Game Change

There will be a lot of people who see "Game Change" and will absolutely hate it. No doubt, Sarah Palin, if she chooses to watch it, will probably be one of those people. I can't imagine a Democrat hating the movie. Either way, you can't talk about "Game Change" without feeling the bottoms of your shoes slightly thump against a soap box.

I personally don't know how accurate "Game Change" is. The film is based upon one-third of the 2010 bestseller of the same name by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. 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. To paraphrase Hannibal Lector, anyone labeling this movie as exploitation only needs to see the barrage of CNN and Fox News footage in this film to remind themselves that the past is real.

"Recount" told the story of the chaotic 2000 election returns, and how little Al Gore and George W. Bush actually had to do with the transpired events, contrary to popular opinion. "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. After winning the Republican nomination despite being last in the polls in 2007, McCain (Ed Harris) finds himself relying on Schmidt and other political advisers to find a V.P. candidate. Behind in the polls against Senator Barack Obama, he agrees to choose a female running mate to put him at an advantage against the first African-American nominee for President.

National Campaign Manager Rick Davis (Peter MacNicol) does his homework on a viable female candidate via a YouTube search in the only really inconsistent part of the film. You see him watch videos of female Republican politicians ranging from then-Hawaiian Governor Linda Lingle to Maine Senator Susan Collins. What you don't see clearly is Davis' rationale behind not choosing one of these women. Why would Senator Collins not be a better choice than Sarah Palin? Of course, being originally from Maine, I am biased.

What you learn from this movie is that while the Republican strategists did some homework on the then-Alaska Governor, they should have done more. This fact becomes apparent when Governor Palin (Julianne Moore) does not know, among other things, that the British Prime Minister is the head of government in Great Britain, not the Queen of England.

In what could have been a farcical portrayal of a politician of whom it's easy to make fun, Julianne Moore is astonishingly great as Sarah Palin. Like Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Kevorkian in "You Don't Know Jack" (2010), Moore is so believable as Palin that you would swear Palin was playing herself.

More than having the "You betcha!" accent down pat, Moore never has one wavering moment where you think you're watching the same actress from "Boogie Nights" (1997) or "The Kids Are All Right" (2010). She nails every aspect about Palin from her firm belief in her politics, her reactions to the press, her ill preparation for the notorious Katie Couric interview, and her butting heads with political advisers. 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. Harrelson's Schmidt more or less regrets his decision to convince McCain, only to try to make the best of it later on.

Also equally effective is Sarah Paulson, who plays senior adviser Nicholle Wallace. In the scenes where she tries in vain to help Palin properly prepare for the Katie Couric interview, it's like watching an A-student try to get a D-student to study for a final exam. Considering how the real Palin bombed that interview, that scene could not have been far from the truth. Paulson really reflects Wallace's frustration well, and is believably too tired in the end to say she told her so.

Ed Harris, while not doing a dead-on imitation of John McCain, effectively reflects the frustration and regret McCain must have felt after choosing Palin as a running mate. McCain may have been capable of dealing with the failing economy and foreign relations, but Palin clearly was not.

While Palin may not have been the sole contributor to McCain's defeat, she undoubtedly threw an anchor off the side of the Straight Talk Express. In the end, Harrelson, as Schmidt, probably would not answer "no" to Anderson Cooper's question of whether he regretted putting Palin on the ticket. His actions and reactions throughout the movie answer that question already.

Woody Harrelson is a lock for an Emmy nom, and more than likely Julianne Moore and Ed Harris get one as well. Palin may take issue with the moments in the movie that show her getting her diva on, but it's generally a very humanizing portrayal of her as a mom and wife who may have been in over her head but did her level best to soldier on. It's certainly not a caricature of her or a hatchet job. Moore, to her credit. seems to have gone out of her way to construct a reasonably balanced view of an extremely polarizing figure.

Had to love that line that Ed Harris delivers late in the movie where he tells Palin not to allow herself to be coopted by the Rush Limbaughs who will destroy the party. HBO couldn't have timed the TV premiere any better. Just lucky or prescient?

Amazingly good solid film. Julianne Moore is brilliant as Sarah Palin, and the rest of the cast - equally wonderful! The script is solid too, and keeps your interest, even if you remember every nuance of the Presidential race and the story we lived through. I don't want to say too much about the actual production, because it is so well done, mixing reportage with the actors. Mixing journalists with the actors.

It really is great. Congratulations to everyone at HBO and I really really really hope the film will be released in theatres around the country. It deserves the widest possible audience as possible.

I don't think it matters if you are Republican or Democrat, who you voted for or didn't vote either. The film is good, fair, interesting and well done.

You know what I expected from this film? A brutally simplistic mockery of the last Republican campaign just before the next one starts happening – it seemed an open goal and it seemed that the film was made too soon to be able to be objective and probably had no intention of being so anyway. Imagine my surprise when I found myself watching a film that, some cheap shots aside, is generally fair and balanced in how it plays back the McCain campaign. The film picks up the plot just as McCain is struggling against Obama and decides to play a wild-card by bringing in a poorly vetted Senator Palin to try and win key voter share back. The gambit starts out working great but, for several reasons, it quickly starts to unravel while the Obama campaign only gets stronger.

It is worth me saying at this point that I am pretty liberal in my politics and that I did nothing but laugh at Palin throughout her campaign, all the way till I shed a few tears over Obama's victory speech as I watched it at 6am in the UK. I continue to look at her working as a "talking point" pundit on Fox and marvel at her ability to provide generic bile and if I am honest, I would not have been totally dismayed if this film had been a two-hour kicking of her. However what we actually get is much better and fairer than this and it is only really at the back end of the film where it shows its colours by having a few unnecessary lines and digs thrown in there to no real benefit. The film shows that he McCain campaign took a necessary risk with their candidate and that the risk didn't pay off. It shows that Palin is not some glassy eyed idiot but rather a person who is overwhelmed at first but then makes the mistake of believing her own hype on the news after one successful debate.

This is done in such a way that it works – it doesn't suggest that it was deliberate or that these people are those portrayed on the news, but rather than both decisions and mistakes were made. If anything one could argue that the film doesn't do enough to show how much the campaign got away from under McCain's team – look at the "he's an Arab" moment here, it is much more gentle than the reality, which saw McCain frantically grasp the microphone from his target voter and quickly correct her – in the film it is much softener than that. This change in the campaign is fairly pinned on Palin and it shows her starting to believe her own press and believe that being herself is the all whereas really her stage-managed self was the thing that worked. I liked that her advisors all had that worried look when she spoke, all knew they were training someone who desperately needed training as opposed to polishing and all could see the risk going south.

She isn't presented as an idiot though. Palin is a real person here and you feel for her as she feels out of her depth and also as she convinces herself that she is more than she really is. It also allows you to understand why she goes this path and it is certainly not a mockery of her because it is fair and it is intelligently done. There are several moments and lines later in the film that don't play as fair though and these are rather unnecessary and blunt, but mostly it is well done. The cast do pretty well considering. Moore is not just another Tina Fey but, thanks to the script, really gets her character and makes something of it. Harris starts well as McCain but his character is rather lost in events and I thought he deserved more – and, in fairness, I thought the real McCain was better. Harrelson delivers a strong performance throughout and it is in his character that the impact of Palin is played out – he gives it straight as a political player and it works well. The support cast is full of faces from MacNicol to Livingston to Altman and generally they all do a good job.

Overall then, this is an engaging and intelligent film that more or less manages to be fair and balanced in regards the presentation of the McCain campaign. It shows the decisions and risks within the campaign and the development of brand Palin in a way that is clear and even-handed and it makes for a good film as a result. Not perfect but certainly much better than what I expected.

Review: Game Change (HBO)

"Recount" creator Jay Roach returns to the politico ring with "Game Change" starring Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt, the man behind John McCain's 2008 run for the White House. A straight recount of the vetting of Sarah Palin to the VP post and it's compelling to see Julianne Moore be Sarah Palin (I forgot there was an actress playing her shortly into the movie). Ed Harris fills McCain's shoes with a respectful performance with dignity. All the actors are great, but Moore is absolutely stunning in the dramatic scenes. Roach presents some great moments in history as Palin watches Tina Fey doing an impression of her on SNL (surreal to watch an actor as Palin watching Fey doing Palin). I thought the film makers did a great balance, showing Schmidt as a flawed man who made the mistake of choosing an independent minded woman who has a few major flaws of her own (she is as misinformed as most of the right wing base). Great movie and Moore made me forget she was acting, a perfect performance!