This is a pretty enjoyable bit of fluff once get past the ultra-left stereotyping of politics that makes up most of the subplots in this movie. The romance between Douglas and Bening is pretty well scripted, but Bening's performance suffers from near-hysterical emoting in too many scenes to be effective. Douglas is as smooth and charming as he ever is, and is a bit self-effacing in this outing, increasing his charisma. Definitely had potential to be an all-out classic.
This, however, was ruined for me by the WWF-style good guys/bad guys routines that run through this movie. I guess when you have Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss, and Annette Bening in a movie, you can be sure that everyone to the right of Ted Kennedy will be portrayed as evil incarnate. Dreyfuss's portrayal of the 'conservative' senator was not bad, but the whole movie was so unbalanced as to be laughable. Liberals may outnumber conservatives by a small margin in this country, but it is obvious that conservatives are an endangered species in Hollywood.
What bothers me is that this lack of balance and fairness absolutely kills the effectiveness of the climactic speech by Douglas. We should have been cheering him on not for what he had to say but for his choice to be true to himself, and damn the polls! Instead, it comes across as the last polemic in a series of subtle-as-a-sledgehammer messages.
Making a movie with a political point of view is fine, even commendable. But when you do it and market it as a romantic comedy, and then allow it to be unfair and unbalanced, you've screwed up the movie. I'd still give it a 6.
This, however, was ruined for me by the WWF-style good guys/bad guys routines that run through this movie. I guess when you have Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss, and Annette Bening in a movie, you can be sure that everyone to the right of Ted Kennedy will be portrayed as evil incarnate. Dreyfuss's portrayal of the 'conservative' senator was not bad, but the whole movie was so unbalanced as to be laughable. Liberals may outnumber conservatives by a small margin in this country, but it is obvious that conservatives are an endangered species in Hollywood.
What bothers me is that this lack of balance and fairness absolutely kills the effectiveness of the climactic speech by Douglas. We should have been cheering him on not for what he had to say but for his choice to be true to himself, and damn the polls! Instead, it comes across as the last polemic in a series of subtle-as-a-sledgehammer messages.
Making a movie with a political point of view is fine, even commendable. But when you do it and market it as a romantic comedy, and then allow it to be unfair and unbalanced, you've screwed up the movie. I'd still give it a 6.