Swing Vote (Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll, Kelsey Grammar, Stanley Tucci, Paula Patton, Dennis Hopper, Mare Winningham) — I admit to seeing almost every Kevin Costner movie for reasons I can’t pinpoint except that he seems so likable. Outside of movies where he plays athletes (like Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Tin Cup) or ex-athletes (The Upside of Anger), it is clear that he really isn’t much of an actor. Swing Vote proves it again. He re-cycles the deadbeat character in Tin Cup here as the oft-unemployed, always drunk Bud Johnson, the father of Molly, yet another movie over-achieving, brilliant, responsible teenage girl (played here by newcomer Madeline Carroll but she might as well be Ellen Page of Juno).
He’s not even registered to vote, fearing jury duty. She is writing an essay on civic responsibility. They’re both one step away from Child Services taking Molly away and returning her to her equally worthless mother, played by ex-Brat Packer Mare Winningham in an all-too-brief and, thus, worthless performance. Daughter registers dad to vote by mail; he promises to meet her at the polling station; he gets drunk, hits his head, passes out and doesn’t get there; she sneaks a ballot into the voting booth after forging his name; and the ballot errs out due to some poll worker pulling a plug. WOW!
The presidential election ends in a dead heat with the last state, New Mexico, in a dead tie and one errored-out ballot pending. You guessed it, it’s dad’s. I would go on and tell you this ridiculous story, but why? All I will say is that the best moments are between the incumbent President Andy Boone, played by Kelsey Grammar, and his stereotyped, win-at-all-costs chief of staff/campaign manager (played wonderfully, as always, by Stanley Tucci).
Stretched beyond all credence and the ability to suspend disbelief, this film is so saccharine and inconsequential that its defining moment occurs in the last three minutes in a soliloquy from one of America’s most likable and mediocre actors. Waste your money if you just want a mindless two hours (it was way too long). Otherwise, see anything else.