Build a movie plot around this: Who did the governor have an affair with and get pregnant? a 17 year old African American girl
The answer to this question is:
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...