It might be possible to make a good movie out of a cross between Mike Nichols Primary Colors and Costa-Gavras Z, but Our Brand Is Crisis, directed by David Gordon Green in a seeming attempt to do something along those lines, is not that movie. The pottery business is explained forthwith, lest were worried about some Ghost influence. Our Brand Is Crisis grossed $7 million in North America and $1.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $8.6 million, against a budget of $28 million. But as a whole, "Our Brand is Crisis" is a messy affair that sputters along when it should be humming with assured cynical momentum. Andrew O'Hehir is executive editor of Salon. 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs. Honestly, I didnt know what to expect, on a number of levels. When shes recruited for a chance to face off in Bolivia against her longtime and similarly depraved rival, Pat Candyportrayed convincingly enough as a stock Billy Bob Thornton character by Billy Bob Thorntonshe signs up. There are also two middle finger displays. Before a campaign stop, Jane tells Eddie to help Castillo roll up his sleeves. She opens with footage of an anti-government riot that came less than a year after the election. The 2005 Our Brand Is Crisis was the second documentary about Carvilles political work, following 1993s The War Room, in addition to Carvilles dramatic acting rsumand cable news career. Afterwards, Jane sends 3 Bolivian singers to show up at Candys door. Billy Bob Thornton employs his well-honed sneering shtick and Sandra Bullock makes the role her own in Our Brand Is Crisis. Our Brand Is Crisis review - dirty political dealings in South America. Underneath it all plays Ten Years Afters Id Love To Change The World, the absolute nadir of Woodstock-era protest rock; the movies sound editor deserves some kind of award for smoothly deleting the songs opening volley against dykes and fairies.. A bra is used as a slingshot, and two shirtless men are briefly shown. Goni fled the country five days later, and now lives in exile in the U.S., which has refused to extradite him to Bolivia to face trial for extrajudicial killings and other crimes against humanity. Ben admires a shiny dark bowl but Nell takes it from him. The police arrive and the demonstration quickly turns into a riot. [23], Eric Kohn from Indiewire wrote that the movie is all about Bullock's performance, saying "she imbues her part with a ferocious energy that constantly elevates the straightforward material". [10] On October 13, 2014, Participant Media announced that they would co-finance the film with Warner, while Jeffrey Skoll and Jonathan King would executive produce, along with Bullock and Stuart M. From there, Jane uses every trick at her disposal to try and beat Candy. Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) Rated R for language including some sexual references. George Clooney and Grant Heslov produced. "[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Jane invites them out to dinner with the campaign team. She doesnt respond. Directed by David Gordon Green. "Our Brand Is Crisis" is both the title of and a line from a new political comedy about American consultants who take over a Bolivian presidential campaign. Despite Sandra Bullocks strong lead performance, David Gordon Greens film cant push a hopeful tone past its depressing reality. A screenshot shows Castillo at 8% with Rivera leading with 36%. I found the film to be very interesting, and all the cast put on some of their best performances Ive seen. Our Brand Is Crisis. Digital rental or purchase allows you to instantly stream and download to watch anywhere and anytime on your favorite devices. She introduces LeBlanc (Zoe Kazan), a young investigator who is hired to dig up dirt on Rivera. The movie opens with a title sequence regarding the main character Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her rise and fall from hotshot political strategist/image . So those questions remain in the dim and dusty background, behind the quasi-hilarious dirty tricks, the long nights of booze, the almost-condescending interactions with indigenous Bolivians and the rivalrous relationship tinged with both tragedy and Eros between Jane and Thorntons Mephistophelean (and distinctly Carville-like) Pat Candy. Maybe its time to put it out to pasture. Rivera then repeats the quote Jane told Candy. Jane and her team had no idea he would do that. for language including some sexual references. They are then in a restaurant, the entire campaign team drinking heavily. As president in the mid-90s, he had pursued a controversial two-level strategy, extending constitutional rights and policy reforms aimed at Bolivias large indigenous population while also embarking on a widespread campaign of privatization that sold off state-owned industries and natural resources to foreign capital. Starring Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton. Theres no redemption to be found with the people who are ruining liveswho have no belief in politicians or voters; people who have basically given up on humanity and play with public policy like a kid with a loaded gun. He denies being a member of the cult. The cinematic trope has retroactively kept a light on devilish George H.W. Jane says its just a carousel and she was going around and around. . When the gunfire stops, the camera moves in on a boy sitting on the steps of a building, his head partly covered by his coat as if hes grabbing a nap. Have they learned nothing? Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Moderate to heavys. That was almost certainly the final straw. Jane is a broken prizefighter who has been called into the ring for one last round. When they get home, his brothers ridicule Eddie for bringing Yankees and trusting them, and for that matter, trusting Castillo. Power? All of them, except Bodine, have already taken jobs as political consultants in other countries. All rights reserved. The premise doesn't really show up until the end of the movie. Maybe, kinda. Available from various digital retailers including Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play, Apple, Vudu and others. "Our Brand Is Crisis" is a fictionalized treatment of the 2005 documentary of the same name, which focused on Bill Clinton's former campaign manager James Carville. It begins poorly, with an odd montage intercut to stagey interview footage in which Bullocks character, Calamity Jane Bodine, formulates an apologia for we-dont-quite-know-what. Someone smashes an egg on Castillo, who spectacularly punches the assailant. After this incident, however, Castillo shows the other side of him by being kind to protesters who throw rocks at his bus. Although Castillos populist opponent doesnt seem to have much integrity (the character does in the documentary), we still know that Castillo has less, that hes a dreadful man. Besser. To handle this scandal, Castillo is interviewed on TV and explains it was a visit to his son, who IS a member of the cult, and he had to wear the robe. Carvilles troops were dispatched to La Paz in 02 to consolidate the great victory of liberalism and democracy as they and their sponsors and benefactors understand those things and to resist the rising tide of Latin American leftism represented in Bolivia by the indigenous political leader Evo Morales, Gonis leading opponent. At a Rivera campaign stop, Jane is seen talking to Candy. If youve been following the drama in the House, the inability of most every Republican presidential candidate to lift off, or really any news from American politics over the last 10 or 239 years, you might have noticed that politics is difficult. Its nun versus AI in Damon Lindelofs new series. Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. She cares about winning, and the movie reinforces the narrative that politics is just a game. Cut back to the interview that opened the film. Eduardo, a young volunteer of the Castillo campaign, is deeply impressed by this show of commitment. This is the meaning of the title. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and their dog Jack. He says the people in the village dont understand that yet. She then asks who knows English and only a handful of people raise their hands, so LeBlanc must translate. The deeply disappointed Eduardo visits Bodine in her hotel; Bodine replies that she is not responsible for Castillo's actions. It's a case study, if nothing else, of starting with a dubious idea and making it downright awful. The villagers are angrily blocking the bus, and Castillo, against the wishes of Jane, gets off to talk with them. Even worse, it turns out to be a humanist, socialist, anti-capitalist message about "the people" rising up to establish some sort of vague communist brotherhood centered . David Gordon Greens uneven Wag the Dog-style satirical political romp takes both its title and theme from Rachel Boyntons 2005 documentary about the role played by the gun-for-hire American consultants in the 2002 Bolivian elections. At first Jane is defensive, claiming that she was just doing her job, but soon her heart is softened as she realizes the mess she helped to make. He takes a room across the balcony in Janes hotel, where he can meet her stare, undress her with his eyes, and psych her out. Candy calls Jane and invites her to go out again. I think you pull it, Joshua Jackson says to Lizzy Caplan sensually. Mimicking the behavior in the actresss previous film, Minions, Jane is shown mooning a bus. The interviewer says she's been known by many names, most notably "Calamity Jane". Entertaining and provocative, Our Brand Is Crisis is a satirical political drama. However, Castillo refuses to give permission for the team to do so. 2/4[], Our Brand Is Crisis fun until it gets serious For too long, the stakes play second fiddle to the strategists and even the candidates remain too elusive to make the audience care as much as it should. Preview", "Star-Driven Casualties 'Our Brand Is Crisis' & 'Burnt' At The B.O. Its only when the camera is on top of him that we see the pool of blood. She will work on the campaign of anybody, provided the money is right. Rivera is on, holding two babies during a campaign stop, confessing how hes doubly lucky, and promises to run a positive campaign. The story follows a political strategist who's recruited to help the campaign of a Bolivian presidential. Either the character repents, and you have a cornball ending, or the character doesnt, and you have a soapy endorsement of sociopathy. Jane says that Pat Candy is behind the fliers. Janes cynicismshe regards herself, the candidate, and everyone else as a pawnis so over-the-top that it threatens to derail Our Brand is Crisis: Who cares about the election if she doesnt? Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton go head to head as strategists in a patchy satire about the 2002 Bolivian elections. But the main mystery to me was the message of this film. Carville and Greenberg won that election for Goni, after shifting the entire theme of his campaign to the crisis mantra, but maybe they should have vetted their candidate a little better. Jane wakes up in her hotel room. She just needs to hear him deny it. Eddie is delivering a framed photograph to now President-Elect Castillos Senate offices. [26] On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. The reality of U.S. politics is dominated not so much by incompetent leaders as mortals who lack the requisite superpowers needed to steer the ship of state. His name is too long with her so she just calls him Eddie. Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. Janes voice is heard saying, If you dont like the road youre on, start paving a new one.. When she starts giving it back to himpsyching him outthe movie gets really good. "- Castillo: This llama will lead us toward prosperity. The boys (all adult age) are living alone because their parents have both died. A battle-hardened American political consultant is sent to help re-elect a controversial president in Bolivia, where she must compete with a long-term rival working for another candidate. At an evening event, Castillo is shaking hands with people behind a barrier. A young man working on the campaign, Eduardo (Reynaldo Pacheco) comes to the rescue of Castillo and ushers him away. Jane meets with Castillo who says shes a liability. It is revealed that she retired after violating election laws. Jane insists to the campaign team that this was set up by Candy. Washed-up political strategist Jane Bodine is hired by a political consultancy to help their client, Senator Castillo, win the Bolivian general election. Heres my idea for a Hollywood ending: People are inspired to seek out Boyntons great documentary, which throws a spotlight on one of Americas least-known but most consequential exports. She gives him a bottle of Paul Newman Steak Sauce. While Rivera is still speaking aboard a train, Jane poses as a worker for the Rivera campaign and tells the conductor the speech is over. That is now the title of the Bullock movie directed by indie-film veteran David Gordon Green and written by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), which is also set during a Bolivian presidential campaign and stars Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Scoot McNairy, Ann Dowd and Zoe Kazan as Bullocks rivals or colleagues in the Machiavellian business of reinventing candidates and reshaping public opinion. In the following months, the team exercises a strategy of "declaring a crisis". The front-runner, Victor Rivera, is a populist who is appealing to the basest emotions of that poor electorate. I say, beat Candy because Jane doesnt really care that much about Castillo or Bolivia. And in the real Bolivian election of 02, there was no rivalry between warring American spin doctors working for different candidates, because Goni was the only candidate who got that kind of help, in clear preference to his populist opponents on both the right and left. There is something deeply disturbing about American political strategists helping an unpopular politician return back to presidency in a country as different as Bolivia. Exactly who decided that a widely disliked candidate in such a small country merited such attention, alongside such star GCS clients as Tony Blair, the Israeli Labor Party and the Canadian Liberal Party? Calamity Jane Bodine (Bullock) was a vaunted political strategist, but the emotional toll of the campaigns coupled with substance abuse problems forced her into early retirement where she may not be happy, but shes grateful that shes calm. The film starts with Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) being interviewed. Loosely based on true events, "Our Brand Is Crisis," follows Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her campaign team when they are hired to help Pedro Castillo win a presidential election in Bolivia. Although this is yet another nice white lady who benevolently comes to the aid of a non-white young person (in the case of Our Brand Is Crisis, it's a campaign intern who idolizes Castillo), Bullock shows a lot more shading here than in The Blind Side. She reveals she has had mental issues before and suffered from depression. Castillo promises them that he will not invite the IMF without a public referendum. Written by Peter Straughan, and according to its credits inspired by the 2005 documentary film of the same name, Our Brand is Crisis uneasily mixes the star vehicle with the screwball-political-comedy/satire with the (half-heartedly, in the end) impassioned call to social consciousness arms. One of the llamas is hit by a truck. Goni was in effect the candidate of the Washington consensus, the guy who would bring a small, fractious and deeply divided country into the established international economic order. Morales government has dramatically reduced poverty and inequality, and presided over one of the worlds fastest-growing economies, right through the crash of 2008. Old colleague Nell (Ann Dowd) brings young idealistic Ben (Anthony Mackie) up to the woods to coax Jane down to Bolivia, to manage the presidential campaign of a conservative senator whose prior stint as head of that country was pretty authoritarian. Candy can be seen watching the action in the background. Kristen Bell to Befriend an Unorthodox Rabbi. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Later, two senior advisors argue the crisis brand may have worked with the current crowd, but it wont with the working class. The film stars Sandra Bullock, Scoot McNairy, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd and Joaquim de Almeida. There are very occasional crude sexual references. Played for laughs? It needs a strongman who can handle a crisis. 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