Well acted drama, adapted from a novel by Joe Klein; has a terrific first half and then falters horribly in the final half hour- almost completely killing the entire movie. Travolta is dead-on as southern Governor Jack Stanton (a thinly veiled charicature of Bill Clinton), who is running for President. The film is shown from the perspective of a young, African-American man named Henry Burton, who is Stantons campaign manager. Through his eyes we spend intimate moments with the candidate, his wife and family and the various people working on his campaign. We also meet the other contenders for the office and get a rare inside glimpse of politics at work, which can be a ruthless and conniving game. Its fascinating material and the film hits the ground running, using a mostly good natured, humorous approach. The campaign must deal with the various and not unusual attacks by the opponents and must constantly dream up new strategies and schemes. Billy Bob Thornton is the man in charge of that department and he is all aces as Richard Jemmons, a ruthless, foul mouthed PR man. When even he cant refute some of the attacks on Stantons character (like an alleged affair with a hairdresser), Mrs. Stanton turns to Libby Holden (a terrific Kathy Bates). Libbys a quirky and unstable (shes been recently released from a mental hospital) defender of the Governor; whos reckless tactics actually get results. But she has a strict moral code that none of the others operate by. She will only go so far- and while she will defend attacks from other candidates she refuses to dig up dirt to attack another candidate first. It turns out that Governor Stanton is a genius player of the political game but also a tremendous philanderer who just may have had an affair with a 17 year old African-American girl and gotten her pregnant. Through some slick manipulation, he is able to disprove this. Then one of his opponents suffers a paralyzing series of heart attacks and is out of the race only to be replaced by a seemingly impeccable do-gooder. It turns out that he has a past history of drug abuse and homosexuality. The breaking of this news could seal the deal for Stanton but Libby is adament that he not go through with it. This is where the film breaks down, in a show of heavy handed moralizing and then a melodrmatic suicide that throws everything off course. The film has an open ending, never telling us flat out that Stanton wins and goes on to become President of the United States but the answer isnt difficult to surmise. This really is a good movie, enriched with great performances from a terrific cast and plenty of inspired moments of wit and outrageousness. It also has some heartening moments, as well and these are a constant reminder of how and why Bill Clinton got elected in the first place. Nichols does a fine job of directing and Elaine May does a pretty faithful adaptation of Kleins novel. Though his story is fictional, it is really a thinly disguised look at the 1992 Presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Klein worked for Newsweek as a reporter and columnist during the 1992 Presidential election and also followed Clinton on the road and got to see a lot of things first hand. Youll see them in the movie and although most of it isnt that shocking, if you think about it, some of it really is- or at least, should be. This film does make you think and it raises some pretty frightening conclusions. After all that we do see going on, imagine what we dont see behind the scenes and probably never will. All of the wheeling and dealing and manipulation that is politics, as usual. Fascinating, even though not entirely successful.
Output: Question: Who plays Richard Jemmons?, Answer: Billy Bob Thornton