DVD Watch: Man Of The Year

Man Of The Year was sold to audiences as a light-hearted Robin Williams vehicle for political comedy. The scene in the trailer with Williams in a pompish wig in the car with Lewis Black would seem to be indicate that it would might be near slapstick full of Williams style manic one liners.

This isn't really true.

Actually, it's almost a political thriller. The first scene is Christopher Walken in a wheelchair beginning the narration.

Yeah, I know. I was little surprised as well. Levinson walks a very tight rope with the movie, balancing parts of satire, comedy and suspense with generally good results. His trick seems to be to fill the scene with the actor or actress most appropriate for the tone he needs. Williams, comedy, Walken, satire, Linney for suspense. The plot isn't exactly complex and holds together pretty well with Williams (playing a Jon Stewart-like media figure) gets plenty of jokes into the mix. Some of the, um, technical elements might make the geek in the crowd groan a bit - but otherwise it's pretty solid.

For what it is, it's a pretty good movie. It's just not the movie they tried to sell you.