On the outside, “The Campaign” looks like a movie that can do no wrong. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifinakis poking fun at the government: what’s not to like?? The trailer itself is hysterical, so I had high hopes for the movie. Well I’m happy to say that it does not disappoint.
Centered around the election race between a seasoned congressman Cam Brady (Ferrell) and hopeful newcomer Marty Huggins (Galifinakis), the two go head to head in a battle for a congressional seat that has always gone to Brady, as no one has run against him in the past. Brady has all of the delightful attributes of a previous POTUS who shall remain nameless (*ahem* GEORGE W *ahem*) and Ferrell does a great job of depicting that, right down to his southern accent. Now it isn’t stated definitively whether Brady is supposed to portray Bush, but it is definitely hard not to see the uncanny resemblance. Huggins on the other hand plays a well-mannered, soft spoken hopeful, who (to the audience) seems like he is going to be immediately crushed under the overpowering heel of the empire of Brady. Huggins seems so naive to the political game that the majority of the audience has a “let’s go for the underdog” reaction to the story, but almost to a point where we feel he would be the lesser of two evils, because they are both hilariously and obviously unfit to help govern the nation. (If you are familiar with Galifiniakis’s past work, his portrayal of Huggins reminded my fiance of a character called Seth Galifinakis that he does during his standup routine.)
The movie plays out like a retaliatory back and forth between the 2 characters, as most elections often do: just turn on the TV and you can see various commercials of Romney .vs. Obama. For viewers like me who are sick of that form of politics, this movie gives a great tongue-in-cheek version that brings the laughs rather than the typical groans of this election season. The jokes are seemingly non-stop, which instead of feeling overbearing, actually helped move the pace of the movie along. I hope to see Ferrell and Galifinakis do another movie together, because they played off each other very well. This movie is definitely a must-see for comedy fans and political fans alike!
Check out the official website for the film and don’t forget to follow @MartyHuggins and @CamBrady on Twitter!
