![]() It's too bad that "Irresistible" is nearly as out of touch as Gary is. Mackenzie Davis gives a nice performance as Jack's daughter who consistently puts Gary in his place. ![]() In movie terms, that means treating the people of Deerlaken with kid gloves while subjecting Gary, the clueless liberal, to relentless critical scrutiny. Whether or not you agree with that assumption, Stewart is trying to present both sides. We live in a broken system, Stewart is saying, where the right and the left are equally culpable. He's also ribbing the media for stoking divisions and pushing both sides toward greater extremes. He's using the absurdity of the Deerlaken situation to call out the corrupting influence of money in politics, the way funds get poured into campaigns rather than solutions. It's easy enough to grasp Stewart's main argument. And so the movie weirdly comes off as both naive and smug. But it also wants to offer a cynical insider's view of everything that's wrong with American politics. "Irresistible" wants to be a Capraesque fable. Smith Goes To Washington" with its corny but stirring celebration of small-town idealism. But the director is also channeling the whimsical spirit of classic Frank Capra films like "Mr. The character of Jack was inspired by Jon Ossoff the upstart Georgia Democrat who nearly flipped a conservative House district in a special election in 2017 and is now running for the Senate. She's lying.ĬHANG: Stewart is drawing partly on reality. Unfortunately, we have to leave it there.ĬARELL: (As Gary) No. She's - that's - no, that.ĬARELL: (As Gary) What are you even doing?ĬARLSON: (As Brooke) Well, as always, a great and spirited discussion.ĬARLSON: (As Brooke) Thank you both. That's a lieĬARELL: (As Gary) You're lying. Thank you.ĬARELL: (As Gary) No, no, no, no. So this campaign has been a bit of a homecoming.īYRNE: (As Faith) It really is, Brooke. I'm from Deerlaken.ĬARLSON: (As Brooke) Oh, wow. You're from Wisconsin?īYRNE: (As Faith) Yeah - well, no, Deerlaken. KATLYN CARLSON: (As Brooke) Faith, I didn't know that. ROSE BYRNE: (As Faith) The Democrat Party can't win. Here, Gary and Faith get in a heated argument during a CNN-style interview. Camera crews, polling experts and super PACs descend on Deerlaken, so does a rival GOP strategist, Faith Brewster - clearly modeled on Kellyanne Conway and played by a typically on point Rose Byrne. The Republican Party gets wind of what's happening and starts funding the mayor's reelection campaign. ![]() And Gary's jittery, East Coast energy is amusingly at odds with this mostly conservative town. Some fish-out-of-water comedy ensues.Ĭarell is good at playing self-important characters with minimal self-awareness. In any event, Gary hops on a private jet to Deerlaken, where he persuades Jack to run for mayor as a Democrat against the Republican incumbent. And right now, when the next generation of elected Democrats includes leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it feels like an awfully dated premise. You can see why Gary would gravitate toward a white, rural everyman in the immediate wake of 2016.īut a lot has changed since then. He may not look or sound like a traditional Democrat, but that's why Gary thinks he's the perfect guy to rebrand the party's image and show that Republicans don't have a monopoly on family values, military heroism and love of country. Jack, played by a very good Chris Cooper, has just given a passionate speech defending the town's undocumented workers in a video that has gone viral. He believes the party's future rests on the unlikely shoulders of Colonel Jack Hastings, a Marine veteran and dairy farmer from a small, economically blighted Wisconsin town called Deerlaken. A few months after Trump's inauguration, Gary is ready to jump back into the fray. The movie stars Steve Carell as Gary Zimmer, a longtime Democratic strategist who is reeling from Hillary Clinton's 2016 electoral defeat when the movie opens. But there's little of that focus and passion in his disappointing and misleadingly titled new movie, "Irresistible." It's a political satire that wants to say something timely and significant but feels exasperatingly out of step with the present moment. And he's appeared occasionally on his friend Stephen Colbert's show to offer withering views on President Trump. JUSTIN CHANG, BYLINE: Jon Stewart hasn't exactly been quiet in the years since his departure from "The Daily Show." He's been a forceful advocate for 9/11 first responders. Our film critic, Justin Chang, has this review. It stars Steve Carell as a Democratic Party strategist who gets involved in a political race in a small Wisconsin town. Jon Stewart, former longtime host of "The Daily Show," has written and directed a new political comedy film called "Irresistible," which begins streaming today on video on demand platforms.
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