Our Brand Is Crisis

'Our Brand is Crisis' is based upon the apparently true story of the wholly cynical manipulation of a presidential campaign in a Latin American country. With such subject matter, one would expect it to come across a lot more dark but unfortunately, this movie has a fairly laconic, wishy-washy feel to it. The promised head-butting between the two leads (Thornton and Bullock) comes across more as half-hearted ironic flirtation. The attempt at sentimentality at the end seems forced. I believe this movie would have played better as an unrepentant dark comedy, and also get the sense that it should have been a made-for-t.v. movie. There are some terrific location shots, apparently filmed in Bolivia, where the movie is set.

"No wrong but losing."

Three things I learned from watching David Gordon Green's Our Brand is Crisis: 1. Politics is universally corrupt—The Bolivian election "Calamity" Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) is hired as a strategist for has the very machinations extant in our own balloting as I write this column.

2. What a candidate does after election may have nothing to do what he or she promised to get elected.

3. Sandra Bullock can act--heretofore I have not been impressed, but in this film she sheds her cute starlet demeanor and plays a bright, depressive, frequently losing marketing adviser with enough brilliance left after her battles to pull together a competitive campaign. Her fragile nature combined with grit makes for a moderately complicated character.

Our Brand is Crisis, adapted by director David Gordon Green and writer Peter Straughan from Rachel Boynton's 2005 documentary of the same name, is sometimes uncompromising about the low-ball shenanigans of a campaign, with tricks such as spreading lies about an opponent or spreading lies about your candidate to allow him to deny and ascribe the rumor to his opponent.

It is gratifying to see that Jane is not above dirty tricks, nor does she win each skirmish with the likes of her marketing opponent, Pat Brady (a slick, smarmy, bald Billy Bob Thornton, based on Clinton strategist James Carville).

Jane's past includes a stint at a mental hospital and questionable tactics, one of which apparently led to a suicide. She is not the usual glam Bullock; rather she is a shaggy, disheveled blond with self doubt and frequently nauseous from the Bolivian altitude. At any rate she is not the consultant Senator Castillo (Joaquin de Almeida) thought he was paying for.

Nor does the film give her transcendent moments of inspiration: What comes of success is learned experience and a bit of luck. No deus ex machina in this drama. In fact, as Green marries her pratfalls with her sometimes drunken speech, it's difficult to see where the usually focused Green and his movie want us to go: Drama? Comedy? Satire?

The differences between what Jane wants from the candidate and what he wants provide effective moments of speechifying that illuminate the process and develop character. Ben (Anthony Mackie), who runs the campaign, has the right stuff to hire Jane and question her methods while retaining a healthy sense of humor.

Our Brand is Crisis is a not-too-subtle look into politics and marketing. Although you won't be surprised, you will be gratified that what you suspected about the dirty tactics that go along with each is true. Just put a few top actors in the roles, and you will believe.

Falling badly in the polls. Bolivian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) enlists the help of an American management team for help. The main start of the team is "Calamity" Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock), a brilliant strategist who must come out of a self-imposed retirement for a chance to beat her professional nemesis, the loathsome Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton). Since Candy is working for her competition, this election becomes a dirty, all-out battle between the two political consultants, where nothing is held sacred and winning is the only option.

Ever since I saw her in Gravity, I've been a big Sandra Bullock fan. I think she's a great actress and I was willing to take a chance on this film because of that. I was interested in this because the film's trailers made it look like a fun political satire. The film started off with Jane being plucked from obscurity and starts off slow from there as she just seems disinterested in the proceedings. I found this a little annoying because I felt, as the other characters did, that my time was being wasted. They made her have altitude sickness but that wasn't necessary. Once she got over that, I felt the film started to get better. It was interesting for me to see their interpretation of the political process and the fact that it was taking place in Bolivia didn't seem to have any relevance. The campaigning and the strategizing was fun but I feel like the film was playing it safe with everything. It never really explored anything with any depth and again, it never really talked about what was happening in Bolivia. Because of this, the film's sudden change of tone near the end did not work. I just found it odd as the film started off as one thing and then tried to be something else and the transition just didn't work either. I found the plot in this one to also to not be original and rather predictable. The film also had a message but just like the tone change, it also did not work or feel earned. Despite the plot's shortcomings, they did not matter as much to me because of the acting. specifically by Bullock and Thornton. I found Bullock here to be very entertaining and she had a great command of the screen. Thornton was great as well as his scenes with Bullock's Jane were just amazing because of the writing and the chemistry between the two actors who are actually friends in real life. The other actors in the film (Anthony Mackie as Ben, de Almeida as Castillo, Ann Dowd as Nell, Scoot McNairy as Buckley, Zoe Kazan as LeBlanc, and Reynaldo Pacheco as Eddie) were good too and the chemistry was there but there was no character development whatsoever as we never really got to learn anything about any of these characters. The closest character to get some development was Pacheco's Eddie as his character served primarily as a view into Bolivia itself but barely. This film set out to be a satire and a drama and I think it got the satire but some of the drama just didn't work for me. Overall, this film had good intentions but was a little messy but Bullock and Thornton alone make this worth a look.

Score: 7/10 keithlovesmovies.com

It's been awhile since Sandra Bullock has been able to immerse herself in a role. It's wonderful to see her back on the screen. Her character here is a political strategist who's flawed in ways that make her appealing. No other actress does sarcasm and feisty in the same breath as well as Bullock. Especially when she does it with a subtle nod to humility. This is a movie which will not appeal to everyone because it's about a political campaign and campaigns are the same whether in the U.S. or in another country. Unless you appreciate the games played in getting anyone elected this will feel labored. The entire cast is excellent. Thornton and Bullock apparently are friends off-screen and their scenes together aren't nearly enough as they are out for the same result. One of the smarter movies I've seen this year.

Political consultant Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) had a mental breakdown and lives in seclusion. Nell (Ann Dowd), Buckley (Scoot McNairy), and Ben (Anthony Mackie) hire her to consult on the failing campaign of Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) as Bolivian President. He is a former leader who instigated harsh tactics and politics. She discovers old foe Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton) is running the leading candidate's campaign. She brings in LeBlanc (Zoe Kazan) to do opposition research.

This movie wants to be a powerful statement against politics but is also trying to be a silly comedy. The fact that it's dealing with realistic world politics means that it needs to be more vicious. It needs to be darker. It needs to hit harder. The charismatic Bullock is stuck in no-woman's land. She is still compelling and fun although fun is not necessarily the needed adjective.