The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

Man of the Year

If you’re looking to see a typical Robin Williams comedy then this isn’t the movie for you. While it does have its comedic parts in the beginning the movie takes a surprising sharp turn into a thriller. The movie is about Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) who is a television talk show host who decides to run for Presidency as a publicity stunt. In the beginning while he is campaigning there are a lot of comedic sketches, which are disappointing, being only mildly funny. Everyone enjoys his crazy antics but no one actually thinks that he will win. To everyone’s surprise he wins, by a landside. This is where the movie then takes its turn from comedy to thriller.

Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) works for the company that runs the new web-based voting system. As it turns out, there is a huge flaw in the system and the wrong person was selected to become President. Eleanor goes to the executives that founded the system to warn them about the problem but they ignore her. Now that they know she knows about the problems in the system they want to shut her up before she exposes them. The movie then begins to revolve around Eleanor trying to find someone who will believe and help her.

The movie goes back and forth between Tom and Eleanor. Tom is trying to make his impression as the new President while trying to figure out if it is what he really wants. Meanwhile Eleanor is trying to contact him to let him and the public knows he was wrongfully chosen while dodging the owners of the company.

In the end, the movie changes pace and manages to keep it interesting, but at times the movie begins to loose its spark. The comedic moments were funny but it was a disappointment because there was so little of it. Commercials for the film lead you to believe that it is a hysterical Robin Williams comedy but what you end up getting is a sub par film with no twists, and mediocre comedic punch lines throughout the film besides the beginning. If you want to see a movie but you have no preferences then check Man of the Year out. Otherwise, save your ten dollars and wait until it comes out on DVD and rent it.

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