REVIEW: THE CAMPAIGN

What's the last big movie SNL alum Will Ferrell has been in?  "The Other Guys," way back in 2010.  In that film, Mark Wahlberg played the straight man cop in that buddy movie, and Ferrell was the predictably goofy Allen Gamble.  Ferrell plays the Michael Scott-type-person of authority who's not sure how he got the place in power and he's not sure what to do.  In simpler terms, he plays really hilarious idiots.  Of course, not all of his movies land, just look at "Land of the Lost" and "Semi-Pro."  But the reason America's never turned its back on Ferrell and why he's a god in high school kid's standards (you know the type, who can recite "Anchorman" verbatim) is because his shtick totally works, and hasn't really failed.

 In "Everything Must Go"

Naturally he's capable of more dramatic work, the man's a genius!  His bitingly sad role in "Everything Must Go" was the anti Will Ferrell, a man who's fully aware of his horrible predicament.  But, just because this movie concerns politics doesn't mean we get that Will, this go round we get the lovable ignoramus, matched in ignoramus-ness by none other than Zach Galifianakis, who we'll just call Zach for the sake of typos.  Zach is close to matching Ferrell's star power, and acting ability; he had lovable idiot roles in "The Hangover" and "Due Date" but also showed some dramatic layers in "It's Kind of a Funny Story."  Together, they should be a match made in heaven, a high school teen's comedy dream, right?

Well...sort of.  Ferrell and Zach coming together must have sounded like the jackpot for movie executives, and the concept works beautifully.  With a little bit of "Trading Places" thrown in there (including Dan Akroyd, yea!) two millionaire brothers hatch up a loser candidate to go against Ferrell's Cam Brady for North Carolina congressman.  Since it's always been Marty Huggins' (Zach) dream to go into politics and finally make his dad proud, he's more than happy to do it, only to realize at the first dinner he attends that Brady doesn't play nice.  He humiliates Marty with evidence taken entirely out of context, bringing him on the verge of tears (good thing we don't have anything like that in the real world *cough cough* political ads.)

Marty realizes he'll have to get dirty, too, and if they had kept things a little more realistic, this would've been a completely different movie, with biting satirical moments.  But, to some success, director Jay Roach ("Austin Powers" and "Meet the Parents") goes in the over-the-top direction, including, and not limited to al-Qaeda accusations, baby punching (you've seen it on the trailers but in the film it's hysterically played out) and leg-shooting.  The laughs come a mile a minute, and there's no place where it really lags.  Probably the biggest laugh the audience (including myself) got was the dinner scene with Marty and his family, before going into the race, led by his icy manager Tim, played spot-on by Dylan McDermott; Marty tells his kids to confess anything that might be used against him by Brady.  The confessions are some of the weirdest, greatest things ever said by a child actor, and I know their parents must have been outraged to read those lines.

Between the non-stop (really funny) jokes is an actual plot, as both Brady and Huggins are driven to the point of insanity, with their wives equally irritated.  Marty's wife (Sarah Baker) is an average, secretly passion-starved lady, but Cam's wife Rose is totally in it for the money, saying she only hangs out with winners.  The stereotypes in this film aren't appreciated (including an Asian maid forced to talk like Aunt Jemima) but at least in the end, somebody learns their lesson, albeit predictably.  Zach is hilarious as Marty, a non-swearing southern gent who just got into the wrong business, and Ferrell is gut-busting as Cam,  who admittedly doesn't really care more about the issues at hand than his own image.  With some great cameos also to look out for, "The Campaign" is one of the funniest movies of the year, and semi-relevant considering there's a real, nauseating campaign out now.  But when you enter any Ferrell/Galifanakis film, don't expect anything too brilliant, just relax and enjoy the quick and numerous gags thrown at you.

Rating: 2.5/4 stars