Swing Vote Review

AP Government & Politics
28 August 2012
Mrs. Armstrong

Movie Review: Swing Vote Swing Vote is a remarkable movie about a slacker named Bud, with one good in his life- his politically savvy daughter Molly. On Election Day, Bud is supposed to meet her at the polling place, but when he doesn't show, she sneaks a ballot and is about to vote when the power goes off. Then it turns out that New Mexico’s votes tied up the presidential election, with one vote missing- Bud’s. This led to both presidential candidates and every news media all over America to gather in the little town of Texaco to sway Bud’s vote and film every second of it. This film illustrates the workings of politics through the presidential propositions and positions. At the beginning, the presidential candidates both had their set stands and motives on certain issues. Once they knew that the election depended on one mans vote, they began changing their propositions to accommodate his desires. This is a portrayal of how our candidates occasionally present a stand on certain cases with the intention of just gaining votes. Swing Vote brought humor and drama into a film that surprisingly has some really important and realistic political aspects. Swing Vote had a very important view of how important it is to vote and how truly every vote matters. Molly stated, “All the world's great civilizations have followed the same path. From bondage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy back to bondage. If we are to be the exception to history, then we must break the cycle, for those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Not only does voting make a difference, but it is also our duty as American citizens. The importance of voting in America cannot be overstated and the movie does an excellent job depicting that. I really enjoyed watching Swing Vote because it made me laugh, cry, and it even left an impact by giving me a different political insight. Hollywood may have over-exaggerated on a few things, but it’s the deeper meaning behind the story that I find intriguing. Joshua Starnes says, “Swing Vote has its moments, especially when grammar or Hopper are around, but it's trying to do too much ... there's so many ideas floating around in there, it all ends up being very shallow.” The only point that I agree with would be that they did have too many ideas being anticipated. Other then that, I would have to disagree because I still think it is a great modern way of bringing a little humor into politics while leaving the audience with some great new political insights. Some questions I had regarding the film includes: Should voting be mandatory? Why or why not? What is the impact of swing voters?