The Spoon

Man of the Year

I always thought Robin Williams was kind of crazy. He's got enough manic energy to power a small town and let's not forget he's a pretty convincing alien life-form. Basically, I wouldn't consider Robin Williams the ideal candidate for President. But in Man of the Year Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a popular political pundit (score one for alliteration) who manages to combine the manic energy of Williams with the level-headed sense of responsibility of a much more realistic Presidential candidate.

In the movie, Dobbs runs for president after his political comedy show (similar to the The Daily Show or The Colbert Report) turns a lark suggestion into full-on campaign support. And let me let you in on a little secret: he wins.

But almost immediately, the audience is aware of a potential voting controversy. And what Man of the Year does very quickly and very cleverly is shift the focus from the general question of "What happens if/when everyone finds out?" to the specific moral dilemmas that the main protagonists (namely Dobbs) must face when this information does come to light.

And Dobbs really does work as a possible President. Part of what makes this movie so good is it's ability to take an outlandish plot and make it seem very real. It's fresh, it's idealistic, it's about politics and yet it also tells a tale of human nature that goes beyond Robin Williams playing at being the President. From beginning to end, Dobbs and everyone else around him must face serious choices about what is right and what is necessary. Throw in a ton of genuinely funny politcal humor and that's a recipe for a great movie.

In a day when every movie in the theaters is a sequal or rehash of another tired plot, Man of the Year manages to to be fresh, compelling, and timely. Political scandals have reached a new all time high (who thought that would be possible back in the Clinton era?) and Man of the Year manages to poke fun at the political scene while still seriously considering the question of "What's next?" Dobbs must find out for himself in Man of the Year and I suggest you join him.