Film Reviews

Swing Vote

• Rating:
• Director: Joshua Michael Stern
• Starring: Dennis Hopper
• Details: US / 120min / (12A)

Kevin Costner moves back to his everyman persona, having briefly dabbled with the world of a serial killer in Mr Brooks. Here he plays Bud, a recently laid-off egg factory employee who is essentially taken care of by his preteen daughter, Molly (Carroll). When she begs him to vote on Election Day, he instead gets lamped and only makes it as far as his car before passing out. Taking the initiative, Molly is about to sneakily vote for him when the machine is shut down by accident, leaving the stub inside. When the election comes down to their county, Bud is soon revealed to have the casting vote in the closest fought election in history. Knowing exactly what it is from the start, Swing Vote never tries to be anything other than a sweet, Father/Daughter movie with an unpretentiously handled message about everyone's civic duty. Every vote counts and in this case, after the ballets have been counted, only Bud's vote counts to both the deeply flawed presidential candidates. At two hours, this is far too long a film given the simplistic plot and amount of supporting players who have very little time to shine. But for the most part it works well in endearing you to these characters and their current, highly unlikely, predicament. If you go with it you will enjoy yourself, especially as the two main performances are top notch. Costner has never had particularly strong range, but he's hugely appealing here, as the average Middle American caught up in a publicity tornado. But Carroll is the real star here, and the film is worth watching for her mature and remarkable turn as the hugely put-upon daughter, wise beyond her years. However, Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane are both wasted in roles that could've been real crowd-pleasers, and it sags horribly on the ascent to the final third, but overall this is an affable way to spend a Sunday afternoon, while Carroll emerges as a star of the future.

Review by Mike Sheridan