Robin Williams, manic 'Man' in bipolar story
Barry Levinson, director of films as diverse as Diner, Bugsy, and Wag the Dog, is a national treasure. So, it is with deep disappointment that I report Man of the Year, about a Jon Stewart-inspired comic who runs for president on a lark, is dross. It has its moments, most of them when the comedian, Tom Dobbs, gregariously played by Robin Williams, free-associates on the subject of candidate honesty. Why don't campaigning politicians wear the corporate logos of contributors, like NASCAR drivers?
Barry Levinson, director of films as diverse as Diner, Bugsy, and Wag the Dog, is a national treasure. So, it is with deep disappointment that I report Man of the Year, about a Jon Stewart-inspired comic who runs for president on a lark, is dross.
It has its moments, most of them when the comedian, Tom Dobbs, gregariously played by Robin Williams, free-associates on the subject of candidate honesty. Why don't campaigning politicians wear the corporate logos of contributors, like NASCAR drivers?
It also poses a fascinating question: What if the spanking new voting systems replacing the bad old ones that gave us hanging chads are even more unreliable? That's the concern of Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), a software troubleshooter whose corporation manufactures ATM-like voting machines.
Levinson is wise enough to observe the George Bernard Shaw credo: "If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, or they'll kill you." Unwisely, he weds Tom Dobbs' political humor with Eleanor Green's political paranoia, and the result is something less than a comedy and more than a thriller.
As this bipolar film lurches between the manic Tom and the depressive Eleanor, the two become mutually attracted, not for any organic reason but because the synthetic dictates of romantic comedy demand it.
The actors, individually fine although they appear to be in different films, tread warily on each other's turf, like Martian and Venusian making adjustments for an alien gravitational field.
Also good are Christopher Walken as Tom Dobbs' manager, who finds that handling a performer is much like handling a candidate, and Lewis Black as Dobbs' head writer.
Contact movie critic Carrie Rickey at 215-854-5402 or crickey@phillynews.com.
Man of the Year ** (out of four stars)
Produced by James G. Robinson and David Robinson, written and directed by Barry Levinson, photography by Dick Pope, music by Graeme Revell, distributed by Universal Pictures.
Running time 1 hour, 48 mins.
Tom Dobbs. . . Robin Williams
Eleanor Green. . . Laura Linney
Jack Menken. . . Christopher Walken
Eddie Langston. . . Lewis Black
Stewart. . . Jeff Goldblum
Parent's guide: PG-13 (profanity, crude sexual references, drugs, thriller elements)
Playing at: area theaters