Game Change

I liked this film a lot, and I was surprised that I did. For many of the recent films produced about political issues, too much obviousness is thrown about, and too many things that we already knew. This film didn't change my view that documentaries suit this issue a lot better, but it's so much better than films in its same sub-genre like the slog, RECOUNT, that it succeeded on the basis of being entertaining, truthful, and expanding on a subject, rather than re-iterating it. From the points of view of advisors Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) and Nicole Wallace (the ever-increasing in talent Sarah Paulson) to John McCain's doomed 2008 bid for the presidency, we see the decision from the Republican point of view in the selection of the disastrous Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential candidate. Now, from anyone who has seen a 10 second clip of Palin, she's obviously a fool, but what the film depicts is that it was A) A lack of prepping and checking on Palin surprised the advisors when she turned into a total disaster B) Not only was she disastrous, but she became enamored with her own fame and began to disobey the advisors and C) It was still a sympathetic thing to watch someone be proved an idiot. Much of the film's entertaining nature is furthered by the relationship Palin was showed to have with her advisors. In my favorite scene of the entire film, Nicole Wallace, who refused to work with Palin any more mid-campaign, starts crying in front of Schmidt, saying that she just couldn't even vote. A lot of GAME CHANGE's success also comes from a quality that many good documentaries have, which is containing something that is unarguable to its own case. Even Steve Schmidt, in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" admitted that the film was extremely accurate in its depiction. Julianne Moore is also very good in her portrayal of Palin, and its less an impersonation than an interpretation. The whole cast is great, and that helps the film from slogging in what could have been more mundane bits.

★★★ out of Five