(2008) "What are we about?" asks incumbent Republican President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer) in a close contest with his Democratic challenger, Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper), a liberal from Vermont. It's so close that the election of the leader of the free world will be decided by one man with his one vote because the Electoral College votes from all but one state are equally divided between the two candidates, leaving only New Mexico with its five electoral votes in the catbird seat.

In the little town of Texico in Curry County, Ernest "Bud" Johnson (Kevin Costner), divorced single father, living in a trailer (on such a tight budget he can't afford a phone or health insurance) with his precocious 5th-grade daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll) will be given the final say.

Unfortunately, Bud is a clueless alcoholic; unbeknownst to him Molly registered for her father as an independent through the mail, and when he - drunk after getting fired from his job at the egg factory - fails to show up at the polling station, she sneaks in to cast a ballot for him (all quite implausible, but hey, it's a political comedy), except that the cord to the electronic voting machine just then gets pulled.

Earlier in the day, Kate Madison (Paula Patton), a reporter with Channel 5 News, interviews Molly (who says she wants to be either a veterinarian or the chairman of the Fed), whose brilliant classroom performance of reading aloud her impressive essay (quoting George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it") has been chosen for the evening broadcast.

When two men appear at the Johnsons' door, Bud's afraid they're from social services to take away his daughter (who in her disappointment informed him: "I wanna live with Mom"); instead, they're New Mexico's secretary of state and attorney general on an official visit to determine if Bud is the voter whose ballot was not counted because of a technical glitch: satisfied that he is the disenfranchised citizen, he's entitled to recast his ballot in ten days.

During the next week and a half with round-the-clock security, Bud's trailer gets besieged by a huge media frenzy, wanting to know for whom he'll vote. When he asks Ms Madison (who broke the story of Bud's identity to the public) to remind him who's running, she takes his question as rhetorical: "You're keeping an open mind." Both political camps descend upon Texico.

President Boone's political advisor (his Karl Rove for whom winning is everything) Marty Fox (Stanley Tucci) sends racecar-driver Richard Petty in his Dodge to pick up Bud and Molly, bringing them to Air Force One for a tête-à-tête with President Boone and an executive beer. Not to be outdone, Greenleaf's campaign manager Art Crumb (Nathan Lane) - "They sling mud, we sling ideas" - via a TV ad personally addressed to Bud from Willie Nelson, invites the swing voter to a dinner party "all in your honor," where Bud's reunited with his Willie Nelson-tribute band, the Half Nelsons.

Contemptuous of all the hype her father's receiving, Molly ("It's all my fault, isn't it?") does her best to coach her dad, single-handedly answer the barrage of mail pouring in from ordinary people across the country asking him to represent their interests, and enlist Kate's help in educating Bud about the momentous responsibility that has landed upon his shoulders.

As the candidates learn from interviews with Bud about his take (based on misinformation or his parochial interests) on various issues - gay marriage, environmentalism, immigration, pro-life vs pro-choice - they switch their own positions, tailoring appeals to him with campaign commercials. When President Boone offers Bud the possibility of a job as a lobbyist, Bud queries if he means "opening doors for people?"

Along with comedian Bill Maher ("Bud Johnson is a dumbass"), Molly laments: "You're ruining America."

The best part of director Joshua Michael Stern's satirical farce of a film (co-written with Jason Richman) occurs at the end when Bud, following Molly's advice to have Greenleaf and Boone debate questions Bud poses to them, turns soberly serious, making a Capra-esque public apology to everyone watching and counting on him (especially Molly) for having been a civic cipher up until the present.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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