'Swing Vote' shows it's hard to make a good political comedy without being political

Every vote counts. We’ve been told that, both before and after Florida in 2000. In fact, we’ve been told that all the way back to fifth-grade civics class.

“Swing Vote” is about one of those Everyman guys who comes from behind to prove his worth to society.

We need to be inspired by this guy, Bud Johnson.

It’s not easy.

That’s one of the problems with the movie.

This laid-off egg-inspector is so uninformed that he doesn’t even know the names of the two guys running for President of the United States in an election year. (Come to think of it, that’s not so far-fetched).

His daughter, a mature 12-year-old who acts like his mother, pressures him to vote, but he gets drunk and bumps his head instead. She votes for him. Hey, that’s illegal and, consequently, not heartwarming.

The entire premise is far-fetched anyway, so maybe it doesn’t matter. When the votes are counted, New Mexico is the tie-breaking state and Texico, New Mexico, turns out to be the final locale where the votes are counted. A hanging chad, or whatever, means that Bud Johnson’s vote didn’t count. And without that vote it’s a tie. He has 10 days to recast it, and choose the nation’s president. This means that he is mightily courted by the Republican incumbent, President Boone (Kelsey Grammer) and the liberal Democratic candidate Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper). The little guy reigns over the shallow fat cats, for the moment.

It’s one of those “Capraesque” moments - or, at least it wants to be. Frank Capra was the director in the 1930s and ’40s whose series of patriotic, sweet movies created the term “Capraesque.” In them, little people won out over big government and we could all walk out of the theater feeling proud to be American. I’m talking about movies like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and the darker “Meet Jane Doe.” People say we’re too cynical and sarcastic nowadays to go to those movies. They may be right.

In any case, Kevin Costner, who plays Bud, is not particularly well-equipped to play dumb. He seems too self-aware and smart to make Bud lovable. Still, we’re willing to root for him.

Little Madeline Carroll manages to be smart without being smarty - as the daughter who realizes Daddy is a drunk and wants to straighten him out. In that regard, it’s a little like “Paper Moon” (1973), but don’t expect Carroll to win an Oscar the way Tatum O’Neal did.

If you’re having trouble choosing a candidate in the upcoming election, just think how much worse it would be if you had to choose between Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper. All things are relevant.

Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane play opposing campaign managers - the kind of supporting characters we expect to crack wise cracks. We keep waiting.

Richard Petty, the NASCAR driving legend, shows up at Bud’s trailer to push on the Republican side. Bud thinks he’s died and gone to heaven. Richard Petty is his all-time hero.

Late in the film, just when we begin to think that Bud has always been a no-account layabout, we meet Mare Winningham, the woman who walked out on him and is now a druggie. Suddenly, the movie takes a darkish stand that destroys whatever chance remained for comedy.

That’s another problem with “Swing Vote.” While it goes for warm chuckles rather than big laughs, it flip-flops as obviously as current, and past, political candidates. It has no guts. It avoids saying anything critical of either party and takes no stand. Its premise is that all political candidates are shallow weasels who will do anything to get elected. That may be true, but it isn’t enough to keep us awake, much less enthralled.

The final cop out is the infuriating ending. Costner, who invested $21 million of his own money, was probably smart in trying to avoid making a preachy “political” movie because he was afraid it wouldn’t sell tickets.

But it’s hard to make a good political comedy without being just a little political.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com.