Game Change

It's 2008; near the end of the Presidential Campaign between John McCain and then candidate Barack Obama. McCain is trailing in the polls and his campaign realizes he has to do something to energize his base and turn the election in his favour. He makes a decision that would not only have significant impact on the race, but the entire Republican party and ultimately define his political career.

First off the casting is excellent; both Julianne Moore and Ed Harris are perfectly cast and they deliver uncanny performances of Sarah Palin and John McCain. I found at times I got lost in the characters and forgot I was watching actors act; they were THAT good (this is really rare for me). Julianne Moore is very deserving of all the buzz she's been getting and I'm disappointed Ed Harris hasn't quite got as much publicity; his John McCain was not that far behind Moore's Palin (but make no mistake, Moore is the star here).

I loved the editing of the film as they fused together actual footage from the campaign trail and with scenes recreated in the film to great effect. I also found that the film shed some light on aspects of the campaign I didn't really think about; i.e. the other side of Sarah Palin. She was clearly someone who was just thrust into spotlight and was clearly not ready for the big stage. Moore really humanized her and did something that nothing else did that entire election cycle; not the media nor the politicos: it made me feel sorry for Sarah Palin (I have to say, I wasn't expecting that, not at all). There's quite a few laughs as well in the movie; including moments from hilarious foreign policy coaching sessions to the now infamous interview with Katie Couric when she essentially says "I can see Russia from my house" and couldn't name news papers she reads.

Now the movie isn't perfect. The film is a bit late in terms of release and I can't help but think that had a bit to do with some the negative reviews; for those outside the political bubble, the film may have lost a bit of it's punch almost 4 years after the fact. For me however, a political junkie, the film was still quite poignant. You could also argue the film has an agenda; i.e. to paint Palin as someone who cared more about how she looked and her own career more than John McCain's campaign, not very intelligent and reckless as she was derailing his campaign by "going rogue" (going off message) near the end. Although I personally believe all these to be true, the film does try to lead the viewer at times to that conclusion and I would've preferred if it was a bit more unbiased and allowed the viewer to form their own opinion.

At the end of the day I think the film successfully presented the theme of being honest with one's self; that when it comes to getting ahead in life, you need to be true to yourself and your values. The movie conveyed this through the characters around Palin in moments of reflection. In the film (and in real life) John McCain wasn't true to himself and it cost him the election (and maybe a bit of his soul too). At the end you could see he had begun to realize that; there's a great scene where John is at a town hall and an audience member says that "Obama is a Muslim" and he quickly stopped the audience member, corrected her and stated that it was not true and he didn't believe that. In that moment it was clear he realized he had gone astray as his campaign was now solely relying on really low brow tactics to try to save the election. It was as significant a moment in the film as it was in the real campaign.

I'm left with a really interesting moment from the film, where one of McCain's Republican advisers confesses that she didn't vote (which has to be nothing short of treason when you work for a campaign):

"I didn't vote... I couldn't do it... I didn't vote." (She starts to cry and moves to be hugged by Woody Harrelson's character (Steve)... "I couldn't do it.".

I can't help but think a lot of Americans had to feel exactly the same way in 2008. That single moment says everything you need to know about Sarah Palin and the 2008 Presidential Election. Kudos to a well made film.

www.themoviesnob.ca

@the_movie_snob

Excellent movie! Reminds me that Sarah Palin was not anywhere near ready to be picked for Vice President. Movie does make you feel sorry for Palin. But, than again thinking more about what has happened since the 2008 election and NOT feeling sorry for her. If she were anything like the "victim" then she would NOT keep trying to be in the national public eye. I sure hope she finally realizes she will NEVER be a national political figure. Anything else is just a scary thought. Julianne Moore did an excellent job playing Sarah Palin and she got it right in saying this movie shows what's wrong with our democracy. When someone like John McCain can pick a Vice President candidate purely for political purposes KNOWing she was NOT fit to be President (which IS the primary job of a Vice President), then you know this is a problem for our country.

Without a doubt, Moore will get an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Sarah Palin.......a portrayal that, for the first time, gave me an understanding of Palin and a real sympathy for her. It showed a confident, charismatic, but essentially superficial person used to swimming in the shallows. It was also a Sarah Palin who was a mother with a new baby, a son going off to Iraq, and a close-knit, loving family who was suddenly taken away from that family and was thrust into the meat-grinder of national politics. Instead of being able to transcend herself and grow from the experience, we see a Palin who instead wraps herself up even more into being just who she is and finds a demographic of fellow shallows swimmers who love her just the way she is. Unfortunate, but after seeing this movie you could understand how it happened.

Harris as McCain portrays a rather idealized statesman, one trying to take the high road. There's no mention of McCain's volatile and explosive temper. Instead we're presented with an understanding, but aloof man at odds with the direction his party is going in. Again a sympathetic portrayal.

The final portrayals are of the political operatives in the McCain campaign. As you can understand the way Palin's personality begins to fracture under the pressure, you can also understand the operatives incredible frustration in trying to deal with it. You can understand when one operative, Wallace, finally just refuses to work with Palin anymore. You can understand the frustration of people who have spent their lives being informed try to deal with a Palin who lacks the most basic knowledge of history, world affairs or even how the federal government works. The tutoring sessions remind you of high school brains who've been pressured by the principal into tutoring the well-meaning, but thick-as-a-plank star quarterback so he can play in the finals. The room is thick with frustration on both sides.

This is a movie with no villains in the cast. If there is a villain here, it's a condemnation of the political process whereby a running mate is chosen solely for the electoral votes that person can bring with no consideration if the running mate is actually capable of running the country.

EDIT on 18 July 2012:

I finally read the book "Game Change" over the weekend. This movie actually is based on a very, very small amount of the book; it's not even the whole of "Part 3" as stated/implied in several reviews. The book is 23 chapters long (Part 1 - 14 chapters, Part 2 - 3 chapters, Part 3 - 6 chapters). The McCain campaign starts being covered at the beginning of Part 2 and is covered for the rest of the book. This movie is taken from less than two chapters (out of six chapters) in Part 3: Chapter 20 "Sarahcuda" which is all about Palin and how she got selected and Chapter 22 "Seconds in Command" which as the title implies covers both VP nominees (Biden as well as Palin). Plus the movie uses four and a half paragraphs from Chapter 23 "The Finish Line": two paragraphs describing McCain's relationship with Palin and 2.5 paragraphs about McCain and the "crazies" (that's what the book calls them) who started showing up at his rallies. The book does not cover the actual day of the election, so none of the scenes from election day are from the book, neither are any of the private scenes between Palin and her family. It was surprising to me to see how little of the book that this movie was based on. But many of the Palin incidents in the book are depicted reasonably to very faithfully in this movie. Now having read the book, I feel that the movie brought a greater depth of sympathy and understanding to Palin than the book did. And John McCain definitely comes off a lot better and more sympathetic in the movie than the book as the book does not minimize his foul mouth, his temper, his obstinacy and the dysfunctional relationship with his wife. If you're thinking about reading the book believing you'll find out more about Palin than what's presented in the movie, you won't. But you will find out a lot more about the election. (FYI: The rating for this review was 26 out 30 prior to this edit. Can't say if those people would have kept the same opinion of the review with this addition.)

I have a mind of my own, at least I want to think so, but, I was influenced enough to give Game Change a miss. I was told this was a hatchet job - I must admit that the comments came from Republicans mostly - I finally saw Game Change last night, It literally blew my mind. Hatchet job? What are you talking about? I felt for her, the film humanizes her and somehow explains without partisan hysteria, how we got there, that in a way is to explain how we got here in 2017. Julianne Moore is superb, superb! Not a single false note or cheap shot. I also felt for John McCain, the American hero who told us that Sarah Palin was ready to to be President. The torment in John McCain through Ed Harris's eyes is more eloquent that any line of dialogue. As is Nicolle Wallace, played brilliantly by Sarah Paulson. Her torment is also so real you can touch it. A special mention should go to Woody Harrelson, es Steve Schmidt, extraordinary. Writers, directors and everybody involved deserve oodles of praise. They told us a piece of recent American history about a woman who thought her Vice Presidency was "God's plan"

Amazingly good solid film. Julianne Moore is brilliant as Sarah Palin, and the rest of the cast - equally wonderful! The script is solid too, and keeps your interest, even if you remember every nuance of the Presidential race and the story we lived through. I don't want to say too much about the actual production, because it is so well done, mixing reportage with the actors. Mixing journalists with the actors.

It really is great. Congratulations to everyone at HBO and I really really really hope the film will be released in theatres around the country. It deserves the widest possible audience as possible.

I don't think it matters if you are Republican or Democrat, who you voted for or didn't vote either. The film is good, fair, interesting and well done.