Time magazine has named Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as 2020’s Person of the Year.
“For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are Time’s 2020 Person of the Year,” wrote Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan was named Businessperson of the Year.
The announcements were made during Time’s first broadcast special, aired on NBC. Earlier today, BTS won Entertainer of the Year, and LeBron James was named Athlete of the Year.
The award was formerly called the Man of the Year, but was changed to reflect the changing cultural imperatives. The award generally goes to the year’s most prominent and impactful newsmaker, which has led to past winners like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Ayatollah Khomeini.
The shortlist for the Time honor included Biden,...
“For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are Time’s 2020 Person of the Year,” wrote Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal. Zoom CEO Eric Yuan was named Businessperson of the Year.
The announcements were made during Time’s first broadcast special, aired on NBC. Earlier today, BTS won Entertainer of the Year, and LeBron James was named Athlete of the Year.
The award was formerly called the Man of the Year, but was changed to reflect the changing cultural imperatives. The award generally goes to the year’s most prominent and impactful newsmaker, which has led to past winners like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Ayatollah Khomeini.
The shortlist for the Time honor included Biden,...
- 12/11/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
With the political world focused on the Democratic convention Monday night, President Trump looked to steal some of the limelight by saying that he will seek a third term if he wins reelection.
During a rally in Wisconsin, the president lied to a cheering crowd, telling them that he deserves eight additional years in office because, he falsely claimed, his campaign was spied on in 2016—an assertion his own FBI refuted in a detailed report.
“We are going to win four more years,” Trump said. “And then after that, we...
During a rally in Wisconsin, the president lied to a cheering crowd, telling them that he deserves eight additional years in office because, he falsely claimed, his campaign was spied on in 2016—an assertion his own FBI refuted in a detailed report.
“We are going to win four more years,” Trump said. “And then after that, we...
- 8/18/2020
- by Peter Wade
- Rollingstone.com
During his 18 months in the national spotlight, Juice Wrld was consumed by the concept of death, which offered a neat, compact metaphor for his infinite emotional suffering. As he emerged in 2018 as one of pop’s most vital young voices, he described himself in his music as someone circling the drain, trapped in a spiral of anxiety, depression, heartbreak, and drug addiction. Juice’s hypersensitivity bordered on clairvoyance; the way he sensed the nearness of death made his own death, from an accidental oxycodone and codeine overdose last December, less...
- 7/15/2020
- by Danny Schwartz
- Rollingstone.com
President Trump apparently threatened a Time magazine journalist with prison time for taking a picture of a private letter without permission.
The incident happened Monday, June 17, when a group of Time staffers visited the Oval Office for a story about Trump’s re-election campaign, according to a transcript posted online this week by the magazine.
During the interview, Trump asked to go off the record several times, including when he showed the group a letter he said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent him.
According to the interview transcript, a photographer apparently tried to snap a picture of the document, angering Trump.
“Excuse me — Under Section II — Well, you can go to prison instead, because, if you use, if you use the photograph you took of the letter that I gave you…” he said.
One of the reporters cut Trump off to ask a question, but he quickly turned his attention back to the photographer.
The incident happened Monday, June 17, when a group of Time staffers visited the Oval Office for a story about Trump’s re-election campaign, according to a transcript posted online this week by the magazine.
During the interview, Trump asked to go off the record several times, including when he showed the group a letter he said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent him.
According to the interview transcript, a photographer apparently tried to snap a picture of the document, angering Trump.
“Excuse me — Under Section II — Well, you can go to prison instead, because, if you use, if you use the photograph you took of the letter that I gave you…” he said.
One of the reporters cut Trump off to ask a question, but he quickly turned his attention back to the photographer.
- 6/23/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Chloe Wepper (Good Trouble), The Lottery alum David Alpay and Brooke Smith (The Good Doctor) are set as series regulars in NBC’s Prism pilot, from Daniel and Ben Barnz’s We’re Not Brothers Productions, Carol Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz and Universal Television.
Written by Daniel Barnz, who also directs, Prism is inspired by Rashomon, the 1950 Japanese period psychological thriller directed by Akira Kurosawa. Prism is described as a provocative exploration of a murder trial in which every episode is told through the perspective of a different key person involved. Each new version of the facts ratchets up the mystery and the suspense, calling into question everything we have seen so far and asking is the right person on trial? Driven by an ensemble of complicated characters, the show lets the audience ask if truth matters less than who can tell the most compelling story.
Wepper is Sophie Regen,...
Written by Daniel Barnz, who also directs, Prism is inspired by Rashomon, the 1950 Japanese period psychological thriller directed by Akira Kurosawa. Prism is described as a provocative exploration of a murder trial in which every episode is told through the perspective of a different key person involved. Each new version of the facts ratchets up the mystery and the suspense, calling into question everything we have seen so far and asking is the right person on trial? Driven by an ensemble of complicated characters, the show lets the audience ask if truth matters less than who can tell the most compelling story.
Wepper is Sophie Regen,...
- 3/1/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Milo Ventimiglia is about to receive an incredible honour. Related: Milo Ventimiglia Discusses His Character’s Fate After Sunday’s Emotional ‘This Is Us’ The “This Is Us” star has been named Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the theatrical organization – the oldest in the U.S. – selected Ventimiglia because...
- 1/30/2019
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
Keanu Reeves stars in the gripping thriller Siberia, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD and Digital September 18 from Lionsgate.
Keanu Reeves stars in the gripping thriller Siberia, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD and Digital September 18 from Lionsgate. This film is currently available On Demand. The film tells the tale of a U.S. diamond merchant who begins an intense love affair with a local woman and finds himself falling deeper into the treacherous world of the diamond trade. The Siberia Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.
Keanu Reeves delivers the action in this thriller packed with pulse-pounding suspense. In Russia to sell rare jewels to a businessman with underworld connections, U.S. diamond merchant Lucas Hill (Reeves) falls into a torrid affair with Katya (Ana Ularu), a local café owner. When the deal suddenly goes south, Lucas and Katya are caught...
Keanu Reeves stars in the gripping thriller Siberia, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD and Digital September 18 from Lionsgate. This film is currently available On Demand. The film tells the tale of a U.S. diamond merchant who begins an intense love affair with a local woman and finds himself falling deeper into the treacherous world of the diamond trade. The Siberia Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.
Keanu Reeves delivers the action in this thriller packed with pulse-pounding suspense. In Russia to sell rare jewels to a businessman with underworld connections, U.S. diamond merchant Lucas Hill (Reeves) falls into a torrid affair with Katya (Ana Ularu), a local café owner. When the deal suddenly goes south, Lucas and Katya are caught...
- 8/24/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This weekend, Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson (“Rain Man”) will be honored with the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. Levinson’s feature filmmaking career has been long and varied, having started with writing for Mel Brooks before directing movies that ranged from the personal (“Diner”) to Robin Williams comedies to Oscar-nominated dramas to prescient political satires and Al Pacino-starring biopics (“Paterno” “You Don’t Know Jack”).
Hollywood no longer makes the type of mid-budget, theatrically released feature films Levinson became known for, but he doesn’t share many of his contemporaries’ dismay about the industry’s significant shift toward TV and streaming. A decade before “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” helped usher in the current “Peak TV” wave, Levinson and his Baltimore Pictures was responsible for introducing then-reporter David Simon to TV with “Homicide: Life on the Street...
Hollywood no longer makes the type of mid-budget, theatrically released feature films Levinson became known for, but he doesn’t share many of his contemporaries’ dismay about the industry’s significant shift toward TV and streaming. A decade before “The Sopranos” and “The Wire” helped usher in the current “Peak TV” wave, Levinson and his Baltimore Pictures was responsible for introducing then-reporter David Simon to TV with “Homicide: Life on the Street...
- 7/6/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
USA buys rights to 11 Uni films
USA Network has snapped up cable rights to Universal Pictures' The Bourne Ultimatum and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry as part of an 11-picture deal with NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution.
The deal also includes the theatrical titles The Hitcher, Alpha Dog, Smokin' Aces, Children of Men, The Good Shepherd, Breach, Ali G Indahouse, The Interpreter and Man of the Year.
Bourne, starring Matt Damon, was released Friday and made $69.3 million during the weekend. Chuck, which stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James, has made $91.8 million at the domestic boxoffice since its July 20 bow.
Sources said USA -- which, like the distributor and film studio, is owned by NBC Universal -- paid about $60 million for the package, with Bourne and Chuck accounting for $35 million-$40 million of that total. The network and distributor declined comment on the financial and other terms of the deal.
It's believed that the deals for Bourne and Chuck are 4 and 1/2-year agreements, with NBC Universal allowed to carve out broadcast windows for both titles. In addition, the distributor will be allowed to carve out second cable windows, though USA has exclusive rights to both titles for the first two years of the deals, according to sources.
The deal also includes the theatrical titles The Hitcher, Alpha Dog, Smokin' Aces, Children of Men, The Good Shepherd, Breach, Ali G Indahouse, The Interpreter and Man of the Year.
Bourne, starring Matt Damon, was released Friday and made $69.3 million during the weekend. Chuck, which stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James, has made $91.8 million at the domestic boxoffice since its July 20 bow.
Sources said USA -- which, like the distributor and film studio, is owned by NBC Universal -- paid about $60 million for the package, with Bourne and Chuck accounting for $35 million-$40 million of that total. The network and distributor declined comment on the financial and other terms of the deal.
It's believed that the deals for Bourne and Chuck are 4 and 1/2-year agreements, with NBC Universal allowed to carve out broadcast windows for both titles. In addition, the distributor will be allowed to carve out second cable windows, though USA has exclusive rights to both titles for the first two years of the deals, according to sources.
- 8/7/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Williams joins Travolta clan for Dis' 'Dogs'
Robin Williams has signed on to star opposite John Travolta in Old Dogs, a Walt Disney Co. comedy being directed by Walt Becker. Also joining the cast is Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, and daughter, Ella Travolta.
Dogs is a buddy comedy revolving around two best friends and business partners whose lives are turned upside down when they find themselves in the care of 7-year-old twins.
Disney bought the project in the summer from David Diamond and David Weissman as a pitch in a seven-figure deal. The duo also wrote the screenplay.
Tapestry's Andrew Panay, Peter Abrams and Robert L. Levy are producing.
Kristin Burr and Casey Wolfe are overseeing for the studio.
Williams next stars alongside John Krasinski and Mandy Moore in Warner Bros. Pictures' License to Wed. His recent credits include Man of the Year, RV, Night at the Museum and Happy Feet.
Williams is repped by CAA, MBST Entertainment and Manatt Phelps & Phillips.
Dogs is a buddy comedy revolving around two best friends and business partners whose lives are turned upside down when they find themselves in the care of 7-year-old twins.
Disney bought the project in the summer from David Diamond and David Weissman as a pitch in a seven-figure deal. The duo also wrote the screenplay.
Tapestry's Andrew Panay, Peter Abrams and Robert L. Levy are producing.
Kristin Burr and Casey Wolfe are overseeing for the studio.
Williams next stars alongside John Krasinski and Mandy Moore in Warner Bros. Pictures' License to Wed. His recent credits include Man of the Year, RV, Night at the Museum and Happy Feet.
Williams is repped by CAA, MBST Entertainment and Manatt Phelps & Phillips.
- 4/25/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Lick' sticks for Levinson at Playtone
Barry Levinson has signed on to direct Larry McMurtry's Western Boone's Lick for Playtone.
Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore are attached to star in the long-gestating project, which centers on a headstrong woman (Moore) who drags her family on a rickety wagon from Boone's Lick, Mo., to the Wyoming fort where her husband lives. Her brother-in-law (Hanks) escorts her on the dangerous journey and along the way falls in love with her.
Diana Ossana, who won an adapted screenplay Oscar with McMurtry last year for Brokeback Mountain, penned the Boone's Lick script with the author-screenwriter and frequent collaborator.
Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing the film, which is aiming to start shooting in early fall.
Helmer Lasse Hallstrom originally was attached to bring the novel, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2000, to the big screen.
Levinson, who most recently helmed Man of the Year for Universal Pictures, is in preproduction on 2929 Entertainment's What Just Happened, starring Robert De Niro. He is repped by ICM.
Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore are attached to star in the long-gestating project, which centers on a headstrong woman (Moore) who drags her family on a rickety wagon from Boone's Lick, Mo., to the Wyoming fort where her husband lives. Her brother-in-law (Hanks) escorts her on the dangerous journey and along the way falls in love with her.
Diana Ossana, who won an adapted screenplay Oscar with McMurtry last year for Brokeback Mountain, penned the Boone's Lick script with the author-screenwriter and frequent collaborator.
Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing the film, which is aiming to start shooting in early fall.
Helmer Lasse Hallstrom originally was attached to bring the novel, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2000, to the big screen.
Levinson, who most recently helmed Man of the Year for Universal Pictures, is in preproduction on 2929 Entertainment's What Just Happened, starring Robert De Niro. He is repped by ICM.
- 2/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge' sequel tops b.o. with $20.8 mil weekend
Sony Pictures' PG-13 horror film The Grudge 2 bowed to $20.8 million opening, less then reported Monday, but still handily claimed the top spot for the frame. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Pictures The Departed had a stronger-than-initially-reported hold with a $19 million take and a drop of 29%. Universal Pictures' Man of the Year opened to $12.3 million, a little under estimates but still good enough for the third spot. Overall, the weekend was up an impressive 26% from last year's opening when The Fog, released by Sony's Screen Gems, was the top grosser with a scant $11.7 million take. Total films grossed $110.9 million this weekend compared to $87.9 million last year at this time. The other shocker at the boxoffice was Gener8xion Entertainment's One Night With the King. Bowing in 909 theaters, the film centering on the life of biblical character Queen Esther earned an impressive $4.1 million for a solid per-screen average of $4,518.
- 10/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge 2' seeing double
Friday the 13th proved to be an auspicious date to release Sony Pictures' The Grudge 2 as the horror film earned a solid $20.8 million at the North American boxoffice to become the studio's 12th No. 1 film of the year. Warner Bros. Pictures' The Departed held strong in its second week, falling only 38% as it brought in an additional $19 million. But Universal Pictures wasn't as lucky with Man of the Year; the Robin Williams starrer grossed a weak $12.3 million. Altogether, though, the boxoffice performed astronomically well compared with last year at this time. The top 12 films grossed $100.7 million compared with $71.5 million last year when Sony's release of Screen Gems' The Fog was No. 1 with an $11.7 million opening. The top 12 were up an estimated 40% compared with last year at this time.
- 10/16/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge 2' seeing double
Friday the 13th proved to be an auspicious date to release Sony Pictures' The Grudge 2 as the horror film earned a solid $20.8 million at the North American boxoffice to become the studio's 12th No. 1 film of the year. Warner Bros. Pictures' The Departed held strong in its second week, falling only 38% as it brought in an additional $19 million. But Universal Pictures wasn't as lucky with Man of the Year; the Robin Williams starrer grossed a weak $12.3 million. Altogether, though, the boxoffice performed astronomically well compared with last year at this time. The top 12 films grossed $100.7 million compared with $71.5 million last year when Sony's release of Screen Gems' The Fog was No. 1 with an $11.7 million opening. The top 12 were up 40% compared with last year at this time.
- 10/16/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge 2' seeing double
Friday the 13th proved to be an auspicious date to release Sony Pictures' The Grudge 2 as the horror film earned a solid $22 million at the North American boxoffice to become the studio's 12th No. 1 film of the year. Warner Bros. Pictures' The Departed held incredibly strong in its second week, falling only an estimated 31% as it brought in an additional $18.7 million. But Universal Pictures wasn't as lucky with Man of the Year; the Robin Williams starrer grossed a weak $12.5 million. Altogether, though, the boxoffice performed astronomically well compared with last year at this time. The top 12 films grossed an estimated $100.7 million compared with $71.5 million last year when Sony's release of Screen Gems' The Fog was No. 1 with an $11.7 million opening. The top 12 were up an estimated 40% compared with last year at this time.
- 10/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge 2' seeing double
Friday the 13th proved to be an auspicious date to release Sony Pictures' The Grudge 2 as the horror film earned a solid $22 million at the North American boxoffice to become the studio's 12th No. 1 film of the year. Warner Bros. Pictures' The Departed held incredibly strong in its second week, falling only an estimated 31% as it brought in an additional $18.7 million. But Universal Pictures wasn't as lucky with Man of the Year; the Robin Williams starrer grossed a weak $12.5 million. Altogether, though, the boxoffice performed astronomically well compared with last year at this time. The top 12 films grossed an estimated $100.7 million compared with $71.5 million last year when Sony's release of Screen Gems' The Fog was No. 1 with an $11.7 million opening. The top 12 were up an estimated 40% compared with last year at this time.
- 10/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge' tops Friday boxoffice with $9.7 million
Horror once again ruled at the boxoffice office, as Sony Pictures' The Grudge 2 took the top spot on Friday. According to boxoffice tracking site, boxofficemojo.com, the spooky sequel, directed by Takashi Shimuzu and starring Amber Tamblyn took in an estimated $9.7 million in its first day in theaters. Comedy proved no match as Universal Pictures' Man of the Year, starring Robin Williams as a comedian who runs for president and directed by Barry Levinson (Wag the Dog), found itself in third with an estimated $4 million.
- 10/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Grudge' tops Friday boxoffice with $9.7 million
Horror once again ruled at the boxoffice office, as Sony Pictures' The Grudge 2 took the top spot on Friday. According to boxoffice tracking site, boxofficemojo.com, the spooky sequel, directed by Takashi Shimuzu and starring Amber Tamblyn took in an estimated $9.7 million in its first day in theaters. Comedy proved no match as Universal Pictures' Man of the Year, starring Robin Williams as a comedian who runs for president and directed by Barry Levinson (Wag the Dog), found itself in third with an estimated $4 million.
- 10/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sony has no fear with 'Grudge'
After this weekend, Sony Pictures might consider 12 its lucky number. The Culver City-based studio is likely to win the weekend at the domestic boxoffice with its horror sequel The Grudge 2, which would bring the company's run of No. 1 films this year to a dozen, a record that will be difficult for any studio to match. Universal Pictures will try to unseat the horror flick with the Robin Williams comedy Man of the Year, but that film is not expected to do the kind of business that would overshadow Sony's popular franchise. The week is also expected to be a strong one for the Warner Bros. Pictures holdover The Departed, which bowed to $26.9 million last weekend. With strong midweek numbers, the film shouldn't drop more than 50% in its second frame.
- 10/12/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Man of the Year
Man of the Year is a comedy about a comic who gets elected president of the U.S. -- or rather that's how the film starts out, only writer-director Barry Levinson gets sidetracked. He diverts his film into a political thriller with its own conspiracy theory, an improbable romance and a curious subplot that feels like an anti-smoking ad. Little wonder his bewildered star, Robin Williams, looks confused much of the time.
Levinson once built a fairly unstable comedy around Williams' manic personality in Good Morning, Vietnam, and everyone laughed so hard that few noticed. But here confusion and mixed messages work against a coherent viewpoint -- and laughs.
The film wants to focus on the intersection of media and politics, which Levinson did in his very similar though much better movie, Wag the Dog. For that matter, Warren Beatty's Bulworth does a superior job of satirizing the fallout from a political candidate who actually tells voters what he thinks with brutal honesty rather than stay on a message designed by political consultants.
One problem here is that those consultants must have sat by Levinson's computer as he wrote. He is oh-so-careful not to make a movie that is too liberal or too conservative. No real issue is at stake, and Iraq and the war on terror do not exist. The result is a generic political movie without any real politics. So Man of the Year will offend nobody but just as likely will entertain very few. Boxoffice does not look promising after the opening weekend.
A popular TV pundit/comic, Tom Dobbs (Williams), cracks one too many jokes about running for president, only to discover that the Internet effectively has drafted him as an independent candidate. When Tom decides to run, this throws his entourage -- his chain-smoking, pragmatic manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) and rumpled, crusty head writer Eddie Langston (Lewis Black) -- into a tizzy. The film then imagines that in the electronic age a comic like Tom can buy no ads and wage a campaign via celebrityhood and the Internet and still get on the ballot in 17 key states.
Meanwhile, an evil software company has sold the U.S. on a too-easy-to-be-true national voting system. (Let's ignore the fact voting systems are run by states, not the federal government.) A diligent software analyst, Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) -- discovers a huge glitch in the system only weeks before the election, a discovery that the firm's legal counsel, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), will go to any length to bury.
Tom then gets elected president because of the glitch. So the rest of the movie focuses not on the real story -- what would happen were an intelligent and political savvy comic to ascend to the Oval Office -- but rather on a third-rate thriller about a corporation trying to destroy, corrupt or smear a disgruntled employee. Throw in an unconvincing romance between Tom and Eleanor along with Jack's smoking-related illness and you've pretty much blunted any satirical sharpness.
This confusion is reflected in the movie's look. Cinematographer Dick Pope shoots in a documentary style as if this were All the President's Men. Yet designer Stefania Cella's sets are from that not-quite-real world of Wag the Dog.
Toward the end, Levinson inserts speeches into his dialogue, as if suddenly realizing his message is getting lost: In one instance, Eddie erupts into a diatribe about how TV makes everything feel credible, elevating a Nazi apologist and a Holocaust historian to the same debate platform before undiscerning cameras.
Williams fluctuates between his sentimental/serious side and outrageous manic comedy, so you never quite know who this character is. Linney and Goldblum are playing serious melodrama, while Walken and Black are Woody Allen-esque showbiz creatures, constantly urging their protege to stick to comedy.
Too bad Man of the Year didn't have the courage of its convictions -- to say something meaningful and shrug off the fallout from the outraged extremes of the political spectrum. A feel-good political satire is not what the nation needs at this moment.
MAN OF THE YEAR
Universal Pictures
Morgan Creek
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Barry Levinson
Producers: James G. Robinson, David Robinson
Executive producers: Guy McElwaine, David Coatsworth, Rob Fried
Director of photography: Dick Pope
Production designer: Stefania Cella
Music: Graeme Revell
Costume designer: Delphine White
Editor: Steven Weisberg, Blair Daily
Cast:
Tom Dobbs: Robin Williams
Jack Menken: Christopher Walken
Eleanor: Laura Linney
Eddie: Lewis Black
Stewart: Jeff Goldblum
Danny: David Alpay
Moderator: Faith Daniels
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Levinson once built a fairly unstable comedy around Williams' manic personality in Good Morning, Vietnam, and everyone laughed so hard that few noticed. But here confusion and mixed messages work against a coherent viewpoint -- and laughs.
The film wants to focus on the intersection of media and politics, which Levinson did in his very similar though much better movie, Wag the Dog. For that matter, Warren Beatty's Bulworth does a superior job of satirizing the fallout from a political candidate who actually tells voters what he thinks with brutal honesty rather than stay on a message designed by political consultants.
One problem here is that those consultants must have sat by Levinson's computer as he wrote. He is oh-so-careful not to make a movie that is too liberal or too conservative. No real issue is at stake, and Iraq and the war on terror do not exist. The result is a generic political movie without any real politics. So Man of the Year will offend nobody but just as likely will entertain very few. Boxoffice does not look promising after the opening weekend.
A popular TV pundit/comic, Tom Dobbs (Williams), cracks one too many jokes about running for president, only to discover that the Internet effectively has drafted him as an independent candidate. When Tom decides to run, this throws his entourage -- his chain-smoking, pragmatic manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) and rumpled, crusty head writer Eddie Langston (Lewis Black) -- into a tizzy. The film then imagines that in the electronic age a comic like Tom can buy no ads and wage a campaign via celebrityhood and the Internet and still get on the ballot in 17 key states.
Meanwhile, an evil software company has sold the U.S. on a too-easy-to-be-true national voting system. (Let's ignore the fact voting systems are run by states, not the federal government.) A diligent software analyst, Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) -- discovers a huge glitch in the system only weeks before the election, a discovery that the firm's legal counsel, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), will go to any length to bury.
Tom then gets elected president because of the glitch. So the rest of the movie focuses not on the real story -- what would happen were an intelligent and political savvy comic to ascend to the Oval Office -- but rather on a third-rate thriller about a corporation trying to destroy, corrupt or smear a disgruntled employee. Throw in an unconvincing romance between Tom and Eleanor along with Jack's smoking-related illness and you've pretty much blunted any satirical sharpness.
This confusion is reflected in the movie's look. Cinematographer Dick Pope shoots in a documentary style as if this were All the President's Men. Yet designer Stefania Cella's sets are from that not-quite-real world of Wag the Dog.
Toward the end, Levinson inserts speeches into his dialogue, as if suddenly realizing his message is getting lost: In one instance, Eddie erupts into a diatribe about how TV makes everything feel credible, elevating a Nazi apologist and a Holocaust historian to the same debate platform before undiscerning cameras.
Williams fluctuates between his sentimental/serious side and outrageous manic comedy, so you never quite know who this character is. Linney and Goldblum are playing serious melodrama, while Walken and Black are Woody Allen-esque showbiz creatures, constantly urging their protege to stick to comedy.
Too bad Man of the Year didn't have the courage of its convictions -- to say something meaningful and shrug off the fallout from the outraged extremes of the political spectrum. A feel-good political satire is not what the nation needs at this moment.
MAN OF THE YEAR
Universal Pictures
Morgan Creek
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Barry Levinson
Producers: James G. Robinson, David Robinson
Executive producers: Guy McElwaine, David Coatsworth, Rob Fried
Director of photography: Dick Pope
Production designer: Stefania Cella
Music: Graeme Revell
Costume designer: Delphine White
Editor: Steven Weisberg, Blair Daily
Cast:
Tom Dobbs: Robin Williams
Jack Menken: Christopher Walken
Eleanor: Laura Linney
Eddie: Lewis Black
Stewart: Jeff Goldblum
Danny: David Alpay
Moderator: Faith Daniels
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/9/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
H'wood fest fetes Bullock, Cruz, Williams
Robin Williams, Penelope Cruz and Sandra Bullock have been added to the list of honorees who will be feted at the 10th annual Hollywood Film Festival, the fest's founder and exec director Carlos de Abreu said Wednesday. At the kudos, to be bestowed Oct. 23 at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, Williams is set to receive the Hollywood Career Achievement Award. An Oscar winner as best supporting actor for his role in 1997's Good Will Hunting, Williams most recently starred in the dramatic thriller The Night Listener. He has three films about to open: Man of the Year, in which he plays a late-night talk show host who runs for president; the animated feature Happy Feet, in which he voices one of the penguins; and Night at the Museum, in which he will appear as Theodore Roosevelt opposite Ben Stiller.
- 9/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Williams Fighting Alcoholism After 20 Sober Years
Robin Williams has gone public with his latest battle with alcoholism following tabloid reports he checked into a rehabilitation facility last month after a drinking binge. The movie funnyman, who has been candid about his past drugs and alcohol abuse, reportedly started drinking again while filming The Big White in Alaska two years ago and now he's back in rehab seeking help. Tabloid reports suggest the Good Will Hunting star checked into the Hazelden Springbrook rehab facility in Oregon last month - and even celebrated his 55th birthday there on July 21. Williams' publicist Mara Buxbaum has confirmed the fact that the actor is indeed seeking help to control an alcohol abuse problem. She tells WENN, "After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the wellbeing of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this fall to support his upcoming film releases." Williams hopes to be healthy again to promote Man Of The Year, which hits cinema screens in October. The Oscar winner follows fellow Hollywood star Mel Gibson, who entered a rehab facility last month following his drink-driving arrest in Malibu, California.
- 8/10/2006
- WENN
Agnew, Keller's 'Damned' finds production turf
First-time scribes Jim Agnew and Sean Keller have sold the horror spec Damned to Fried Films/the Pantry, the production company founded by producers Rob Fried and Dan Keston. The story revolves around an all-American family that survives a plane crash only to descend into a backwoods nightmare of demon-fearing religious zealots. Fried and Keston are in postproduction on Weapons, a film about violence and racial tension in a suburban town. The film stars Nick Cannon and Paul Dano and was written and directed by Independent Spirit Award nominee Adam Bhala Lough. Fried's producing credits include New Line Cinema's The Man and Universal Pictures' upcoming Man of the Year, directed by Barry Levinson. Agnew and Keller are repped by Danny Sherman at Principal Entertainment and attorney Mark Temple.
- 2/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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