Robin Williams' "Man Of The Year" could be an important film

[Syrinx]

I had no idea until tonight that it involves issues of electronic voting fraud. I was already planning to see because the basic concept seems so funny -- "Jon Stewart" becoming president. Now I consider it an absolute must-see, even though the reviewer quoted below isn't real crazy about it.

On to the film. First of all the the trailers are very misleading. my impression that this was going to be a political fish out of water story like Dave or a man changing the government story lie the American President. But its not. The beginning feels as if it will be that. The film is narrated by the Chris Walken character and he introduces us to Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) and his cable news comedy show. And how one day someone in the audience says he should run for president and so he does. That's the first 2 minutes of the film. And from there till about the 45 minute mark, the point where Dobbs wins the election, it is the kind of movie I expected it to be. But there is where it takes a turn for the worst. See there is a subplot. A huge corporation has developed a electronic voting machine to prevent voting mistakes. But a few weeks before the election the programmer of the voting system, played by Laura Linney, discovers a glitch. That no matter how many times she votes for a challenger, that the president incumbent is winning. She of course reports this and of course the corporation covers it up. When she brings up again they send someone to her house and that person knocks her out and injects her with a bunch of illegal drugs. (she doesn't remember this in the morning) So when she goes to work she's all high and she gets taken to the hospital and then fired because of her "drug" problem.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30236

[aquart]

1. Now I'm confused.

If the machine votes for the incumbent every time, how does the comedian character become President?

[LunaSea]

2. I'll see it for Lewis Black

from the same review-
There are some very good performances here. Walken of course is very solid and very funny. He is never playing a caricature here, he feels like an authentic person. And Lewis Black who was fantastic in Accepted is also great here proving that he can translate his manic comic style into an effective film performance. I like Robin Williams in the film. He is still often caught mugging and just being too over the top but in the gaps between that, when he is just playing a guy who cares and a man confronted with the issue of having this new responsibility he is subtle and wonderful.

That being said when he is being his "funny" self its just not that funny.

[Boston Critic]

3. Funny but disappointing

The film doesn't work because it's really two films. One film is about a TV political satirist running for office. The one basically works (Williams is marvelous) and the scene of the presidential debate is worth the price of admission.

Unfortunately there's another film in there. This one is about a company that makes touch screen voting machines that have problems giving accurate counts. This story is a thriller but the company -- not called Diebold -- is covering up to protect their stock price not to fix the election.

The thriller is really hamhanded and contrived, and combining it with the comedy doesn't really work.

So, as a professional critic, my advice is to go if you're inclined, but go in with low expectations. You'll enjoy it a lot more than if you're expecting a devastating satirical statement.