Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

foghorn_clj You'd think that Robin Williams playing a TV comedian who becomes president would be pure gold. And you'd think that a rigged election as a result of faulty computer voting would just make it more interesting.Unfortunately this movie is neither of those things. Primarily because it couldn't make up it's mind whether it was a comedy or a thriller. And even worse that it doesn't combine those two things but switches rather abruptly between the two. Basically all the characters are half baked, which really is a disservice yo the talent of both Williams and Linney. Even Jeff Goldblum in his very short time on the screen is horribly unimpressive. In fact the best thing about this movie is the cameos by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey right at the end.If you're a fan of Robin Williams as I am skip this one. Go and watch "Patch Adams" or "Good morning Vietnam" and go to your happy place.

goaltenderinterference This movie was believable neither as a political satire, nor a political thriller. Some of Robin Williams' dialogue, which he possibly wrote himself, is funny; but like an overly-long SNL sketch, it had nowhere to go after the first few minutes because of the flimsy plot(s) and boring characters.The first premise of this movie is that Robin Williams is a comedian running for president. The only reason he gives for running is that an audience member suggested it, and that he doesn't like either of the main political parties; we are never given the impression that he cares about the outcome of the election. When the main character has basically nothing at stake, why do we as the audience care if he succeeds or fails? Worse still, the story breezes through every obstacle that makes it difficult in real life for an independent to run for president: the getting-on-the-ballot process is explained away in a one-sentence narration; his unrealistic inclusion in the candidates' debates is glossed over; and he attracts substantial support without any campaign spending because...? The movie then completely changes premises to become a "thriller". We find out that Robin Williams' election victory was due to a computer voting system glitch that misread the candidates' names. When whistleblowing voting system employee discovers the glitch, all of the stereotypical thriller devices come out to play: the evil multinational conglomerate cover-up (apparently computer companies have henchmen on retainer), the betrayal by the trusted confidant, the hideout discovery, the parking lot altercation, the car chase, etc., etc. Of course, the whole thing falls flat because I'm pretty sure that computer voting systems have more rigorous checks for coding errors than my grade 9 introduction-to-programming class.I guess the two parts of the movie are supposed to gel when the whistleblower is able to get to Robin Williams -- and only Robin Williams -- and tell him about the glitch. So he has to decide on whether to be the good guy and tell the world, or be the bad guy and be sworn in as president. That *might* have saved this movie if they had actually shown Williams struggling with this issue, but instead it is completely deflected: (1) because the evil multinational has apparently done such a good cover-up, his struggle becomes over whether to believe the whistleblower or not (and we get no explanation as to why he ends up believing her); (2) he doesn't really care about power, as he uses his president-elect status for jokes and publicity stunts. So it comes back to: why would we care if the main character doesn't?

blanche-2 Robin Williams is "Man of the Year" in this 2006 film also starring Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, and Jeff Goldblum. Williams plays comedian Tom Dobbs, a Jon Stewart type who decides to run for President. He gives great speeches, filled with humor, and ruins a televised debate against the incumbent, but wins a standing ovation. He wins.Laura Linney plays Eleanor Green, who works for the company that developed the new, state of the art voting system, and she realizes that there was a problem with it, and that Dobbs did not win the election. Her superiors absolutely don't want it to come out. Posing as someone from the FBI, she is able to approach the President-elect but gets caught up in his humor and his friendly entourage and doesn't tell him. Meanwhile, the company has gotten rid of her and is taking any steps it can to discredit her.I knew nothing of this film going in, so I didn't know that it was incorrectly marketed. I found the film an easy mix of hilarious comedy, mostly Williams' routines, and some true drama. This is never easy to do, and often, a film like this doesn't know what it wants to be. That's not the case with "Man of the Year," and I think Levinson's approach is successful. Mostly this is because Robin Williams can do anything - he's a riot, he's warm, he can do real drama, and here he does a wonderful job. Laura Linney gives a terrific performance as a woman who finds herself in terrible trouble as she tries to right a wrong.Very good movie with a good cast.

Bart van Engelen The premise of this movie, of a comedian talk show host running for president as an independent just to shake things up, is funny, entertaining, brilliant and even a bit inspiring. (thought about the west wing debate when Tom Dobbs leaves his podium, thought about Steven Colbert announcing his candidacy, good times) The first 15 - 20 minutes of this movie are therefore very very entertaining, the debate especially. When he eventually get's elected, it's a pity that is because of a computer glitch, you'd want him to win fair (although that is unrealistic).But after that this movie goes completely downhill. I thought we'd get a great movie like 'Dave' (1993) in which we see how it would out if a comedian actually ran the country. Instead, the movie turns from comedy into a thriller, a romantic comedy and a drama and does none good. The computer glitch becomes the main storyline, which really sucks. Boy is this disappointing. I give it 3 stars just for the premise and because I actually managed to watch this movie from start to end without stopping it, which is usually a good thing with me.