"Bud" Johnson (Kevin Costner) is an apathetic loser in the small town of Texico, New Mexico. His only ambitions in life are sleeping late, drinking and taking care of his 12-year old daughter, Molly (Madeline Carroll). Molly runs the household and, unlike her father, takes a more serious approach to life - including voting. After her father fails to show up at the polling place on Election Day, Molly attempts to vote for her father, setting off a string of events that leave Bud as the vote that will win the election (blame the Electoral College).
Bud becomes an overnight celebrity, drawing attention from every media outlet in the world as well as the two candidates, who descend upon the small town in order to win Bud's vote.
When it comes to political movies, I'm usually a little leery about one side trying to push its beliefs as "the right one" while lampooning the other side. Swing Vote avoids this by taking shots at each side and shows that, despite their differences, both parties are basically the same. As the two parties get to know Bud, they do everything they can to win his vote - including flip-flopping on their party's core platforms. The Republicans become the "Green" party and support pro-gay marriage while the Democrats take an anti-illegal alien stance (or, as Bud puts it, "insourcing") and become pro-life.
According to director Joshua Stern in the behind the scenes feature, casting the right pairs was a major focus. Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper are great as the two candidates and work well with Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane, who play their respective campaign managers. Tucci is especially good and has one of the best lines in the movie, which according to the commentary was ad-libbed.
Swing Vote is at its best when it looks at the political system and it's weakest when it focuses on Bud's relationship with his daughter. Bud is not a sympathetic character, which the sub-plot involving his daughter attempts to balance out. On some levels, it works, though it eventually falls apart and takes the entire film in a direction it doesn't need to go. The only good thing to come out of the sub-plot is Madeline Carroll (Resident Evil fans may recognize her as White Queen from Resident Evil: Extinction), who is a phenomenal actress, especially for her age. She steals every scene she is in and I only wish she had more scenes with habitual scene-stealer Nathan Lane just to watch the two go head-to-head.
Overall, Swing Vote is an enjoyable movie, though I would stop short at calling it a must buy. Though it has its moments, it isn't a home run and probably isn't something you'll want to watch more than once - particularly since the movie sort of forgets itself towards the end and, well, I won't spoil it. Add Swing Vote to your Netflix cue or rent it, but that's about it.
