Man of the Year (DVD)
APPROX. 115 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2006 - MPA RATING: PG-13
" As a comedy, Man of the Year fails because the jokes fall flat. As a drama, Man of the Year fails because it isn't compelling or convincing enough.
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There are two versions of Robin Williams nowadays. There's the Robin Williams that stretches his acting muscles by choosing some very disturbing roles. Films such as "Insomnia", "24 Hour Photo", and "The Night Listener" are good examples. Then, there's the Robin Williams people are more familiar with, the quick-witted funnyman. Lately, he hasn't been so funny, at least not on film. Duds like "Death to Smoochy" and "RV" haven't helped Williams out much.
"Man of the Year" is another of Williams' films that didn't make audiences roll in the aisles with laughter. Despite the film's advertising, "Man of the Year" isn't a raucous comedy nor a biting political satire. And it isn't exactly a movie about what would happen if Robin Williams became president. I'm not exactly sure what it is. Then again, I don't think the filmmakers knew what it was either.
Williams is Tom Dobbs the host of a "Daily Show" style political comedy series. One day, an audience member suggests that Dobbs should run for president. He makes an offhand remark about it on the show and suddenly people are demanding that he really run. So Dobbs does, never believing for a second he'd ever win. At first, Dobbs runs a very straight-forward campaign. His manager, Jake Menken (Christopher Walken), and his head writer, Eddie Langston (Lewis Black), would prefer Dobbs tell jokes like he normally does. Fans want to see him be funny not serious.
It's only during the big debate against the Republican incumbent and his Democratic opponent that Dobbs finds a happy medium. Fed up with all the double talk and spin doctoring, Dobbs launches into a tirade saying all the things the people are thinking of in a funny way. He lambastes rampant spending and toadying to special interest groups. Along the campaign trail, Dobbs wins over more and more supporters due to his honesty and irreverence.
Meanwhile, a company called Delacroy has been contracted to provide computer voting systems for the upcoming election. An employee, Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) discovers a computing glitch that registers the intended votes for someone else. Hemmings (Rick Roberts), the Delacroy CEO, simply ignores the problem knowing the financial damage he'll take. The film takes a sharp left turn when Hemmings and his legal counsel, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), hire someone to attack her and pump her full of drugs. Eleanor is hospitalized and the company uses it as an excuse to fire her. Desperate, she decides to go to the one person who might believe her, Dobbs.
As I stated earlier, "Man of the Year" doesn't have a consistent tone. It tries to be several things and succeeds at none of them. The film starts off as a comedy albeit, one that isn't very funny. Williams fires off about a million jokes, but the material is on par with the jokes any two-bit talk show host would use for his opening monologue. Secondly, the material isn't exactly very topical. Jokes about inhaling got old after only a couple weeks. Do we really need to keep hearing them? Voting errors? Didn't that happen years ago? I mean, I know we're all still paying for it, but still...
