Primary Colors (1998)
Country: US
Technical: DeLuxe/Super 35 143m
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman
Synopsis:
Governor Jack Stanton has to face a series of slanderous allegations while campaigning for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, but his charm and sincere intent win over voters.
Review:
So clearly based on the career of the Clintons that the term loosely must all but be replaced by outrageously, were it not for the evident on-sidedness of the whole enterprise. Indeed the makers' wish to be cynical about politicians and yet sentimental about this one in particular produces some interesting shifts of sympathy, even if it does not make for cohesion in a film of this length. Moreover it never faces up to the consequences of the moral issues it raises, apparently leaving much out of the book besides. One yearns for the acuity of a James L. Brooks when often all one has is profanity or dewy-eyed personal dramatics; the flat, glossy, cinematography does not help instil a sense of critique. Travolta manages to impersonate Clinton and still remember to act, and Thompson and Bates are as good as ever, but this is Hollywood whitewash.
Country: US
Technical: DeLuxe/Super 35 143m
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman
Synopsis:
Governor Jack Stanton has to face a series of slanderous allegations while campaigning for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, but his charm and sincere intent win over voters.
Review:
So clearly based on the career of the Clintons that the term loosely must all but be replaced by outrageously, were it not for the evident on-sidedness of the whole enterprise. Indeed the makers' wish to be cynical about politicians and yet sentimental about this one in particular produces some interesting shifts of sympathy, even if it does not make for cohesion in a film of this length. Moreover it never faces up to the consequences of the moral issues it raises, apparently leaving much out of the book besides. One yearns for the acuity of a James L. Brooks when often all one has is profanity or dewy-eyed personal dramatics; the flat, glossy, cinematography does not help instil a sense of critique. Travolta manages to impersonate Clinton and still remember to act, and Thompson and Bates are as good as ever, but this is Hollywood whitewash.
Country: US
Technical: DeLuxe/Super 35 143m
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman
Synopsis:
Governor Jack Stanton has to face a series of slanderous allegations while campaigning for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, but his charm and sincere intent win over voters.
Review:
So clearly based on the career of the Clintons that the term loosely must all but be replaced by outrageously, were it not for the evident on-sidedness of the whole enterprise. Indeed the makers' wish to be cynical about politicians and yet sentimental about this one in particular produces some interesting shifts of sympathy, even if it does not make for cohesion in a film of this length. Moreover it never faces up to the consequences of the moral issues it raises, apparently leaving much out of the book besides. One yearns for the acuity of a James L. Brooks when often all one has is profanity or dewy-eyed personal dramatics; the flat, glossy, cinematography does not help instil a sense of critique. Travolta manages to impersonate Clinton and still remember to act, and Thompson and Bates are as good as ever, but this is Hollywood whitewash.