign against Obama's past associations with the liberal elite, which Palin supports but McCain resists. The staff also comes to accept that Palin is better at memorizing and delivering lines than she is at actually understanding issues. Thus they grudgingly prepare her for the Vice-Presidential debate by simply having Palin memorize about forty minutes' worth of talking points, which manages to get her through the debate without major incident. However, Palin's growing popularity with the Republican base, even as she alienates mainstream voters, soon overshadows the campaign; Palin becomes uncooperative, rejecting – and conflicting with – Schmidt and the rest of the campaign staff as she gains her own following. Palin, in fact, rebuffs McCain by publicly disagreeing with his decision to end campaigning in Michigan. McCain, meanwhile, becomes discouraged by the negative campaigning, watching growing hostility and vitriol emerge toward Obama among McCain's supporters. With Election Day approaching, senior campaigners express regret that Palin turned out to be style without substance, with Schmidt lamenting that they neglected to vet her competency. McCain consoles Schmidt by reaffirming that taking a risk with Palin was better than fading away.
When Obama wins on Election Night, McCain and his advisers stop a rebellious Palin from giving a concession speech along with McCain's, as it was unheard of for a vice-presidential candidate. McCain tells Palin that she is now one of the party leaders, and warns her not to let herself be hijacked by extremism. Rick Davis (McCain's campaign manager) comments that Palin will soon be forgotten. During McCain's concession speech, he thanks Palin, who receives enormous and sustained applause, chants, and enthusiasm from the crowd, which is noted in the faces of McCain's advisors. The film returns to the 2010 interview; regarding Cooper's question about whether he would pick Palin again if he had the chance to go back, Schmidt replies that life does not give you do-overs.

Review: Their book, detailing the entire 2008 Presidential election and allegations thereof in both parties, had been criticized for relying on too many anonymous sources and lacking explicit sourcing.This movie, written by Danny Strong and directed by Jay Roach, takes the most intriguing segment of the 2008 election, namely the nomination and introduction of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and lets the ridiculousness of the events surrounding her expose itself.Like "Recount" (2008), the previous collaboration between Roach and Strong, what is most astounding about this movie is not the events in it, but that we actually lived through them not too long ago.
"Game Change" shows the interactions between those in and out of the spotlight, and how candidates in an election can be the cause of their own undoing.The film centers around Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson), Senator John McCain's chief political adviser during his 2008 campaign for President.
It's all completely believable.While there was less pressure on Harrelson to play a public figure, he also did a great job as an adviser whose recommendation to nominate Palin truly seemed like a good idea at the time.
This film is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the most failed act of political cynicism in recent American history: the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate for his 2008 presidential campaign.
HBO's dilution of the real story as it unfolded, in an attempt to seem "unbiased", does a disservice to this otherwise brilliant film, and to history.Game Change shows us the worst in political gamesmanship - the unbridled cynicism that lead an all male campaign staff to choose a political bimbo to be "a seventy-two year old heartbeat away from the presidency".
Julianne Moore did an excellent job playing Sarah Palin and she got it right in saying this movie shows what's wrong with our democracy.
He makes a decision that would not only have significant impact on the race, but the entire Republican party and ultimately define his political career.First off the casting is excellent; both Julianne Moore and Ed Harris are perfectly cast and they deliver uncanny performances of Sarah Palin and John McCain.
Julianne Moore is very deserving of all the buzz she's been getting and I'm disappointed Ed Harris hasn't quite got as much publicity; his John McCain was not that far behind Moore's Palin (but make no mistake, Moore is the star here).I loved the editing of the film as they fused together actual footage from the campaign trail and with scenes recreated in the film to great effect.
They feel John McCain needs to appeal to both women and the right and find the perfect candidate, Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore), Governor of Alaska.
There are moments showing Palin to be competent when being asked questions in a personal interview, thinking on her feet during a her convention speech and her great strength to the Republican party was see was seemingly relatable to middle Americans and approachable when she was governor and has a great care and understanding for people with Downs Syndrome.
But it was clear she was not well educated, not even having a basic understanding issues and the world and cannot even answer questions that even people would little understanding of politics could answer.There is a strong cast in the film, Moore, Harrelson, Ed Harris and Sarah Paulson.
Well, there's the usual proviso that any film purporting to portray real people, real events and 'what really happened' has to be taken on trust, and I have no way of knowing just how accurate or not this film is.Game Change has been accused of being liberal propaganda but to be honest if that's the case everyone apart from La Palin herself doesn't come out of it too badly, and Ed Harris's John McCain presents us with a principled, decent and honest man.
From the moment I first saw this movie, back when it aired on HBO, I have hailed this as one of the greatest TV movies of all time.Following the campaign trail of John McCain and his crazy running mate Sarah Palin, we are introduced to behind the scenes and it is done remarkably well.
I liked this film because the writing was spectacular, the acting was so superb that there were times I forgot I was watching Julianne Moore and not the real Palin.Of course this is my opinion about it so check it out for yourself.
The movie Game Change about the campaign of the Presidential ticket of John McCain with Sarah Palin as his Vice President is such an awesome movie.
Sarah Palin is the kind of person who would go on the game show Are You Smarter then a 5th Grader and lose every single time.Don't get me wrong since I think that McCain would've made a much better president then George W.
It examines the people who participate in those events and doesn't try to take the route of humanizing the actual event while almost completely ignoring those involved with it.Director Jay Roach and writer Danny Strong (the same two who made the HBO film Recount - still unseen by me - which dealt with the Gore and Bush election), Game Change deals with the Obama-McCain election of 2008, the most historic election in history.
The film focuses on McCain's campaign, starting with their search for a competent vice president who can drum up support for the slumping support of women and also invigorate the press with the same kind of "movie star charisma" as Barack Obama seems to do during his speeches.The McCain campaign settles on the Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, a fearless woman whose heart always seems to be in the right place and whose mindset is always devoted to bettering the lives of her children and husband.
Game Change is the 2012 HBO film about the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign against Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008.
I only started paying attention to politics in the 2008 election: when Sarah Palin made her acceptance speech after being picked to be VP Candidate, I remember her first words to the public as being more antagonistic over her party's then-opponent than this film shows.Julianne Moore becomes Sarah Palin for this 2-Hour jaunt back to 2008: So much so that it scares me, just like the original Sarah Palin did in 2008 when I walked out of a friends house on the night she made her acceptance speech, when I had been planning on voting for McCain and changed my mind due to the first words out of Sarah Palin's Mouth.Why did it take the McCain campaign so long to see what I saw within thirty seconds?
And this film shows step by step how the phrase "Not Enough Experience" when referring to their opponent came back and bit them on the rear end.As and actress, Julianne Moore shows more talent in representing an historical figure than Palin did when being coached in world politics by the best experts that could be hired by the republican party at the time.This film depicts the real reason why Palin was selected with clarity and this is what frightens me, I was not aware of the other two possibilities, if McCain had chosen one of his other possibilities, that would have been as much of a bold move as choosing Sarah Palin.I understand why McCain made the choice after watching this, this movie shows us why this was a mistake.
Since 2010 and the unfortunate "victory" of "citizen's united" this voice now has to work much harder than ever in being heard.But we also see that even with obstacles like "citizens united" people who believe will do what it takes to make that voice heard.I believe the biggest mistake of the McCain/Palin campaign was that the party did not learn from that mistake and instead of having what was needed-A Change of Heart over a Change of Game - They have gone for burying the people's true political voice, by loud special interest group noise, by trying to suppress voters who will likely vote against them, and by changing policy on issues more times per minute than any transistor J/K Flip-Flop circuit.If the republican party wants my vote ever again in the future, it will take more than a change of game.
Plucked from obscurity Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore) became the darling of the American neo-conservative elite when Republican nominee John McCain (Ed Harris) selected her to be his running mate in 2008 presidential election.Whilst providing the failing campaign with significant momentum and seemingly bridging the gaping divide between the far-right and the American political mainstream her impressive facade diminished rapidly when she was asked a few simple foreign policy questions on camera by the mainstream media.
We see the seemingly formidable candidate the McCain campaign team (seasoned veterans of immense political acumen) thought they were getting contrasted so starkly with the resulting debacle.What 'Game Change' captures are the terrifying moments when it becomes clear that a candidate does not possess the kind of general knowledge one expects from someone running to be vice-president of a world superpower or even that which the lowest level of government official would know.People who followed Palin's arc are aware of those cringe-inducing moments where she made errors in geography, misinterpreted foreign policy questions and couldn't even name a newspaper or magazine she has read.This film goes well beyond that and Palin is depicted occasionally going into catatonic stupors during briefings in which she appears completely incognisant and campaign staff question whether she is mentally unbalanced.
You actually feel sorry for Palin as her ignorance is revealed, and delight in her rare victories.Also very interesting to see the US political machine in action.Great performances from Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin, Ed Harris as John McCain and Woody Harrelson (especially) as Steve Schmidt, McCain's strategist..
Much of this film contained Palin's own words, and this can easily be checked by referring either to one's own memory or to the Internet.One reviewer even said that the film was based on only a small portion of the book, but this isn't true -- the book can be broken down roughly into three parts (like Gaul): one third on Obama; one third on Hillary Clinton; and one third on McCain and Palin.It's hard to believe the righties when they claim that Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace are liberals with an axe to grind.
While Julianne Moore was great as Sarah Palin, and I had much more sympathy for Ed Harris' John McCain than I ever did for the actual John McCain, I felt the best performance was that of Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt.
The movie Game Change is part documentary (it uses real footage of Obama, Biden, Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Tina Fey, etc.) and part reality show docudrama using actors to portray Palin & McCain.
The worst part of the movie is that the liberal democrats who wrote/acted in this movie couldn't even show the character of the people they were "portraying." While the movie did paint McCain as the great statesman's he his (regardless if you agree with his politics)they had him cursing all time, which he doesn't do, and the character in the movie didn't think or act the same way he does in real life.
Based on a book about the entire 2008 Presidential election, this movie focuses on a narrow subset of the book, specifically the choice to run Sarah Palin as Vice President and the consequences it had for John McCain's campaign.
While the movie is obviously designed to attack Sarah Palin, exaggerating every mistake or misstep, which happens in every campaign, and ignoring every part about how she energized an otherwise flagging McCain campaign.Instead, the people who come off worst are the McCain campaign staff, in particular Nicolle Wallace who appears to be a remarkably foolish person, without much grasp of real politics.
One example was 2012's "Game Change", about John McCain's hiring of Sarah Palin as his running mate, only to see the Alaska governor make a fool of herself and eventually sink his presidential campaign.The star is Julianne Moore - who won a well deserved Emmy for the role - as Palin, perfectly impersonating the self-proclaimed mama grizzly in all her blithe ignorance and lack of preparation.
McCain (Ed Harris) takes more of a backseat to strategist Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson), who slowly but surely realizes that he made a mistake in hiring Palin and not sufficiently vetting her.The movie certainly took me back to 2008.
Arizona Senator John McCain (Ed Harris), selects Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore), as his 2008 Republican Presidential running mate against Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.
I waited a long time to see this on DVD and I loved every minute of it.Julianne Moore was phenomenal and so was Woody Harrelson.HBO have got their house in order - this was one of the best things they have ever done.I didn't realize how little interaction there was between McCain and Palin, they barely saw each other.
Ed Harris and Julianne Moore star with Woody Harrelson and Jamey Sheridan in "Game Change," a 2012 film that looks at the 2008 campaign of John McCain, based on the book by Mark Halperin.Conscious of a need to go up against Obama, a black American, the McCain campaign suggests a woman, Sarah Palin (Moore), Governor of Alaska.
Encouraged by her husband, she realizes that the most important thing is that she be herself and get out and talk to the people.From there, she becomes arrogant and impossible to deal with.Excellent film with a fantastic performance by Julianne Moore, who is perfect as Sarah Palin, the wrong woman in the wrong place.
Harrelson has a showier role as Steve Schmidt, and how this man avoided a total nervous collapse is a real mystery.Even though we know how this came out, the film is still absorbing and incredibly interesting as it takes us through this disaster otherwise known as the 2008 Presidential campaign and the star who flashed so brightly for such a short time, Sarah Palin..
Ed Harris looks and sounds like John McCain and Julianne Moore pulls off the impossible, she may be a better Palin then Tina Fey. The actual movie though is just OK to me.
The thing that really stands out are the Emmy-caliber performances of Ed Harris (as John McCain), Julianne Moore (as Sarah Palin) and Woody Harrelson (as Steve Schmidt).
Well done to HBO for this well directed, scripted and acted movie about Sarah Palin's role in the McCain campaign of 2008.
Julianne Moore gives a truly miraculous performance - there were many times when I thought: "How can that NOT be the actual Sarah Palin!" Before I saw this movie I had chalked most of Palin's success up to her good looks.
The film also showed actual news footage covering the 2008 presidential election.Julianne Moore was a perfect choice to portray Sarah Palin!
This film follows the John McCain presidential campaign, particularly about the game-changing choice of heretofore nationally-unknown Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin.The caliber of acting talent they chose for this project, you would wonder why they did not make it for the big screen.
This was what was documented in the Mark Halperin/John Heilemann book "Game Change", which has become a made-for-cable movie from HBO.The book focused on the GOP side of the 2008 presidential ledger than the Democratic side (even though Obama had his moments against former First Lady Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary), and thus the focus of the film is on McCain, well played by Ed Harris.
After having considered several of the guys who challenged him in the GOP primaries, on the advice of his campaign adviser Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson), the choice is made for Palin (Julianne Moore), who at that time had barely any political experience, first being mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and then having spent barely eighteen months as that state's governor.
Harrelson, who I thought was well overblown as a religious nut in 2009's "2012", is equally cagey as Schmidt, whose technical advice was well used by director Jay Roach and screenwriter Danny Strong in the making of the film.Edited with a lot of TV footage from the various campaign stops that McCain made during the campaign, GAME CHANGE vividly depicts not only what the 2008 campaign looked like, but also gives us an idea of what future presidential campaigns will be, with the presence of cable news, Internet blogs, and, most especially, YouTube.
As Sarah felt the spotlight is all about her and not John and interesting is seeing the behind the scenes disagreements with adviser Nicolle Wallace(Sarah Paulson)who as shown in the film's ending revealing to campaign manager Steve Schmidt(wonderful job by veteran Woody Harrelson)that she was so discouraged by the antics of Sarah that she couldn't even cast her vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.
The film shows Palin as an insecure broken down woman who couldn't handle the limelight and by trying for exposure she helped contribute to an already weak and lazy risk taking campaign with mistakes and bad choices made by both Steve Schmidt and John McCain as both were not dirty enough for presidential politics, plus it didn't help that the republican party was out of favor in 2008 with the general public.
Sarah Palin was totally unprepared to run for this office and I think the movie does a good job showing how unfair this process really was for her and her family.Watch it and you will be amazed.
HBO original movie based on the book of the same name about John Mccain's choice of Sarah Palin as vice president..
But that fact makes me believe that this movie is fair, because I felt somewhat more sympathetic toward Sarah Palin after watching this.Making a film depicting recent history, as this does, is difficult, because it portrays people that, for the most part, we know.
I am unsure about the cussing, but it was a Presidential campaign and it is likely that they have cussed, and Sarah Palin did not cuss.This movie has given me more respect for John Mccain.