Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis go head-to-head in the presidential campaign in this farcial comedy about American politics. As an Englishman living in O’ Blighty, I felt a tad alienated from all the hoopla and nonsense that pervaded this movie, but there were moments I found funny, and I will now go into my honest opinion.
Okay, I will talk about the not-so-good parts of this movie. I felt some of the jokes weren’t that funny to begin with. Perhaps an American audience may find the accidental punching of a baby hilarious, but I didn’t. And then they soon after rehashed the same scene, but this time the president (Ferrell) punches a dog. It didn’t tickle my funny bone, I’m afraid, and I was left feeling that I’d missed the humour. Maybe this movie was only intended in delighting an American audience, because I felt like I wasn’t in on the joke, sadly, and instead would see a supposedly funny scene, and find an empty response inside myself. Usually, I like films Will Ferrell is in, and I liked Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover trilogy, but this movie wasn’t as good as it could have been.
However, I think the reason this movie didn’t do it for me is because I have no first-hand experience of the American culture. Jokes about getting revenge on your political opponent by having sex with their wife and then using it for a TV advertisement is just baffling to me. Perhaps this is meant to mock the, shall we say, unfaithful presidents of the past, but I just didn’t find the idea to contain much comedy. In fact, I viewed it as meanspirited in nature, and I was surprised at how it was used in the movie.
I’m going to have to put this down to a cultural difference in British and American humour. Don’t get me wrong – I love American comedies… just not this one.
bearfilmreview 