OUR BRAND IS CRISIS (2015)

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida, Ann Dowd, Scoot McNairy, Zoe Kazan
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: http://www.ourbrandiscrisismovie.com/

Opening Day: 14 January 2016

Synopsis: A Bolivian presidential candidate failing badly in the polls enlists the firepower of an elite American management team, led by the deeply damaged but still brilliant strategist “Calamity” Jane Bodine (Bullock). In self-imposed retirement following a scandal that earned her nickname and rocked her to her core, Jane is coaxed back into the game for the chance to beat her professional nemesis, the loathsome Pat Candy (Thornton), now coaching the opposition. But as Candy zeroes in on every vulnerability – both on and off the campaign trail – Jane is plunged into a personal crisis as intense as the one her team exploits nationally to boost their numbers. “Our Brand is Crisis” reveals the cynical machinations and private battles of world-class political consultants for whom nothing is sacred and winning is all that matters.

Movie Review:

Our Brand Is Crisis has a tremendously talented cast of Academy award winners - Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton, as well as others like Anthony Mackie and Scoot McNairy - but even that couldn’t save it from being a crisis. It is a political satire that fails to deliver comedic or dramatic elements, making it feel very uneven - though not without its moments.

Based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, the dramedy is a fictionalized retelling of the documentary and is about an American campaign strategist, Jane Bodine (played by Bullock), who is hired by an unpopular Bolivian presidential candidate, Pedro Castillo (a fictionalized version of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada played by Joaquim de Almeida), to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election.

With a plot like that and a talented cast, audiences are promised even greater things when comedy director, David Gordon Green, is at the helm. Having previously directed comedies such as Pineapple Express and Prince Avalanche, audiences are bound to have high expectations for this film. What we get instead is a weird mess of political spoofs and music videos. At times, the film ended up feeling like Green did not know what he wanted to achieve - a comedy, a drama or a dramedy. For the most part, he handled the plot well but it was the tone that turns audiences off. This is highly evident in the first half of the film, whereby there were instances of scenes that felt too much like music videos. The comedy doesn’t suit the message of the film and its purpose, sometimes even affecting the overall theme. This made the emotional scenes feel clunky in the film. Morever, three-quarter of the jokes failed to hit and this could be due to the screenplay which brings me to my next point.

The screenplay written by Peter Straughan was a step down from his previous works, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Frank. Unlike the documentary it is based on, the scipt for this film has considerably lesser grit. This causes the film to have a rough uneveness that is probably due to Straughan trying to achieve a script that is both comedic and impactful. This affects the dialogue in the film, which at times feel very monotonous. Audiences could be seen checking watches or phones when there were slower pieces of dialogues. Characters do sometimes feel unrelatable and unreal as if they were made to exist only in a movie.

With that said, despite the characters having little emotional resonnance to the viewers, the actors did a fine job. Sandra Bullock as Jane is likeable for the most part, but pales in comparison to her previous roles. Anthony Mackie gave a good performance, showing that he has the ability to do drama roles. Zoe Kazan’s character, LeBlanc, is one of the film's brightest moments. However, due to Kazan’s character being only there for a short while, one cannot help but feel that she was severely underused. On the flip side, Billy Bob Thorton who plays the film's main antagonist, feels like he was phoning it in at times. That is not his fault and more of the material he was given to work with. Just like Scoot McNairy’s character, Thorton’s chracter did come across as annoying at times. This led to some groans and mehs when it comes to certain gags with these characters. Although the film is released in a period whereby Oscar consideration is high, no performances stand out as being Oscar calibre.

Per contra the above negative from the film, there are still some moments that genuinely felt smart. One being certain motivational dialogues and the usage of well known phrases by Bullock’s character. These scenes to come across as being witty. But due to the overall shifty tone of the film, some of these scenes lost their effect. Another positive about the film is the jokes that hit. Certain scenes made the entire theatre hall filled with laughter. The best being a scene on a bus and Bullock’s Butt; another being the Lama scene that was shown in the trailer.

It is the humour that overshadows the warm fuzzy feeling that the creators of the movie were trying to achieve through the ending of the movie. The ending felt less powerful and less like it was based on a true story. It felt unconclusive due to the fact that, a certain character had a complete change in motif. Instead of going out with a bang, the film decide to finish rather slowly, and beat audiences over the top of their heads with a political message. By the time the credits roll, audiences would have lost the vibe the comedic scenes brought. The ending is truly sluggish and has lost its meaning and impact.

Movie Rating:

(Not necessary a catastrophe but a forgettable bad film with certain moments that had potential)

Review by Celestine Pang