Metacritic reviews

Swing Vote marries mild satire with Capra-esque melodrama in a formula that works surprisingly well.

The movie is a genial comedy, but it has significant undertones. Like some of Frank Capra's pictures.

The film seems like a loose and uncredited updating of "The Great Man Votes," a more serious 1939 entry.

Picture's comic smarts and affecting daddy-daughter drama provide a sturdy platform for its heartfelt advocacy of informed voting and responsible citizenship.

This one may be soft and derivative. But the actors establish a groove and stay on-message.

Costner (who's also a producer) plays to his middle-aged strengths in a role that exaggerates male weaknesses.

The longer Swing Vote hangs around, the more engaging it becomes. It's twice as smart as you have any reason to expect but still only half as smart as you wish it were.

Swing Vote isn't exactly a toothless political satire. It's something worse: a satire with dentures.

Swing Vote may muster a few easy laughs, but the film is no contender.

Paints a surprisingly sour portrait of nearly all its characters, so much so that even the final-reel redemption rings hollow and forced.