PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 10/12/06)

The last time writer/director Barry Levinson set his sights on the White House, the result was 1997's Wag the Dog, an inspired political comedy in which a Washington insider teamed up with a Hollywood producer to concoct a fake war that would deflect attention away from a presidential sex scandal. Like all great satires, the movie's enduring appeal lies in the fact that its premise is at once both completely ridiculous and scarily plausible.

The timing of Man of the Year, Levinson's latest, isn't nearly as apt. This yarn about a late-night talk show host named Tom Dobbs (played by Robin Williams) who runs for President and, amazingly enough, wins would have been more timely if it had been released during the last presidential election. 2004 marked both the first appearance of those "Jon Stewart for President" folks and the rise of ballots cast on electronic machines. Year, you see, revolves around electronic voting and, in Levinson's view, the danger it poses to our democracy.

Probably didn't see that coming, didja? Neither did anyone else at the press screening. After all, the trailers primarily show Williams cracking wise and parading around the nation's capitol in 18th century garb. These scenes do appear in the finished film, but they are minor moments in a story that veers chaotically from broad comedy to social drama to political thriller. You can't fault Levinson for his ambition, but you can shake your head as the proceedings become increasingly shrill and improbable.

The tonal problems start early on as Levinson attempts to juggle two very different storylines. The first is Dobbs' transformation from comedian to candidate, while the second involves Eleanor Green (Laura Linney), an employee at Delacroy, the company that's been tapped by Congress to design a national electronic voting system. Eleanor discovers a serious glitch in the program during a diagnostic test, but her superiors make it clear that they intend to look the other way completely. Lo and behold, the glitch winds up putting Dobbs in the White House to the shock and awe of everyone (including Dobbs). Eleanor is determined to tell the whole sordid story to the President-elect even as the Delacroy executives go to extreme lengths to keep her quiet.

Even though there's no way the Secret Service would have let Eleanor anywhere near Dobbs, particularly not after she infiltrates his victory party by passing herself off as an FBI agent, they soon cross paths. Linney's wild-eyed performance doesn't help Eleanor's cause either; usually one of our most reliable actresses, she never gets a firm grasp on this character. Williams seems similarly confused, alternating awkwardly between his fast-talking stand-up persona and the restrained mannerisms he adopts for his more dramatic roles.

It's hard not to feel a little sorry for both actors since they're clearly at the mercy of Levinson's confused script and direction. The film is laughable when it tries to be dramatic and stone-faced when it strains to be funny. Beyond that, Man of the Year is often so wildly off the mark in its depiction of how elections are run, it's hard to believe that it was directed by the same guy who helmed Wag the Dog, one of the savviest political films ever made. Levinson is absolutely right to express concerns about electronic voting, but perhaps he should have funneled his feelings into an op-ed piece instead of a feature film.

—Ethan Alter