Swing Vote
Headline: ** Political Comedy **
Title: SWING VOTE
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -2
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: None
Sex: None
Nudity: None
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE: August 1, 2008
TIME: 119 minutes
STARRING: Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll, Paula Patton, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci, and George Lopez
DIRECTOR: Joshua Micahel Stern
PRODUCERS: Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Robin Jonas, Ted Field, Terry Dougas, and Paris Kasidokostas Latsis
WRITERS: Jason Richman and Joshua Michael Stern
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: None
DISTRIBUTOR: Touchstone Pictures/The Walt Disney Company
CONTENT: (BB, Pa, So, PC, LLL, AA, MM) Strong moral worldview as character struggles with alcoholism and responsibility both civic and personal, but mitigated by one major lie leading to voter fraud, some miscellaneous problems, and by some liberal, politically correct sentiments about the President of the United States needing to do something about poverty and the working poor; 30 obscenities and seven strong profanities, though daughter tells father not to use Jesus as a cuss word; no violence; no sexual content; no nudity; much drinking, main character is alcoholic; no smoking; and, lying under oath, major lie solves major plot problem, man and daughter try to fool Child Protective Services, and voter fraud.
GENRE: Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Robert Iger, President/CEO, The Walt Disney Company
(Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films, and Buena Vista Distribution)
Dick Cook, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Phone: (818) 560-1000
Website: www.disney.com
SUMMARY: SWING VOTE stars Kevin Costner as Bud, an alcoholic father who, through a set of circumstances partly engineered by his precocious daughter, is the one "swing vote" to decide the Presidential election. SWING VOTE is entertaining and, except for way too much foul language, fairly clean, but it has some plot holes and politically correct content.
IN BRIEF:
SWING VOTE stars Kevin Costner as Bud, an alcoholic loser taken care of by his 12-year-old daughter, Molly, who is very interested in politics. When Bud doesn't show up to vote because he lost his job and got drunk, Molly secretly votes for him. Just as she is about to vote, there's a problem with the voting machine, and the ballot is not counted. The election comes down to a complete tie, except for the one vote where the voting machine broke down - Bud's vote. This sets off a 10-day political circus as both candidates descend on Bud to try to win his vote.
SWING VOTE is very funny. It tries to make the point that Americans should be a part of the political process. An exceptional cast led by Costner brings smiles to the whole movie. The writing has a few plot holes, but it does a good job of equally skewering the candidates, both Republican and Democrat. The secret lie about Molly's attempt to vote for her father is never revealed, and movie presents this as acceptable. It also has way too much foul language and politically correct content.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
