'War has rules, mud wrestling has rules -- politics has no rules.' That's a quote by former American presidential candidate Ross Perot that opens up Will Ferrell's newest comedic offering The Campaign, while also serving as a guideline for some of the outlandishness witnessed over the course of the film.
Ferrell plays Democratic congressman Cam Brady from North Carolina who has run unopposed for two election cycles and is the type of politician who is successful because he can dance around the issues with the best of them and gets people riled up with his catchphrase 'America, Jesus, Freedom', even if he himself doesn't exactly know what that means. He has a strong haircut, a large American flag pin on his jacket and has enjoyed overwhelming support in his district with an approval rating in the mid-60 percentile and has the support of his lovely wife Rose (Katherine LaNansa) and children Jessica and Cam Jr.
All that is thrown for a loop when Brady channels real-life North Carolina congressman John Edwards and gets himself into a sex scandal thanks to an obscene message left on a religious family's answering machine. Even though it's the year 2012 and nobody has answering machines anymore. A point that Brady uses to try and justify his actions to Mitch (Jason Sudeikis), his campaign manager who has worked with him for several years as well as a scrum of reporters and his voting constituents.
Enter local tour guide Marty Huggins, in all his moustachioed and cardigan vest wearing glory played by Zach Galifianakis. Sensing weakness in Brady's district, Huggins is financially backed by two powerful men and thrown into the political arena to run on the Republican ticket and oppose Cam the congressman. Those supporters are The Motch Brothers, Glenn (John Lithgow) and Wade Motch (Dan Aykroyd). Two 'job creators' who have shady plans for the district to increase their profits on their already existing high profits. This is a spin on the real-life Koch brothers (David and Charles Koch) who run Koch Industries and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican political candidates thanks in part to the Citizen's United ruling which lets corporations and billionaires finance politicians through super political action committees, also known as Super PACs.
Watching Ferrell and Galifianakis battle it out on the campaign trail is a hilarious site. For all of Brady's troubles, Galifianakis' Huggins has plenty of his own, having his Americanism thrown into question because he owns two communist Chinese pugs named Muffins and Poundcake. As election day draws closer, Huggins undergoes a patriotic makeover and each candidate goes through a roller coaster ride that involves lots of blown out of proportion scandals, name calling, punching babies and award-winning dogs. Nothing is off-limits for either man, whether that's physical violence, declaring their opponent to be an extremist terrorist or making a sex tape with the other's wife.
When you enter a Will Ferrell comedy, you expect the type of deep, belly laughs that have people doubled over in their seats, and The Campaign certainly delivers on that on a few separate occasions. The best of which involves a scene where Galifianakis tells his family that there will be extra attention on them so they should confess all of their secrets. By the end of this scene, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much and I had tears running down my face. It reminded me of the dinner scene in Ferrell's 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, but with the sheer ridiculousness of it all multiplied by a few hundred.
For as funny and enjoyable as The Campaign is just purely as a film, it also serves as an amusing reflection on today's political landscape. Questions are rarely answered honestly, and what matters most is the latest scandal and who is the most patriotic with the biggest American flag pin on the lapel of their suit jacket. Billionaires and their money, as well as conniving campaign managers are what really pull the strings, looking to trap the other candidate into a non-controvery to draw the public's attention away from the real issues. Those sorts of real life scenarios are accurately portrayed in this film by The Motch Brothers and their hired gun slash campaign manager Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), as well as Brady's campaign manager Mitch. While you sit in your seat laughing at the stunts pulled by both Ferrell and Galifianakis' characters, you also marvel at the way their constituents fall for every minute of it and realize that it's not unlike how today's political audience is, when everyday people are fooled and distracted by talking points and who has the slickest ads or election slogans.
As this year's American presidential campaign draws closer, The Campaign is a winner in the polls and it's got my vote. Even if you don't know anything about politics or dislike them altogether, you will get a solid dose of laughter and another fantastic effort from Will Ferrell, who continues his string of stellar comedies. Ferrell and his co-star Galifianakis are a very funny duo and take a film about an election cycle and turn it into a roaring laughfest as each man tries to outdo the other to win that seat in congress. The audience is the real winner however, as we are treated to one of the funniest movies of the year.
Critic Ken's Grade: A-
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