If there's any political insight to be found in David Gordon
Green's razor thin Our Brand
is Crisis, it's that American political campaigns are pretty awful,
especially when they're in other countries. Not that this will come as news to
anyone who has had to endure a Donald Trump or Ben Carson stump speech lately,
but the campaigns are all about instilling as much fear into the voters as
possible. Who cares what the candidate actually stands for? So how does that
work when those tactics are applied to foreign elections? Like a bland, unfunny
political movie that has been focus grouped to death, apparently.
Based loosely on Rachel Boynton's stellar
award-winning documentary, Our
Brand is Crisis is all about
the dirty tactics waged by one American marketing firm during the Bolivian
presidential election. Once again taking on the role of "savior to brown
people everywhere" is Sandra Bullock as Jane Bodine, a strategist whose
nickname "Calamity Jane" has been well-earned. After a series of
major defeats she hit rock bottom and retired completely off the political
grid, content in solitude and pottery projects. But that's before she's
convinced to return and help lead the flagging campaign of Mitt Romney-esque
Bolivian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida).
An ex-President who sold out the people to corporations, Castillo trails his
opponent by 28 points largely because nobody trusts him.
So why would Bodine come back to bat for such
a losing team? Because it gives her a chance to exact revenge on her greatest
rival, Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton), who was hired by Castillo's opponent.
Bodine and Candy are known for their dirty, totally immoral "win at any
costs" tactics, but the simplified screenplay by Peter Straughan (Frank,
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) draws a clear good guy vs. bad guy line in the sand.
It's an approach he takes towards the entire story, perhaps in an effort to
make the film as palatable to audiences as possible.
The thing is Our Brand is Crisis should be a very complex story about
American interference in foreign elections, but it's just...not. Instead it's
like Green used this as an opportunity to reconcile his somewhat schizophrenic
career. This is the same guy who directed downbeat indie dramas such as George
Washington and All the Real
Girls before embracing
R-rated low-brow comedies like The Sitter and Your Highness.
While there are a few insightful moments in Our
Brand is Crisis, mostly involving Castillo as he tries to be more than the
corrupt politician he's been pegged to be, too much of the film is wildly out
of sync tonally. There's a weird bus chase along a perilous roadway that comes
out of nowhere, and a party/drug montage that might have been lifted straight
from Pineapple
Express, which Green also directed. Speaking of montages, they are too
frequently used here as short hand for the desires of the Bolivian people, who
don't come across particularly well here. It's like the Americans had to come
in to teach them about their own government.
Bullock, Hollywood's go-to gal for a good
"white savior" role, acquits herself nicely as the feisty, Sun
Tzu-quoting Bodine. Her role had originally been intended for a male
actor, but producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov decided to go in a
different direction, apparently so there could be some sexual tension or
something. The rest of the cast don't fare as well. Mackie, Dowd, Scoot
McNairy, and Zoe Kazan have little to do but play off of Bullock, while
Thornton snivels his way through a role clearly based on top Democratic
strategist James Carville.
The biggest problem with Our Brand is Crisis is that it's stuck in the limbo
between being a serious political drama and a mainstream studio effort. This is
best exemplified by the finale; an empty, crowd-pleasing gesture that feels
like it was written by focus groups. There's a ton of great talent and a savvier
political movie might have made good use of them, but instead the documentary
remains the best telling of this particular story.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
