The Campaign

I will not lie about it. The only Will Ferrell movie that I have really enjoyed is Stranger Than Fiction. And Zach whatshisname hasn’t inspired any confidence in me since Hangover. In fact, even in Hangover, I wasn’t really thrilled about his performance. Like seriously folks – irritation and humour are not synonyms by any stretch of imagination. However, I am quite certain that there are millions out there who love both of them.

Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is a hugely successful Democrat who has won from his constituency for four consecutive terms. And the fifth term is only a matter of completing a formality. One would have assumed that he will coast into yet another unopposed win with the least of worries.

But his promoters – the Motch Brothers – Wade (Dan Aykroyd) and Glenn (John Lithgow) have other ideas. Primarily to ensure that their selfish motives of moving a huge plant for toys from China to the US. That would need a bill to be passed in the Senate and therefore a puppet who will do as s/he has been told. Enter – Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) s/o Raymond Huggins (Brian Cox).

Marty runs a not so successful domestic tour business. And he doesn’t have his father’s favour – rightfully so – thanks to his weird ways that inspire no confidence. But the Motch brothers need a fall guy – a scapegoat. So instead of Junior Huggins who would be the normal choice, they pick Marty. And what follows is an attempted comedy that falls sorely flat on its nose.

If you are a Ferrell / Zach fan – and by that I mean that you really enjoyed movies such as Due Date (Zach) or The Other Guys (Ferrell) – then The Campaign should be on your must watch list. Even the director – Jay Roach – comes from the slapstick genre. His previous exploits include the Austin Powers series and that painful series involving the most over rated actor in Hollywood who goes by the name of Ben Stiller.

There is nothing different that The Campaign has to offer in terms of entertainment. You may see Hollywood stoop to lower levels of degrading people in the name of comedy but nothing that compares or holds a candle to good healthy entertainment. Crass dialogues, really sad twists in the story and slapstick humour are all you can look forward to in this one. I didn’t quite enjoy it too much. But then it is much better than some of the other trash that’s playing these days. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi277390617/