The Campaign

Opening with Ross Perot's oft-quoted 1996 campaign statement (“War has rules. Mud wrestling has rules. Politics has no rules.”), The Campaign introduces a firmly-entrenched North Carolina incumbent, slick Cam Brady (Will Ferrell), who is challenged for his Congressional seat by idealistic, insecure Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), the dimwitted son of a local landowner (Brian Cox). Huggins' campaign is financed by the manipulative Motch brothers (John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd), who secretly plan to build a factory in his district and “insource” a cheap Chinese labor force. To prepare Huggins and his hapless wife (Sarah Baker) for the race, stern Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) becomes his campaign manager. Broadly directed by Jay Roach, this is a raunchy, lowbrow, non-partisan farce, with obvious references to real-life politicos such as John Edwards and Anthony Weiner (although one of the biggest laughs arrives when pseudo-religious Brady begins the Lord's Prayer with, “Give us this day our daily pizza.”). TV commentators Chris Matthews, Mika Brzezinski, Bill Maher, Joe Scarborough, and Wolf Blitzer are on hand for the media's scandal-drenched coverage, while the Motch brothers are a thinly-veiled reference to the real-life Koch brothers/financiers. Vulgar and only mildly amusing, The Campaign is the equivalent of an uneven, superficial Saturday Night Live skit that goes on far too long. Optional, at best. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes and an alternate ending (16 min.), trailers, and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are an extended cut, “Line-O-Rama” alternate takes (4 min.), a gag reel (4 min.), and a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lame satire. (S. Granger)