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Capone Votes 'Nay' to Kevin Costner's SWING VOTE!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
I'm about 75 percent sure there's a message buried in this latest Kevin Costner vehicle, SWING VOTE, and I could even venture a couple of guesses as to what that message is. But I'll be damned if director Joshua Michael Stern (who also co-wrote with Jason Richman) makes it easy to figure out what that message is. This could be the first-ever, two-hour infomercial attempting to convince Americans to vote, and while that's an admirable goal, I think I'd get just as much out of a 30-second Rock the Vote PSA hosted by Diddy. The film's not-so-subtle and yet utterly vague themes are lost amid a sea of plain-old ham-handed filmmaking that is trying to go for a Frank Capra vibe but instead feels like bad melodrama with nearly all the actors overplaying their parts.
Costner plays Bud Johnson, a New Mexico hick, who works in a egg-processing plant, spends most of his nights drinking away the little money he has and largely ignores the care and well-being of his 12-year-old daughter, Molly (Madeline Carroll). On election day, Bud promises Molly he'll vote, but after getting laid off from his job, Bud goes on a bender, bumps his head on the way to the polling place and sleeps through the process. Waiting for him at the polling place, Molly takes advantage of a sleeping election official and begins to cast her dad's vote for her, but just as she's about to vote for the president, the power goes out in her electronic voting machine and her vote is never cast. Turns out that this particular election (between candidates played by Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper) is so close that the entire determination of who gets New Mexico's five electoral votes (and thus the entire election) comes down to Bud's vote. The course of American history comes down to an apathetic man who never actually voted in the first place.
I'll give the film some credit: it doesn't rely on actors delivering fake national news reports to track this story. All networks and cable news channels are represented here with their real anchors and political analysts. Even Bill Maher sipped a little bit of the Kool-Aid that this film had an important vision to fulfill. The only actor playing a reporter is Paul Patton as a local New Mexico TV journalist who discovers the identity of the state's single swing voter and becomes friendly with the family.
Both candidates take private meetings with Bud, while the men running their campaigns (Nathan Lane and Stanley Tucci) scheme to figure out what it will take to get this one man's vote. The result is some fairly amusing political TV spots that might be the only thing in this movie that made me laugh (Hopper has an anti-abortion commercial that must be seen to be believed). But in the end, it's young Molly who acts as Bud's moral compass as she goes through hundreds of letters from struggling U.S. citizens just like Bud who simply want their individual voices to be heard.
The obvious message here is that every vote counts. I'm not sure SWING VOTE makes me believe that now any more than I did after the Florida recount in 2000. The film might also be making the case that even the dumbest voter still has the right and responsibility to do his or her duty. I think even the dumbest voter can figure that out without sitting through this movie. The film takes a weirdly and tonally jarring serious shift in the final 20 minutes or so culminating in a speech by Costner that seems to have been crafted by someone far more intelligent than any character racing around this movie. Like all modern celebrities, Bud falls out of favor with the American people as quickly as he became famous. But by that point in the story, I'd so completely lost interest in this terrible parent and uninspiring American.
An out-of-left-field subplot involving Molly's absent mother goes nowhere and should have been the first thing cut from this film in desperate need of editing. On his worst day, I consider Kevin Costner a great actor; I truly do. But he's not even trying here. Does he think that wearing a baseball cap and letting his hair look messy somehow constitutes solid acting? His character goes from potentially endearing to annoying without too much effort. The film has about as much political kick as Robin Williams' Man of the Year from two years ago, but at least that film had Christopher Walken to keep me amused. In the end, I can't say there's anything humorous or compelling enough about SWING VOTE to recommend you go and see it.
-Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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with the exception of "Dick" which I thought was okay.
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seriously?
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if any year DID NOT need Hollywood telling people how important it was to get out and vote, it's this year.
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this movie has a dumb premise, because even if his vote did cast the deciding one, there would still be a recount. Hell, in a state the size of New Mexico, there would have to be at least 10,000 to 20,000 vote margin for there NOT to be a automatic recount.
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but not even close to being as good as M3.
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Still the best political movie of the past 15 years.
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That an election will actually be decided by one dude. And I like Kevin Costner, too, and was kind of pulling for his despite my doubts, but it sounds like this is pretty much what I was afraid of.
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Why not just have had it be an early-voting state where everyone who still bothers to register to vote voted early, and the votes are exactly tied a week before election day, and only this one guy is actually still eligible to show up and vote? That's actually more believable than this set-up.
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No f'n way that the President of The United States will ever be decided by one vote. Hell, it won't be decided any voting American. The Supreme Court might decide the president, but not the people.
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this movie has always looked like crap
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Whaaaat?
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So you completely overlooked the ludicrous plot in some alternate universe where they completely forgo the electoral process and force someone into voting which defeats the purpose of electoral votes. They could have had an intern goto wikipedia and realize this didnt make any sense.
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but he does this crap instead of the Dances with Wolves sequel "The Holy Road".....? What a douche bag of an actor when it comes to picking roles.
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It's one of those times when you say to yourself, "I will never see this movie in my lifetime"
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Not a mistype. The point of the anti-abortion ad is that both candidates are willing to change their position on any issue Bud expresses an opinion on. Hopper mistakingly things Bud is pro-life, so he changes his stance and makes the ad. You have to remember, both guys are literally going after one vote.
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...where an election is decided by one Hick in the south, the 2000 election was pretty much decided that way, where it all came down to the votes in Florida, and one Hick in the south (W's brother) decided the election. Note: I'm being mildly facetious, so don't respond with diatribes about the 2000 election.
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I'm Norwegian so I will not be able to see this for a few weeks. But the trailer made me smile, and after a summer of big effects driven movies this looks like something different in a good way, and I happen to like Kevin Costner a lot.
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Just askin'
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Not sure what part of the US you're from, but New Mexico is not the proper "south". The south as we know it extends from Gainesville, Florida up to Maryland, and from the coast of Maryland over to Arkansas and down to east Texas. Just because a guy is a hick, doesn't make him southern, and just because he's southern doesn't make him a hick. Ok, enough with the soapbox speech.
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Fun fact!
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in a very long time. Thirteen days was it. I saw costner being interviewed on the BBC and it was one of the cloying things I have ever seen. He started off fine. but when parky asked him about Diana princess of wales, he could not stop gushing. It was vomit-inducing.
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Well its no suprise, he starred in 24 as a bosnian terrorist...When did he become a republican. I dont know. possibly when he cleaned up and become heavily involved in the arts world. Buyers and sellers are conservative type people.
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Take THAT, two party system!
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costner is at his best when channeling his inner, irresposible (yet loveable), jerk. i.e. tin cup, bull durham, fandango
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OK Coughlins. You see what you want to see. It was the other way around for me. I saw it as an endictment of Bush's foreign policy. I submit to you this exchange between Alfred and Bruce:
Bruce Wayne: Targeting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.
Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.
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Anything of those decades of comedic experience shining through?
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For whatever that meant.
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I'd explain it to you if you had half a brain, anchorite, but you don't so I won't.
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To say that Costner has not made a good movie since Thirteen Days is just plain wrong. Open Range was very very good, maybe even great.
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I think it was "Franchise" in Asimov's collection _Earth Is Room Enough_. One guy votes, and the computers extrapolate how everyone else would from his vote. I think: it's been a long time since I read it.
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Obviously, you could see it from various sides, assuming you in fact agree that TDK has something to say about it. In the movie, didn't all our heroes finally decide that they cold not cave in to the demands of terrorists, even if it means lots of people could die because of it? That's also something that Alfred basically says. "They'll hate you for it," he says, actually suggesting that they let them hate you, as long as you fight them. I would guess that was the idea behind the suggestion that it's a Bush-supporting movie.
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I really don't know how the hell this was approved by a studio. I mean, suspension of disbelief is one thing, and the viewing public isn't necessarily of genius caliber-- but FUCK every time I hear the premise of this film it's like I've been diagnosed with malignant leukemia.
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A nice little Western, the type we're not used to seeing anymore. And although I 13 Days was a great movie, Costner's accent was worse than it was in Prince of Thieves.
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Looks exactly like Costner has revived the Roy McAvoy character for this. Even the same disheveled look.
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Either Cosner refusing to vote for the lesser of two evils, or he votes for himself. Of course that would be my two choices if I was in that position, esp. if it was this election.Then again, I don't believe that individual votes count for much, so I don't vote anyway.
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It could be a sequel to Tin Cup. Since Costner is obviosly doing the Roy McAvoy character, he and Russo have a daughter on their white-trash driving range in the middle of nowhere, he becomes an alcoholic b/c Russo leaves him, then this movie begins... too easy.
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who couldn't be more different, or says they don't vote --- is exactly the type of person I DON'T want deciding an election.
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when I did it. The case settled, but sitting in on it was fun. Maybe I'm weird. But then again, I also like voting.
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I saw a commercial for this last night and they said it was Kevin Costcenter's best performance since Bull Dukie. Well color me surprised. Honestly I get enough politics from watching the evening news or CNN, why in the world would I want to spend 10+ dollars to go watch it in a theater? Especially when I can see a Yeti kick a man for a field goal by seeing The Mummy 3?
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Wasn't it Capra himself that said it? This looks like a glorified TV movie, and still doesn't stand up next to Primary Colors and Bullworth (which I'd thought I would hate, but really enjoyed), as two political comedies of recent years.
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After Dances With Wolves, his films suuuuuuuuuck. The Postman
is very hard to watch. Mummy 3 looks GAY as well. Hhm, Fraser or Costner film. How about a fiberglass catheter! That feels better I'm sure. -
the popularity of Obama, with Spears and Hilton? Sometimes truth is ten times stranger and funnier than fiction. If McCain did indeed approve the ad, he's lost it.
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Of course the movie gets a bad review here since it contains no kung fu and Kevin Smith or Apatow had nothing to do with it...and of course fanboys jump on the bandwagon too...ummm yeah let's watch TDK again...where the camera swirls and swoops more than any 2 Michael Bay movies combined...
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but the scenes between William Hurt and Costner were great in Mr. Brooks.
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and you won't be disappointed.
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Sometimes a bad movie's just a bad movie. Wouldn't you rather watch a great one?
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While it looked great, the movie itself was an utter snoozefest. one of the most boring films i have ever seen. The whole thing was just listless.
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I can't believe I forgot about that one. One of his best movies, certainly, possibly because he wasn't the star.
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I cannot belive someone would find Open Range boring. That movie was just terric, and the pace was perfect because you actually cared about and got to know the people involved. A great old fashioned western. I really miss those kind of movies.
I think Costner have done a lot of great work, Dances, JFK, Untouchables, Silverado, Open Range, Tin Cup, Bull Durham, Field Of Dream, Revenge, Thirteen Days and I actually like Wyatt Earp and Waterworld as well.
I also think his newt movie The New Daughter will be really good. -
I also like Costner's performance in that one, but for me the movie is only ok. It has it's moments, (most of them involving Costner) but Mike Binder is a director who for me has yet to make a really good movie. The Upside Of Anger is probably his best but Man About Town and Reign Over Me are pretty bad.
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The dude was a superstar when I was growing up from '87 w/ Untouchables till '97 w/ Tin Cup. Or course things started going bad w/ Waterworld, even though it wasn't the failure it was touted to be in the end. Sure Open Range was great but and I esp. love him in JFK but it appears his golden era was the late eighties to around the end of the nineties. The Postman was a disaster! I think the dude is a throwback ala, Jimmy Stewart unfortuntly doesn't go down as well as it did sixty years ago. Times change and so did his rein as a leading man.
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I really thought Open Range was a very good Western, and The Upside of Anger was good (to see Costner in a relaxed somewhat goof-off personality was an added bonus) - but Swing Vote just looks bad. And like another said - I don't mind suspending disbelief for films (you pretty much need to), but one vote determining the president seems ridiculously contrived (even by movie standards).
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The governor of Florida has abosolutely no activities, authorities, or jurisdiction in the election process. The people who ARE responsible for it are not even in his employ - they too, are simply elected officials and/or appointees of governmental wards not under the authority of the Governor.
stop being a stupid cunt. -
When I wrote "I'm being mildly facetious", I knew the people who would get riled up by my comment wouldn't know what facetious means. So here's the Merriam Webster definition:
facetious - joking or jesting often inappropriately. I'm guessing you and all your family members are Hicks from the south who voted for Bush, so I didn't expect you to know what it meant. -
I know a lot of people here hate it, but I loved The Bodygurad back in 92, and was surprised to see I liked it just as much when I saw it again last week. Classic Hollywood at it's best and Costner kicks ass in this one.
I also have to say A Perfect World is a very good little moive. It came after Clint's Unforgiven and Costner's The Bodyguard and people wanted it to be this huge blockbuster, but instead we got a damm fine dark little movie. -
Come to think of it, I like those two as well. Jon Avnet did a great job with Fried Green Tomatoes and even if The War is not as great, there is some really good stuff in there and I think Kevin and Elijah Wood are exellent in it.
And I have to say Andrew Davies did what he does best on The Guardian. Not The Fugitive great, but again a pretty good movie and again Costner is very good in it.
So all in all, I would say Costner's has starred in a lot of fine movies. No Way Out was also good if I remember correctly. -
I don't like Message In A Bottle and Dragonfly very much, but For Love Of The Game is again I think a good movie.
3000 Miles To Graceland should have been much better but it was nice to see Costner play the bad guy. He is good at that, as he was exellent in A Perfect World as well. -
I remember the 3000 Miles To Graceland trailer kicked ass. It had the ZZ Top song viva las vegas, and it looked like the coolest movie ever. And it probably would have been had say Tarantino or Tony Scott directed it.
The movie had som fun and cool moment but overall it was kind of a mess. Fun mess though. -
Open Range is a great, great film.
On a side note, only an asshat like anchorite would refer to Angelina Jolie as a "hussy" and mean it in a negative way. What, was your wife watching as you posted or something, Jeremy? Way to go, dickhead. -
No it's not. This looked abysmal in the trailer. Kevin Costner must be stopped.
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Not really.
It nuked my fridge though. -
"Wouldn't it be awesome if the President was just, like, a nice, regular guy like ME who don't know shit from shinola?"
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Aug 01, 2008 6:50:23 PM CDT
The average joe comedy stuff does work, the movie falls apart at
by tallboy66
I did get a kick out of costner's wordaday schlub thrust into the spotlight (fucking cameo by his band aside) and I really enjoyed the political ads that were directed to Bud himself (kids quite litterally disappearing in puffs of smoke on the playground is funny) but the schmaltz factor completely overloads by the end of it. Like, that kid was crying for 15 minutes straight in an attempt to wring some emotions from the audience. If they had kept it more straightforward comedy, this could have gone somewhere.
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Damn talkback headers
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Costner's best character work. I remember seeing it for the first time way back in like 1994 and was pretty blown away. I was surprised it was so good, one of those rare films with a truly sympathetic bad guy.
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Open range WAS a good movie, not great, but good. Mr. Brooks, also cool. Not just a departure for Costner, but a good oddball take on a genre that has been played out for about 15 years. All that notwithstanding, I honestly don't know how this dude hasn't landed in direct-to-video land. I don't know what's worse: $200m, 3-hour, I-am -the-last-hope-for-mankind vanity projects or pulling Ashton Kutcher out of the ocean.
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I suppose it was his career I was thinking of.
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Ni,Ni,Ni,Ni...
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I can smell sanctimonious movies from a mile away. And the previews for this movie were enough to make me woozy.
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anymore than someone else's individual vote. If you vote or don't vote, the same person will win. The election is never decided by one vote. Vote because it feels good but not because you are changing or affecting anything because you are not.
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Best line: "Wake up, boys, I gotcher breakfast!" [holds up bottle of chloroform]
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likes dick. And I was sure he loved the cock. Weird. Sorry, I'm intoxicated.
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ego-processing plant?
Makes sense.
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Your move, Costner.
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...keep getting work?
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Good post...100% agree
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film with costner and kutcher(and more than once) and thought who the hell would want to see that it looked so dull. Costner is a very odd fish.
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Aug 02, 2008 1:03:50 PM CDT
Man of the year was so terrible.. i forgot Walken was in it.
by cotton mcknight
That movie was HORRIBLE. Easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. Anyway, you all do know that Al Gore never had a lead in Florida, don't you? Not one. single. time. Not during that night in November, not during the recount, and not during an exhaustive study done by the AP and others well after the fact. He simply never had a lead. Ever. Al Gore also lost every single court case UNTIL it would get to the Florida supreme court, which for some reason decided to keep this bizarre circus going. Every single time. He lost appeal after appeal after appeal, all the way up to the supreme court which would start the whole thing over again. The Federal Supreme court, for the right reasons, simply said stop. There was to be no end in sight. So whoever out there still holds a grudge over 2000, get over it.
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First, I thought Man of the Year was a pretty good movie. And I can think of other lighter political films: Dave, Wag The Dog, obviously Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Of course in reality a presidential election would never be decided by one vote; the premise of the movie calls for a little suspension of disbelief. Imagine WHAT IF it did come down to one guy who was entirely apathetic of politics and had no party affiliation? It does make for a great premise for a comedy. Sure, it could have been a lot funnier in someone else's hands but it wasn't a bad movie. Like a Capra film, it asks you to withhold your cynicism. If you can't do that then you'll like this film. Also worth mentioning is that the girl who plays Dub's daughter carries the whole movie and will soon be in lots of other movies. This was a great vehicle to start her career. Also, you forgot to mention Hopper's illegal immigrant commercial, which was almost as funny as the abortion one.
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Regarding the Dark Knight, it seems as though you are conveniently forgetting the message behind the cell phone surveillance in the movie. If that is not an indictment of the Patriot Act, I don't know what is.
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comes up with the goods
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I'm actually very surprised to see no one talking about the fact that it's impossible to have this situation in our country. We have an Electoral College set up for our Presidential elections, so it's impossible for it to come down to "one vote." For those of you unfamiliar with how this process works, try google as I'm sure this is one more of the things they stoped teaching in school.
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Aug 03, 2008 3:12:26 PM CDT
Electoral college is the REASON it could come down to one vote.
by baked
500 votes decided Florida, which is why George W. Bush won with 500,000 less of the popular vote. Less than 50,000 votes decided Ohio and thus gave George W. Bush the election in 2008.
The truth is, an election could possibly come down to one vote in one incredibly close state. The premise is brilliant even if the movie is horrible.
Not that the Republicans would ever let that happen. They'd be so busy purging voter rolls it would never get that close. :) -
To answer Chief Joseph's question: Costner *appears* to keep getting work by making his own movies- starring himself- when he can't get anything else. But honestly, I don't know.
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Find them on youtube. As for the rest of the movie I didn't regret it. It's a harmless little comedy and Kevin Costner has great chemistry with the girl playing his daughter. Still, where are these precoscious mutant children coming from? Is there a rogue geneticist on the loose?
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I was pleasantly surprised. Had some really funny moments - esp the political ads. I had seen them on YouTube but they're even funnier when taken in context. Paula Patton is pretty easy on the eyes too...
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