From one genre contorted film to another, Man of the Year was marketed as a 2006 political comedy film based around the premise that a guy like Robin Williams could actually become the President of the United States. What results in Man of the Year, instead, is a comedy/drama/romance/thriller/satire extravaganza that fails at everything it attempts to accomplish and contains no sizzle to put over the most obvious of comic or thrilling moments. Instead, this is a project that is tepid on all regards and is, ultimately, a waste of time.
Barry Levinson (Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man, Bugsy) is in charge of this spectacle. He is directing Robin Williams in the lead role, which is nothing new for Levinson. Williams and Levinson worked together on Toys and on the aforementioned Good Morning Vietnam. With Man of the Year, Levinson aims to take a poke at the political arena and Robin Williams is his guy to shed some light on the “process.” Christopher Walken, Laura Linney (is there a pattern here?), Lewis Black, and Jeff Goldblum are also assembled in this political comedy.
Williams stars as Tom Dobbs, a comedian and talk show host much in the same design as Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Dobbs is a pundit, somewhat, and pokes fun at political issues while representing his own viewpoints. The rub here is that Dobbs, though encouragement from his fanbase, decides to run for President of the United States. A parallel plot (one of quite a few) follows a woman named Eleanor (Linney) who works for Delacroy, the company that supplies voting machines for the election. She eventually notices and error in the voting system and, long story short, that error leads to Dobbs being pronounced as the new President of the United States. Through the next few days and weeks, Eleanor communicates with Dobbs and they fall in love, of course. Dobbs realizes he’s not really the President of the United States (but who is?) and must do the right thing. In the process, Dobbs becomes “Man of the Year” according to many because of his honesty. Woo-hoo.
Williams as Dobbs is reasonable enough here, but he’s essentially playing a straight man. In fact, the entire cast is relatively void of comic energy for the most part. Most of the “comic” moments come from Williams merely reading his lines and playing his role, popping off jokes on his show or pumping up the crowds at rallies. These moments aren’t particularly comical insomuch as they are insightful to the fabric of Levinson’s film. When the film veers off into conspiracy theory territory, complete with car chases and the stalking of Eleanor, it becomes clear that this film is one hell of a mess. And it’s a bland mess, too. The comedy behind the idea of a guy like Dobbs becoming President of the United States is awash with difficulties and problems, mainly due to the fact that Dobbs is so unfunny and so normative. It’s like electing Bill Maher President of the United States. Not so entertaining, is it?
It’s Levinson’s choices and the script, written by Levinson, that botch this job from start to finish. Instead of being a compelling narrative and possible political satire, this dog and pony show deteriorates into a chase film with Williams playing the safe haven for Eleanor and the kindly gentleman. He’s not funny, he’s just moderately amusing. It’s the role Levinson designs that does it, too, as Williams is a relatively funny individual. Here, in Man of the Year, he’s nothing. He’s dramatic except he doesn’t capture the dramatic energy he’s capable of, as evidenced in films such as One Hour Photo and Insomnia. He’s funny, except he doesn’t have any comedic energy either. In essence, Williams’ Dobbs is a placeholder of a character with no purpose in terms of a film. It’s bland and useless.
Man of the Year is sure to disappoint fans looking for a comic look at what would happen should a man like Robin Williams become President of the United States. Levinson’s film, instead, takes small potshots at satire and parody here – with the essence of Delacroy’s parallels to Diebold Election Systems probably being the most obvious – but for the majority of the film’s 115 minutes, it’s awash with blandness and banality. It’s too bad, too, because the combination of Levinson and Williams could have put the icing on a rather overdone but funny cake.
1/10
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