Jane highlights something in the book. She needs a cigarette, so she walks out the door into a large open foyer. They plan to frighten the people, with the aim of persuading them to vote for the unsympathetic but known Castillo rather than the younger opposition candidates. 107 minutes Cast Sandra Bullock as 'Calamity' Jane Bodine Anthony Mackie as Ben Billy Bob Thornton as Pat Candy Zoe Kazan as LeBlanc Scoot McNairy as Buckley Ann Dowd as Nell Director David Gordon Green Screenplay Peter Straughan Writer (original documentary) 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. Can Hollywood find a way to take the political consultant character in a new direction? Somebody on the Castillo bus says Jane has a great ass! (And she does. Karen Kunawicz. During a focus group for the ad in which he catches and holds up several people, its clear the ad does not resonate with anybody. While it would have been nice if the supporting characters were just as well developed (Candys entire purpose seems to be to enter a scene, taunt Jane, and then leave), Jane is a compelling figure, and its unfortunate that the film doesnt match her complexity. Bush strategist Lee Atwater, who by his own reported deathbed admission was an unholy monster, and to this day keeps afloat the brand of George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove. He says the people in the village dont understand that yet. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The political comedy Our Brand Is Crisis stars Sandra Bullock as an American campaign strategist hired to work for a Bolivian presidential candidate. A timeline of the (alleged) drama involving Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, and Florence Pugh. The film was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. I love stories of politics as theaterthe stagecraft, scripting, wardrobe choices, and focus group testing of absurd commercials. The interviewer says she's been known by many names, most notably "Calamity Jane". She tells him shes going home tomorrow. He suggests maybe later they can go out. 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. Their main tactic is to emphasize the many problems of the economy and present Castillo as the solution. 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. Finally, she meets with Castillo for their first conversation. So I knew that, in this case, I would just have to find out for myself. She finally just decided to get off the carousel. Walking into the room with the campaign team, she gives a fiery and inspirational speech about how important it is to go negative, and that anybody with a problem with that will be given a set of balls. But the fact that it wants to also squeeze in a redemptive tale is completely at odds with the work the protagonist is doing. [3], The film opened on October 30, 2015, alongside Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Not all movies preach, for example, action movies are usually more about the entertainment of watching good triumph over evil. Nevertheless, his brothers are much more skeptical about Castillo. Some of her pranks, specifically one ploy to feed her candidates unsuspecting competitor a Nazi quotation during the campaigns final debate, are good for a laugh. Its also revealed that Candy is the one who ran over the llama during the commercial shoot. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. [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. There are also two middle finger displays. Our Brand is Crisis (2015) (964) 6.1 1 h 47 min 2015 X-Ray R. A Bolivian presidential candidate failing in the polls enlists the firepower of an elite American management team, led by the deeply damaged but still brilliant strategist Jane Bodine. But it never keeps the energy up, steering into forced visual gags, dull spells of earnestness, and ponderous backstory psychologythe viewer never is quite sure who really did what to whom in the Candy-Bodine love-hate relationship. Jane says its time to go negative. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. 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. Since 2013, the study of English and history has dropped by a third; the number of STEM degrees, meanwhile, is soaring. At a large debate with all the candidates, Jane is found behind the stage backdrop during the debate. "Wake up, this is war. In 2002, Bolivian politician Pedro Gallo hires American James Carville's political consulting firm, Greenberg Carville Shrum, to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. Jane next starts a rumor that Rivera is a Nazi, based on no real facts, but a fuzzy picture showing him with Nazi propaganda. Castillo had been coached by Jane that if he senses any emotion or tears, to look directly into the camera. [17][18] Filming also took place in the Bonnet Carr Spillway in Norco in St. Charles Parish. From there, Jane uses every trick at her disposal to try and beat Candy. Inspired by the 2005 documentary of the . All the stupid tricks are here, the ones people laugh at onscreen in the context of a film like this but fall for in spite of themselves on their TVs during football games. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. She spends the night in jail. As a result of this, Castillo agrees to start running a negative campaign. It is considered to be the most important process in public relations." The pottery business is explained forthwith, lest were worried about some Ghost influence. The message I got from this movie was very positive. The interviewer says shes been known by many names, most notably Calamity Jane. Another graphic shows the race at 22% for Castillo and 26% for Rivera with 16 days to go. That's true even in "Our Brand Is Crisis," a . The big reason it works, though, is that it takes its premise from Rachel Boyntons phenomenal (but little-known) 2005 documentary of the same name. The last movie I reviewed was Burnt, which was called a comedy by many, but I found it not to be a comedy at alljust a drama with occasional humor. [24], On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. Boynton traveled to Bolivia to cover the activity of a high-priced U.S. consulting firm, Greenberg Carville, and Shrum, in the 2002 presidential race, and she had amazingfrankly, flabbergastingaccess. It casts a skeptical eye at the gospel of globalization thats preached by Janes team, but its outrage is more directed at cynicism than at any specific system. At the start, Jane has been out of the consulting game for several years, following a traumatic mayoral race. Ben admires a shiny dark bowl but Nell takes it from him. We root for Jane to win and feel guilty for caring more about the game than the country. Policy doesnt even enter into the conversation; its more about scoring points by making your opponent look like a Nazi sympathizer simply by virtue of a doctored photograph. Jane meets with Castillo who says shes a liability. Our Brand Is Crisis. Maybe its time to put it out to pasture. The way Jane and her team approaches politics makes them good at their job, but it also makes them cynical people, and the movie rarely questions their behavior until the very end when it does so in the most heavy-handed manner possible. After he does this, Castillo gives Eddie his cufflinks to hold, and it is clear Eddie idolizes him. Before a campaign stop, Jane tells Eddie to help Castillo roll up his sleeves. 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. In addition, there are 20+ f-words, s-words (19), and one each of a**, SOB, p*ssed, p*ssy, b*stard, b***h, tw*t, cr*p, and t*rd. Its cute for a while. Bullock plays Calamity Jane Bodine, a legendary practitioner of the dark political arts who comes out of semi-retirement to navigate the hapless ex-president back to the top job. Washed-up political strategist Jane Bodine is hired by a political consultancy to help their client, Senator Castillo, win the Bolivian general election. ------------------------------------------. What sealed the deal was that she will be coming up against her long-time arch-nemesis, Pat Candy. GCS brings in Jane Bodine to manage the campaign in Bolivia--battling her arch-nemesis, the opposition's political consultant Pat Candy. Among the many achievements of HBOs Veep is its discovery of a new, post-Carville political consultant character, one thats just as cuttingly entertaining but truer to reality. The rest of the movie is her telling the story of what happened after her resignation. I need a majority. Our Brand is Crisis hits a lot of clunky notes and the end is unforgivably cornball, but its still one of the liveliest political black comedies Ive seen in a while. This password will be used to sign into all, Okay, TikTok, You Can Calm Down About Aubrey Plaza at the SAG Awards Now, All 165 Pink Floyd Songs Ranked, From Worst to Best. 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. But at the end, their methods are exposed to the viewers as evil. Some said it was insightful. Besser. On a table she finds a Rivera doll. [13] On December 11, 2013, Sandra Bullock was in early talks to star in the film, while Clooney chose not to direct, and his starring in the film was also unconfirmed at that time. Our Brand is Crisis is more than just the scenario Jane (Sandra Bullock) is selling to the Bolivian public in hopes of bringing her candidate Castillo from a blip on the radar to leading the. This satire, directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay by Peter Straughan, suffers from deficits of wit, wisdom, focus, filmmaking expertise and appropriate tone. Jane wants to overtake it. Candy tells her he knows it was Jane who planted the fliers of Castillos infidelity in order to force Castillo to run a negative campaign. Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) Plot Showing all 5 items Jump to: Summaries (4) Synopsis (1) Summaries 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. Answer, Should Christians seek political power or should we only focus on evangelism? Click here for all of our TIFF 2015 coverage thus far or peruse links to our reviews below: Matt Goldberg has been an editor with Collider since 2007. Loosely based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, Our Brand is Crisis offers a fictionalized take on the 2002 Bolivian Presidential election with a cast that includes Academy Award. She is approached by Candy, who tells her hes surprised shes working on an unwinnable campaign. The film, directed by David Gordon Green and based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, follows Bullock's character Jane Bodine, a political mastermind brought in to help a Bolivian. Back on the bus, Castillo explain to Eddie that an effective leader is a father to the people, and that sometimes a father must be strict. David Gordon Green keeps the perspectives shifting, getting lots of good angles on this three-ring circus. Candy calls Jane and invites her to go out again. He calls the police and Jane is seen slapping an officer. Fliers are discovered, authored by the La Paz Grassroots that say Castillo had a three year affair. Instead, both end up outside of their hotel rooms so they can see each other. 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. Jane yells out the window to Candy that Rivera has dropped 6 points. Let me know how that goes. Jane then joins the mass of people who are walking toward the city. Terms of Service apply. . Our Brand is Crisis was released across all major streaming and cable platforms on Tuesday, January 19, 2016. Candy is outside the hotel in his chauffeur-driven SUV and offers Jane, Ben, and Nell a ride to the airport. 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. Thats not just naive to the point of idiocy. Its pretty powerful, actually. When she starts giving it back to himpsyching him outthe movie gets really good. [3] The film opened on October 30, 2015, alongside Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. You never find out. She just needs to hear him deny it. They then shoot the head of the Rivera doll Candy had left, and it breaks his window. Eduardo, a young volunteer of the Castillo campaign, is deeply impressed by this show of commitment. Please share it with your friends rnum=Math.round(Math.random() * 100000); Ben says, ok. [11] More casting was also announced, which included Reynaldo Pacheco, Dominic Flores, Louis Arcella, and Octavio Gmez. The disillusioned Eduardo joins his brothers at a demonstration of people demanding change. At another meeting with advisors, its revealed the crisis message is working, but not so well that it will win the election. She pulls from her bag the pottery bowl that Ben was admiring in the first scene, and hands it to him before climbing out of the car. Maybe, kinda. By what name was Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) officially released in India in English? Jane is on the set but is only seen in the background on a lounge chair, still looking unwell. [6] On September 15, Billy Bob Thornton joined the film,[7] and on September 18, Anthony Mackie joined the cast. That kind of consumer response is pretty remarkable, and it also says something about each brand's crisis management strategies. Arriving at Janes house, she explains she has quit smoking and drinking and has focused on pottery. Thanks for reading the spoiler. There are 12 misuses of god, Jesus (1), Jesus Christ (1), hell (3) and d*mn (3). Thankfully, were usually too wrapped up in Bullocks great performance to mind the films cognitive dissonance. Reluctantly enlisted to help elect the unlikable bully Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida), Jane gets the bit between her teeth when she discovers that her arch-rival, Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton), is running the oppositions campaign. Our Brand is Crisis was one of these pleasant surprises. When Bodine realizes that she brought a liar into office, she has the car stopped and leaves to join Eduardo. Jane insist they go negative in spite of this, but Castillo says no. Our Brand is Crisis may be director David Gordon Green's most sterile picture yet, but it's redeemed somewhat by Sandra Bullock's lead performance, as well as a talented ensemble cast . 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. Jane says the llama cant stand the commercial so badly, he killed himself. The problem is that they do such a good job selling this Jane that they do exactly what theyre supposed to do: They make you curious about her. She doesnt believe hell catch her and he expresses disbelief. Read full review SEE ALL 35 REVIEWS User Score Write a Review 6.4 Positive: 23 At another commercial set inside a warehouse, several llamas are there, and Castillo is set to compare the future of Bolivia with llamas, who work hard. She insists Castillo express regret, but not to apologize. Later shell claim he got the room intentionally to get under her skin. The story follows a political strategist who's recruited to help the campaign of a Bolivian presidential. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. Answer, spin doctors / truth and lies in political campaigns, how marketing strategies are use to manipulate the opinions of voters, evaluate the claim that theres only one wrong in political campaigns and thats losing, evaluate the comment, if you fight monsters too long, you become one, VOTINGDo Christians have an obligation to vote? Realizing that her candidate, Senator Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) cant win by being likable, they decide to use fear as their issue, sell that Bolivia is a nation in crisis, and hes the only many that can save it. His slickness fits the milieu. Thats why in a time of ever-greater political chaos, the character rings so false. Yet you really have to read between the lines and dig into the subtext of Straughans screenplay to perceive the issues that drove Boyntons film. Our Brand Is Crisis Review: Champions of Cynicism | TIFF 2015. Morales government has dramatically reduced poverty and inequality, and presided over one of the worlds fastest-growing economies, right through the crash of 2008. Jane is so nauseous from her travel and the elevation she leaves and is heard throwing up. The real meat of the comedy, and drama, comes in the ingenious dirty tricks that Candy and Bodine play on each other, which could kick off a primer on the political practice recently known as rat-f**king (although that phrase is never uttered in the film). 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. Lets Do the Thing: How Online Were You in February 2023? Both Bullock and Thornton portray Carvillesque characters (and the bald Thornton looks the part). Entertaining and provocative, Our Brand Is Crisis is a satirical political drama. 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