Search - Swing Vote [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

A good solid, though not spectacular, effort at political an

terpfan1980 | Somewhere near Washington DC, United States | 01/17/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My wife and I watched Swing Vote on Blu-ray and found it enjoyable, though not necessarily much more than middle of the road for the overall package.

While the Blu-ray touts high def (HD) picture and sound, the picture quality is nice but not much more than that as unfortunately there is just not much impressive scenery throughout the film to really wow the audience with. What is there looks nice, and there are a couple of what could be called scenic shots, but much of the film takes place indoors and/or is compromised of a bunch of close-up shots of the characters that really drive the film.

The story itself is cute but quite predictable election and family relationship comedy with Kevin Costner and Madeline Carroll. Costner plays the part of a bum that is nicknamed Bud, about to lose his job because he takes too much sick time and can't seem to stay sober enough to get to work on time and/or not make a mess by accident. Getting to work shouldn't be that difficult as his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll) serves more as his guardian rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, like Bud's work habits, his parenting skills are quite poor and it leaves Molly repeatedly disappointed in his efforts or lack there of.

One of those disappointments comes when Molly is working on a school project that involves watching Bud practice his civic responsibility by voting in the national election. Bud winds up drinking himself into a stupor when he's supposed to meet Molly at the polling place, and Molly takes matters into her own hands (again) and sneaks into the polling place and actual voting booth to register Bud's vote for him. As things turn out the vote is never registered thanks to an error with the voting machine, yet Molly still has the receipt for the ballot. Things go more than a little crazy from there when we learn that the election is a dead heat with the state of New Mexico up for grabs, the same state that (coincidentally) Molly and Bud live in. It seems that even within the county that Bud lives in there's a dead heat, so Bud's 'one vote' must be cast to determine who the next President of the United States will be.

Over the course of the nearly 2 hour running length we see Molly and Bud's relationship warts and all, and we might, just might, also see some growth from Bud as his 15 minutes of fame starts to flame out leaving his friends disappointed and jealous. What makes the film a bit more fun is that viewers are treated to a total lampooning of both of the political parties and their sacred platforms. In the effort to win the one all important vote the political operatives and candidates from those parties (played primarily by Stanley Tucci, Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper) make promises to Bud and steal issues from each others sides so they can demonstrate to Bud why he needs to vote for their side.

Sadly, while I found the film enjoyable, I don't think it would hold up to multiple viewings and therefore rates more of a 'rent it' rating from me rather than a buy it.

Family viewers should be warned that Bud's language is coarse and could be objectionable. Consider the PG-13 rating well deserved."