It’s time for a classic political film. I’m always down for one of these titles as someone tries to upset the establishment. Usually that is a difficult task though and this is definitely another such example of this. In this case the main character doesn’t even put up that much of a resistance I’d say. You could make the case that it’s because he was corrupted before the film had even begun which means he was really doomed.

The film starts off with Kay’s father on his deathbed as he explains to her that the politicians are all terrible and she needs to take them down. He destroys himself and she goes to work on accumulating power. Unfortunately her newspaper has been left in the dust and most have turned against her. Her only hope is to make a man named Grant the next president. He’s not interested in politics but she aims to change that. He doesn’t have a particularly strong will so she gets him on board quickly and even convinces Conover, one of the big political bigwigs, and Spike, the publicity guy to help. They will also need Grant’s wife Mary to help out here since America will only vote for a family man but will she play ball?

Now in these kinds of films the idea is you’re rooting for the main guy because he hasn’t yet been absorbed into big business. He’s a guy with principles who will stand up for the common man. Unfortunately that just isn’t the case here as his relationship with his wife is super dicey as he is always with Kay and doesn’t really make any effort to hide it. It’s definitely all a big disgrace and so what makes you think Grant can rule the country when he can’t even maintain his convictions at home?

It certainly doesn’t make you particularly root for the guy, that’s for sure. Even then I was expecting him to put up some kind of defense but it really doesn’t take long for the business to eat away at him. He wasn’t mentally prepared for the brutality of politics and he can only blame himself for that. The worst scene for him is definitely when Kay only needs a minute or so to convince him to change up his speech. Definitely a low blow and from there it’s really a downwards spiral for him.

Meanwhile Mary is a lot better but I would also say that she puts up with too much. For starters, I think she shouldn’t have helped out even at the beginning. The instant she learned Grant only called her over to help with PR should have been the end of it all. That’s a total breach of trust and would make me doubt all of his motives from then on. The disrespect gets worse and worse as the politicians don’t even attempt to play dumb about this. She is here to boost his ratings and you never want to be someone’s pawn.

The only decent politician type character appears to be Spike and even then he is the kind of guy who likes to make fun of everything but still participates anyway. So it’s not as though he is innocent in this whole situation. Far from it! It’s still easier to root for him than the other characters though. At least he has a good time of it all and always has a good burn/insult at the ready. You just want to ignore his advice at times.

Naturally Kay is another big antagonist here. She’s just trying to fulfill her father’s wishes and will use whatever means that she can. She certainly doesn’t actually care for Grant or any of the other characters. She is just doing whatever she can to further her own ambitions and it’s important not to forget that. She would leave the other characters to dry at the first opportunity.

Conover is pretty much the same way. He’s here for the opportunity and the big payout at the end. He lost his sense of honor and duty for country a long time ago. At this point he’s just in it to prove that he still has power and influence. The film is quite consistent with that and showing how all of the politicians are very soulless. It has a pretty dark look on things as the average person is just being manipulated. They are all cogs in the wheels for big business who actually controls things on the outside.

While none of the characters are all that likable, I would say that the writing for the film is pretty good. The story itself is definitely captivating and the pacing is good. It will keep your attention all the way through without fail. In a way corporate only has themselves to blame for how the film ends. They tired getting a little too slick for their own good and flew too close to the sun. The final plan seemed doomed to fail right from the jump because they were just being way too smug and pushing everything in Mary’s face. The fact that they still almost succeeded is the most surprising point. I think a lot of people would have already been past the breaking point by this moment.

Overall, State of the Union is a pretty good movie. It may not be the most optimistic take on how a person can challenge the system but sometimes you do need a film where this is just impossible. It makes the journey even more impressive when in another film the character is able to make a difference. At the end of the day you wouldn’t expect such a big system to be so easy to overthrow after all. You’d hope that most characters would fare a little better though. If you’re interested in seeing the inside of the political realm then this is a good movie to check out.

Overall 7/10