Game Change (2012)

Recensie Game Change

Living in Europe I really don’t follow the elections in the United States in much detail. I will hear about who’s running for each party and occasionally see some background detail or some jokes about a candidate, but that’s about it. Game Change looks into the presidential election of 2008, when Obama was running against McCain.

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It’s a very interesting reenactment which tries to give the viewer a behind the scenes look into a campaign. According to this film Palin was chosen because McCain was trailing too far behind Obama and they needed someone who could help them get back on top. Palin seems to be the perfect candidate, but as time goes on cracks start to appear in her image. During the elections a lot of jokes were made about Palin, but Game Change doesn’t make fun of her.

It shows how she struggles with all the attention, everything that is expected of her and you really care about her. This is all thanks to an excellent performance by Julianne Moore. She’s not the only one who shines though as the cast is excellent, whether it is Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt or Ed Harris (who completely disappears in his role) as McCain. This movie successfully shows you the ins and outs of an election and with top shelf performances is one you should check out if you haven’t gotten that much interest in politics.

Score: 8

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EnbS8Z8uKQ]

15 thoughts on “Game Change (2012)

    • Yeah, you have to be in the mood for this one, but it’s worth seeing. There’s also another one about the recount which I’ve seen which is also good to check out. Still have to write a review for that one.

  1. Well I can’t vote yet as I’m not a citizen so I don’t follow US politics that much either. It’s amazing how much Julianne Moore resembled Palin here as in real life they look quite different. Glad to hear that they weren’t mocking Palin in this film, I don’t know much about her but it always pains me how much people could have that much hatred towards one person, like they did with Bush. Most of them were just jumping into the bandwagon anyway. I think there’s always pros and cons in both sides.

    Ok, I’d give this one a rent.

    • They really did a very good job on makeup and it also shows what an amazing actress Moore is. This makes her more human even though you do see the reactions of the campaign team and the nightmare they have gotten themselves in to.

      Hope you’ll enjoy it Ruth!

  2. I missed like the last twenty minutes when I watched it, but I really enjoyed it. I thought they handled the material well and didn’t just restate everything that was satirized during the elections.

    Moore was great as Palin and while Tina Fey’s impression is really good, it wouldn’t have worked for this film. It’s a different interpretation/portrayal. I thought Ed Harris did a really good job, especially with the physical movements. I always think McCain moves like a robot and Harris did a good job with those little things. I still couldn’t see him as McCain though. Ed Harris just stands out too much as himself. I just had a harder time getting past that it was him playing McCain. He didn’t disappear as well as Moore did.

    • I understand what you say about Harris…the thing is that he has a very distinctive look in his eyes which no makeup can hide. I did think he was good though.

  3. This was actually a more sympathetic portrayal than I was expecting going in. It showed how palin was pretty much a small fish and got tossed unprepared into a big ocean. I thought Moore was pretty amazing in this role.

    first time visitor and I enjoyed poking around you blog.

  4. Pingback: The Many Faces of… Julianne Moore « My Filmviews

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