The Campaign

Will Ferrell is the best comedian.

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'THE CAMPAIGN': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis combine forces for this political satire attempting to throw some comedic commentary at audiences this election season. Ferrell plays a North Carolina congressman running for his 5th term unopposed when two corrupt businessmen try to unseat him by pitting him against a naive tourism director who always had dreams of a career in politics, played by Galifianakis. The film was directed by Jay Roach (director of all three 'AUSTIN POWERS' films and the first two of the 'MEET THE PARENTS' franchise) and written by Chris Henchy and Shawn Harwell (one of the writers of the TV series 'EASTBOUND & DOWN'). It was produced by Ferrell, Roach, Galifianakis and Adam McKay and co-stars Jason Sudeikis, Dan Aykroyd, John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Dylan McDermott. The film is funny for the most part and does have some on target political commentary. Not as classic as some of Ferrell's greatest comedies but one of his better ones for sure. Ferrell plays Democratic Congressman Cam Brady, who as the film opens is getting ready to secure his fifth term in North Carolina's 14th District unopposed. A sex scandal hurts his popularity though and two greedy businessmen named Glen (Lithgow) and Wade Motch (Aykroyd) see an opportunity to unseat him and put a naive tourism director, named Marty Huggins (Zak Galifianakis), in his place to do their bidding for them (which involves illegal business with Chinese corporations). What starts out as a friendly campaign duel turns in to a heated battle very quickly with all the name calling and ugly accusations you'd expect from a big time political election. This causes havoc on both the men's private lives including heavy drama with their families. The movie's jokes are somewhat hit-and-miss but for the most part work. They're vulgar but not overly dumbed down; neither Ferrell nor Galifianakis ever break character or overact (like what often happens in comedy satires like these). The film is of course supposed to be funny and lighthearted but the messages of the story are very serious and clear. The Motch brothers are obviously an intended diss at corrupt businessmen Charles and David Kotch (who Galiafanakis recently annoyed by calling creepy). Hopefully viewers who are fence sitters or leaning to the right might learn some valuable lessons from the film (one can hope). This is where the film's greatest strengths lie but it is pretty funny as well. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2vhN3UBteY

10/10 for comedy for me and I love the way they have pulled no punches at taking the Michael out of US politicians. Ferrell is at his funniest here but it's Galifianakis that steals every scene he is simply hilarious in this movie. For me ferrell is just doing a good impression of Bush JR in this movie haha and spot on he is too. Showing how dumb the voters are is genius and how corrupt the system is, The actors must of been willing to do this movie for free! I doubt many Americans would even see this but oh so obvious to us UK viewers. This is Ferrells second funniest movie behind Step Brothers so if you enjoyed that very silly movie but ultimately hilarious then make sure to watch this too.

There is a line, and not even a fine one, between satire and goofy comedies. Even in satirical films that have raunchy, campy, and over-exaggerated humor, the comedy is used to enhance the satire and make a stronger statement about the subject of the film. And at times it seems that The Campaign is trying its hardest to be a proper satire. But in the end, it is a conflicted and confused film with split personality disorder between political humor and a Will Ferrell comedy. Co-Starring Ferrell (the comedian of yester-year) and Zach Galifianakis (who seemed to be the comedian of the now), The Campaign tells the ridiculous story of the congressional race in the 14th district of North Carolina between two very different politicians. Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a Congressman that has run unopposed for several years and plans on winning another easy election. But he is stunned when Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) comes out of nowhere to announce his candidacy for Congress. Huggins, the son of a rich political father, is brought on to defeat Brady by two political leaders known as the Motch Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow) who believe Huggins is the goat they can use to bring cheap Chinese labor to the US. Quickly, the campaigns turn from an honest race between two men to an all out war between two politicians that will do anything they can to win. And in a film that begins with a Ross Perot quote that says "War has rules, mud wrestling has rules…politics has no rules," you can imagine the amount of ridiculous comedy two politicians played by Ferrell and Galifianakis get into. And while I am sure there is a crowd that will find this film humorous, I rarely did. In an hour and forty minute comedy starring two big names like Ferrell and Galifianakis, I laughed maybe three times, two of which due to how bad the film was. Like I said at the beginning, there is a difference between satire and goofy…this is off the wall ridiculous. Cam Brady may be Ferrell's worst character ever. He is everything we have seen from Ferrell before regurgitated and stuffed into a $3,000 suit. He3 is dumb, crass, and completely unoriginal and uninspired. Sure, there is humor and making a statement about how dumb our politicians are and the extremes campaigns can go to, but having Cam Brady punch a baby in the face, then a dog in the face, and then use a sex tape as a political ad is not clever or funny…it is flat out stupid. For anyone to watch it and have any moment of "Yeah, politicians really are dumb," is ridiculous, but seemingly something the writers and filmmakers were aiming at. There seems to be a necessity to make political statements about how dumb politicians are, how corrupt our government is, and the lengths everyone in politics will go to win a race, but it is within a stupid comedy that doesn't ever take itself seriously in its satire. To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: http://custodianfilmcritic.com/the-campaign/

After reading many reviews, i have to agree that this is a technically a bad film. The humor in this movie is very raw and crude (which doesn't bother me), and it has a very simple storyline. I was ready to give this movie a rating of a 5 or below until i stopped looking into the movie too much, and saw it for what it is. The purpose of a comedy is to make people laugh, and that is exactly what myself and the rest of the theater did for the majority of the movie. The movie is so relevant as well with the upcoming presidential elections, and i feel this movie helps take the edge of the brutality of the current Obama vs. Romney. If you just want to see a simple movie that will make you laugh without having to think about the plot, then see the movie.

Both Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis have proved numerous times that they are comedy gold with the right project. Both of them have also been a part of some clunkers even if they were still able to make it work. Their latest film brings these two comedy giants together for The Campaign. Will Ferrell proved himself in this kind of role with his numerous turns as George Bush, but can Galifianakis bring a new character to the table to knock this one out of the park or will the polls close early? The Campaign follows a long-term congressman who makes a high profile mistake prior to an upcoming election. Looking to get more influence in office, two wealthy business owners see this as their opportunity to get someone in office they can control. Enter the director of a local tourism center who is clearly the most unlikely choice, but with the help of a cut throat campaign manager gives him a run for his money like no other. The trailers for this film looked amusing, but really never delivered anything more than average. Hopefully this will not deter people from checking this movie out because it is way funnier than the trailer lets on. This is easiest one of the funniest movies to come along this year and probably the best of these two guys in quite a while. They pull no punches with this over the top political comedy that not only delivers on the laughs but takes jabs at the current state of politics. It could be reading too much into it, gut if you look closely you can see them taking this time to really poke fun at almost every aspect of government office and their scandals. The only real issue with this movie is the ending as it kind of takes an about face from the rest of the movie. While it doesn't ruing any of the comedy gold that the movie delivers throughout, it just seemed like it took an unlikely direction from where it was heading. This movie is funny as hell and delivers that one two punch that is missing in most comedies today. It's been too long since we got a good political comedy and this one not only fills that void it takes it above and beyond. If you're a fan of either of them or raunchy funny over the top comedy then get to the poles quick and check this movie out. http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-dallas/bobby-blakey