How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Kevin Costner's filmography in order, I come to Swing Vote (2008)Plot In A Paragraph: In an unbelievable and remarkable turn-of-events, the result of the presidential election comes down to one man's vote.I will admit from the off, I have never taken to this movie, this was only the third time I have watched it. Along with Rumour Has It and The Upside Of Anger, this is a movie I never take off the shelf. The concept is ridiculous, and I have just never got it. But given what is going on in the world at the moment, it became an interesting time to watch it. There are two sides to KC's performance, he is quirky when drunk, however before his deciding vote. KC delivers a Capraesque speech, with dignity. KC has always made a convincing everyman, and here is no different. Young Madeline Carroll is simply superb, she is heartbreaking as she tearfully defends her father to her classmates, it's one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. In fact the whole movie is well cast. I like all of the supporting cast of Kelsey Grammar, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Lane and Dennis Hopper.If Swing Vote has a message, it's that "every vote counts," but it also has quite a bit to say about what both parties will do to get that vote. In these current times, it is interesting to see that both candidates would sell their mothers to win the election. (I found myself wondering what Trump and Clinton would do in this situation) It also makes it clear the politicians don't tell the truth, but say what they think voters want to hear. And the press helps them a great deal. The movie also gives a realistic view of reporters on the campaign trail. They're not nice people who will do anything for a story. Except of course the one who gives up the story because she has a good heart (as unrealistic as how the actual vote comes down to Bud) For a movie about politics, Swing Vote is careful not to take one side or the other. The movie is neither anti-Democrat nor anti-Republican. Before watching this today I'd have said it was a 6/10, but today I found a slightly newer appreciation for it. 7/10

Kevin Costner was actually in another decent movie. His last movie I saw, Mr. Brooks, was pretty good also. I would call this movie a political satire, that tries to be a little funny at times. However, the idea that one guy determines the presidential election is absurd, but if you can get past that, then the plot is OK. It was funny how the movie had the political parties doing adds for things they oppose. Example, the democrats supporting pro life because Bud says he's pro life.The plot is struggling, every day man, Bud Johnson, just got laid off. He has a very smart daughter and she cares about the presidential election. Bud promises to vote since Molly thinks it's important. But, when he doesn't show, Molly votes in his place but the power goes out and the vote didn't count. The election comes down to New Mexico and for some reason, not told in the movie, Bud's vote will decide the electoral votes. I mean, how could the votes be even for each side and even if they were very close, how many months would it take for all the recounts that would take place. But any way, it's up to Bud, whom doesn't care about politics. He becomes an instant celebrity and is courted by both candidates. By the end of the film, Bud grows an appreciation for the political scene and realizes that it is important to care about social issues.FINAL VERDICT: Funnier than I thought and provides a message. Plus, the movie doesn't try to say that one party is better than the other.

Ernest "Bud" Johnson, a man of the people, a Good Third Party Independent completely uninformed as to what is going on outside of his own little world of the little town of Texico New Mexico, with a socially conscious daughter Molly , caught up in the Political scene by his innocent daughter, registering him to vote on election day. A strange series of coincidences leaves the classic swing state of New Mexico EVENLY Spilt 50 50 in the popular vote with Bud Johnsons vote the deciding vote , the next ten days to two weeks are the classic roller coaster political ride that neither he nor his daughter had expected. as every debate needs a moderator , KennedY Nixon 1960 to the present, so none is better to moderate than a good man of the people who realizes his faults in life and bellies up to the podium to moderate.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that it's not an easy task to make a crowd-pleasing movie centered on politics that goes to such strenuous efforts to be non-partisan and maybe chalk up my dissatisfaction with the movie to that. Then again, it might also have something to do with a critical decision that they made in how to end the movie, which is sure to make every single solitary person who watches it throw up their arms in disgust. But the movie is not about who wins the presidency, it's about the pure chaos of the American political system and its millions of weaknesses and faults. Sure, the premise of a presidential election coming down to a single vote is as preposterous as they come, but man if this movie doesn't get you thinking critically about the electoral process then it's safe to assume that probably nothing ever will. Kevin Costner plays Bud, an American nobody from New Mexico who has never done anything with his life except have a daughter with a delusional drug addict who thinks she has a big singing career in her near future. He works as an egg inspector at an egg packaging plant, and he and his co-workers mourn the loss of their friends' (and soon, their own) jobs to "insourcing," the process of bringing Mexicans in to take their jobs rather than ship the factory and all those egg-laying chickens to Mexico. Bud staggers through life in a drunken daze most of the time, routinely letting down his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll), who raises him like a child. She gets him out of bed in the morning, criticizes his laziness and irresponsibility, reminds him to vote because it's part of a school project that she has to do, and through sighs of exasperation attempts to keep him at least a little bit in line. And of course it's the only thing in life that she fails at. When Bud gets drunk rather than show up to vote, she manages to almost cast his vote herself due to the sleepy voting booth security of beautiful Texico, New Mexico, which Google Earth has just informed me is a real place. Population 1,065.In a clever plot development, it turns out that Bud's vote didn't go completely through but it appeared that he was there, so he is given another opportunity to cast his vote. Not right away, mind you, even though he evidently already tried to vote and thus probably had his mind made up. No, he is given ten days before he has to vote, thus providing plenty of time for a movie to happen.Young Madeline Carroll steals most of the scenes that she's in as Bud's daughter, so it's interesting that her character is one of the biggest weak points in the movie, the other one being her dad. Bud is supposed to be a typical American, but I just saw a drifting drunk who never did anything with his life and never would have had he not been forced to. It's true that the vast majority of Americans live lives that are closer to Bud's than President Boone's (Kelsey Grammar), but does he have to be a TOTAL loser? How about just making him be a likable, regular guy? Like the guy he played in Field of Dreams? When I imagine the average American, I imagine something like Ray Kinsella. Although maybe with a slightly smaller house and less whispering from the sky.The other problem is that the screenwriters overshot the character of Molly by about 160 IQ points. So much for the average American, right? This girl writes a school essay that doesn't merit a special award from the principal to show her dad, it grants her NATIONAL TELEVISED RECOGNITION. But to be honest, I had more of a problem with the fact that not only does she wake her deadbeat dad up in the morning so he could take her to school, she also treks to the bar and, finding him passed out in his truck when he should have been voting, she pushes him over and then drives him home herself. She's about 11 years old. But where the movie succeeds is as a scathing revelation about certain realities of the American electoral process, such as the electoral college, which simplifies the vote-counting process even while massively distorting the actual numbers of who voted for who. The whole movie is about how one man's vote really does matter, but it leaves you with the feeling that you are supposed to forget that once he votes, every single vote in his state for the other candidate WON'T matter anymore, because they'll be switched to the other candidate. Isn't it interesting how that works? Can't we just count every single vote and award each candidate one huge number of individual votes? Seems a little more accurate to me.Anyway, I do appreciate the way the movie highlights the fact that both sides, Republican and Democrat, are equally willing to stoop to any level and do absolutely whatever it takes to win, and that no one is above hitting below the belt and making hugely unethical decisions. There is a lot that needs to be changed in American politics, and even while clearly being based on the Election of 2000, one of the most controversial in American history, it calls those things to attention without ever even hinting that either side is right or wrong. The movie insists that America is the greatest country in the world but that in some ways, we're doing it all wrong, but the fact that a movie like this has the freedom to get made proves that even though we haven't reached a level of pure cohesive harmony, underneath all of our imperfections is a clear desire to get there.