Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
Public Enemies
Music
this was a triumph of eye-popping production and exhausting choreography
Madonna
Theatre
If his smug stage persona is tricky to warm to, his skill, and the snappiness of Andy Nyman’s direction, are spot-on
Derren Brown
If you are feeling totally fed up with your lot at the moment with the economic squeeze - go see this film
I thought this was an excellent, powerful production. The staging and acting were superb, it is well worth going to see
Absolutely AMAZING show that went like a train for three hours solid and didn't waiver once!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Joshua Michael Stern.
Cast: Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll, Paula Patton, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci
Description: While the rest of his countrymen and -women go to the polls, factory worker Bud Johnson seeks out his favourite bar stool. In despair, his precocious 12-year-old daughter Molly secretly votes in his place only for the electronic ballot to be spoilt by a technical glitch. His verdict, it transpires, will break the political deadlock between Republican incumbent, President Andrew Boone, and charismatic Democratic challenger Donald Greenleaf. A media circus decamps outside Bud's trailer front door in the dustbowl town of Texico, New Mexico, as the rival campaigns beg for Bud's vote.
Country: US. 2008. 120mins
Direction time: Bud (Kevin Costner) and his daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll)
Kevin Costner can seldom do anything right with the American public these days. But he’s quite as good an actor as most stars and better than a great many, as he shows in this slightly naïve and compromised political parable.
The premise asks: what would you do if, as a totally non-political bystander, the American Presidential election was somehow irrevocably tied and you had to cast the final vote?
Costner is Bud, a divorced, unemployed, middle-aged bum living in a New Mexico trailer with a sweet little daughter (Madeline Carroll) who is trying to knock some sense into him. He’s a slob with a beery heart of gold that’s well and truly disguised from everybody but his daughter.
Kelsey Grammer is the Republican candidate and a rather miscast Dennis Hopper is the Democrat, both trying to bribe Bud to cast his vote for them, while Nathan Lane and Stanley Tucci are their cynical campaign managers.
The film varies between ironic cynicism about the political process and overt whimsy and sentimentality. The best and the worst of Frank Capra is constantly in mind. But writer-director Joshua Michael Stern has made it watchable throughout, and Costner proves beyond doubt that he is still a force to be reckoned with.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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