Review of Man of the Year (2006) by Stevenf — 21 Jul 2013

Man of the Year suffers from explaining itself far too much, it delves into ridiculous plot twists that really bring the film in a different direction, its funny, exciting but takes itself way too seriously. Robin Williams delivers his stand-up routine for most of the film, that is certainly not a complaint, his energetic and witty one liners and long speeches are the knockout points of the film, but even he seems a little bored when the plot thickens to a murky mess.

Williams play renowned comedian Tom Dobbs,the films answer to Jon Stewart, a man who is told the simple yet thoughtful remark by an audience member, that he should run for President. When this little act of truth soon reaches a chain reaction, Tom Dobbs is in fact running as a presidential candidate, and is receiving overwhelming support for his honesty, lack of campaign money and general state of not pulling the wool over peoples eyes, with the help of his team, including Jack (Christopher Walken) and Eddie (Lewis Black). The chemistry shared with these three onscreen is brilliant and improvised gold.

But the wool is being pulled elsewhere, and this is the reason the film falls so heavily from its perch, as we see a witty and lift-hearted comedy turn into a conspiracy involving politics and voting.

Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) works for a company works for the company that runs the new system for voting, so when she discovers a fault with the system, a one to one with her boss turns into a fear for her life, as they want to cover up the mistake while she wants to expose it.

This is a classic case of a film going too far with its imagination, it tries to be too many things and ends up not being any of them, instead becoming a muddled fiasco of jokes that don't fit the conspiracy story, and even a blossoming love story that falls flat. But with all its failures there is still an enjoyable element to the film, the comedy is top notch and hits the mark, particularly because is reflects true life events, it has the gall stand to stand and address the necessary points through the energetic Robin Williams. But the rest of the cast all do a fine job in their roles, even id Jeff Goldblum's character is a little too maniacal for the film, but then again, the film does try and go that way.

An overblown mess of a film, with the best parts coming at the beginning and not continuing on, a genre should be picked and settled on, with no additions, sub-stories or what have you added to a film like this, it just becomes plain silly.