(R. 107 minutes.) NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jason. Vanessa Bryant Settles Helicopter-Crash Photo Lawsuit for $28.85 Million. At a large debate with all the candidates, Jane is found behind the stage backdrop during the debate. The women of, Sam Levinson and the Weeknd Allegedly Turned, Theres No Red Button You Can Push to Stop. Though not without its entertaining momentsthe cast, led by Sandra Bullock, is energetic, sharp and gets a fair number of juicy bits to rock out with. George Clooney and Grant Heslov produced. During a focus group for the ad in which he catches and holds up several people, its clear the ad does not resonate with anybody. The rest of the movie is her telling the story of what happened after her resignation. Its great fun. Goni fled the country five days later, and now lives in exile in the U.S., which has refused to extradite him to Bolivia to face trial for extrajudicial killings and other crimes against humanity. Read full review SEE ALL 35 REVIEWS User Score Write a Review 6.4 Positive: 23 Loosely based on true events, "Our Brand Is Crisis," follows Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her campaign team when they are hired to help Pedro Castillo win a presidential election in Bolivia. Billy Bob Thornton employs his well-honed sneering shtick and Sandra Bullock makes the role her own in Our Brand Is Crisis. At least not right away. The movie opens with a title sequence regarding the main character Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her rise and fall from hotshot political strategist/image . Jane wants to overtake it. A llama is shown getting hit by a car. The poor reviews of Our Brand is Crisis are puzzling, since its one of the few non-documentary films to show successfully a) what rip-roaring fun politics can be when its only about marketing and b) what terrible things can happen when its only about marketing. The film is directed by David. They reluctantly agree, but the city is in gridlock due to the protests, which are on the verge of becoming riots. Thats why in a time of ever-greater political chaos, the character rings so false. "[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Our Brand Is Crisis still could have been an excellent tale, but told through a soft prism of second chances and good intentions, we can't buy what Green is selling. However it is better and more gratifying to win the heart of a nation and keep it. Candy gives her a condescending compliment and tells her he plans to pleasure himself thinking about her when he returns home. The story follows a political strategist who's recruited to help the campaign of a Bolivian presidential. There are too many balls in the air, too many uncontrollable outside factors, for any singular figure to get all of this under control, be 10 steps ahead of the curve, and successfully and confidently blaze a trail from pre-candidacy to election to dignified leadership. Before long the SUV comes to a stop in the heavy traffic on the tiny streets. I think you pull it, Joshua Jackson says to Lizzy Caplan sensually. Does he drink too much? Castillo promises the people that will happen if hes elected. Bodine and her crew join Candy on the way to the airport. She explains its not relevant whether its true. Jane is elated and tells the communication team to talk to the press and inform them Rivera just used a quote from Joseph Goebbels, the head Nazi propaganda minister. Soon enough she is smoking, drinking, and scheming again, signaling to the viewer that shes back to her antiheroic winning ways. They just decided to be ingratiating and sentimental. [17][18] Filming also took place in the Bonnet Carr Spillway in Norco in St. Charles Parish. They plan to frighten the people, with the aim of persuading them to vote for the unsympathetic but known Castillo rather than the younger opposition candidates. Policy doesnt even enter into the conversation; its more about scoring points by making your opponent look like a Nazi sympathizer simply by virtue of a doctored photograph. This is the meaning of the title. This film isnt as dark as Burnt, and has more amusing moments, including some comic relief, but still shouldnt be classified as a comedy. Outside, a large groan is heard. Carvilles troops were dispatched to La Paz in 02 to consolidate the great victory of liberalism and democracy as they and their sponsors and benefactors understand those things and to resist the rising tide of Latin American leftism represented in Bolivia by the indigenous political leader Evo Morales, Gonis leading opponent. The emotional investment Green wants to make in Jane feels misplaced, especially since he also wants to celebrate moments when she behaves abhorrently. Instead of superhuman strength or projectile spider-webs, this puppet master has in her arsenal a penchant for drinking and smoking, instant access to the perfect quip at the perfect time, and a convenient lack of morality. During the final debate, Bodine cites a quote in a conversation with Candy (knowing that he'll give it to rival candidate Rivera for his speech) saying that "a great man" said it. Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. I can barely imagine the humiliation! Back at Janes hotel, Ben calls and informs her there will be a protest downtown. That's true even in "Our Brand Is Crisis," a . Things you buy through our links may earnNew Yorka commission. Although the movie has flashes where everything comes together and we can revel in dark victories, more often than not, star Sandra Bullock is left to carry the crushing emotional and thematic weight of a confused picture that acknowledges that politics is a cheap joke, and then expects us all to laugh. Both Bullock and Thornton portray Carvillesque characters (and the bald Thornton looks the part). At the start, Jane has been out of the consulting game for several years, following a traumatic mayoral race. While it would have been nice if the supporting characters were just as well developed (Candys entire purpose seems to be to enter a scene, taunt Jane, and then leave), Jane is a compelling figure, and its unfortunate that the film doesnt match her complexity. Some of her pranks, specifically one ploy to feed her candidates unsuspecting competitor a Nazi quotation during the campaigns final debate, are good for a laugh. She gives him a bottle of Paul Newman Steak Sauce. When they get home, his brothers ridicule Eddie for bringing Yankees and trusting them, and for that matter, trusting Castillo. But the main mystery to me was the message of this film. Ben admires a shiny dark bowl but Nell takes it from him. Rivera is on, holding two babies during a campaign stop, confessing how hes doubly lucky, and promises to run a positive campaign. Before I address the message, Ill review the content. The website's critical consensus reads, "Our Brand Is Crisis offers sporadic amusement and benefits from a talented cast, but ultimately lacks enough of a bite to add much of interest to the political satire genre. A timeline of the (alleged) drama involving Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, and Florence Pugh. Jane says There is only one wrong in this, and that is losing. But at the end, the team realizes how wrong they werein a shocking way. He wants to find triumph in a tale that should be satiric at best and depressing at worst. Jane insists to the campaign team that this was set up by Candy. She tells Castillo and the campaign that this is no longer an election, it is a crisis. Who paid for it? He says the people in the village dont understand that yet. Eduardo, a young volunteer of the Castillo campaign, is deeply impressed by this show of commitment. Besser. This Friday, Sandra Bullock assumes the role in Our Brand Is Crisis, a mostly satirical take on a 2005 documentary of the same name about American political consultants conquest of a Bolivian election. Realizing that her candidate, Senator Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) cant win by being likable, they decide to use fear as their issue, sell that Bolivia is a nation in crisis, and hes the only many that can save it. Since The War Room, the omnipotent, omniscient celebrity political consultant has been portrayed again and again. Mimicking the behavior in the actresss previous film, Minions, Jane is shown mooning a bus. Our Brand Is Crisis is being released by Warner Bros., but was largely funded by Participant Media, which produces what it calls socially relevant films and documentaries. In other words, in this case the right-wingers are correct: Liberal Hollywood is in full effect. (A heavy back story is subsequently revealed, followed by an ever heavier back story to the back story.) "Our Brand Is Crisis" is both the title of and a line from a new political comedy about American consultants who take over a Bolivian presidential campaign. Later Castillo is heard instructing interest rates to be raised to 15%. Jane and her team had no idea he would do that. In the following months, the team exercises a strategy of "declaring a crisis". Bodine used to be the best in the game, but an unfortunate series of events during a campaign destroyed her reputation and confidence. The pacing is lickety-split, the talk is boisterous, and the cast is all aces. The deeply disappointed Eduardo visits Bodine in her hotel; Bodine replies that she is not responsible for Castillo's actions. At an evening event, Castillo is shaking hands with people behind a barrier. It is revealed that she retired after violating election laws. It is only after Bodine arranges for the distribution of a flyer accusing Castillo of a long-ago affair (and blaming it on the opposition) does she finally get him to agree to smear his opponents. This satire, directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay by Peter Straughan, suffers from deficits of wit, wisdom, focus, filmmaking expertise and appropriate tone. Jane says the llama cant stand the commercial so badly, he killed himself. Jane highlights something in the book. Preview", "Star-Driven Casualties 'Our Brand Is Crisis' & 'Burnt' At The B.O. In the city, Eddie is hanging Castillo posters. Comedy Drama A battle-hardened American political consultant is sent to help re-elect a controversial president in Bolivia, where she must compete with a long-term rival working for another candidate. She opens with footage of an anti-government riot that came less than a year after the election. Later at her hotel room, she is still nauseous from the elevation. Around the edges of this story about Bullocks character, an especially ruthless consultant known as Calamity Jane, there are a few intriguing hints of other stories about the international financial system, the power of fear in politics and the American understanding of what democracy means when applied to other people in other countries. Jane insist they go negative in spite of this, but Castillo says no. Its also revealed that Candy is the one who ran over the llama during the commercial shoot. [3] The film opened on October 30, 2015, alongside Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. 107 minutes Cast Sandra Bullock as 'Calamity' Jane Bodine Anthony Mackie as Ben Billy Bob Thornton as Pat Candy Zoe Kazan as LeBlanc Scoot McNairy as Buckley Ann Dowd as Nell Director David Gordon Green Screenplay Peter Straughan Writer (original documentary) We know this stuff happens, but its still clarifying to see the curtains pulled back. While Rivera is still speaking aboard a train, Jane poses as a worker for the Rivera campaign and tells the conductor the speech is over. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. (Vice) President Selina Meyers (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has a stable of advisers including Dan Egan (Reid Scott) and Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) who have internalized and aspire to the Carville cult; its just that reality interrupts to remind them that things dont work like that. [6] On September 15, Billy Bob Thornton joined the film,[7] and on September 18, Anthony Mackie joined the cast. When she starts giving it back to himpsyching him outthe movie gets really good. If youve been following the drama in the House, the inability of most every Republican presidential candidate to lift off, or really any news from American politics over the last 10 or 239 years, you might have noticed that politics is difficult. A screenshot shows Castillo at 8% with Rivera leading with 36%. What makes this fictionalized Our Brand Is Crisis worth noticing to the extent it is, which isnt much is that the filmmakers probably believe they are delivering roughly the same message as Boyntons documentary did, but in fact the most important aspects of this striking story has been scrubbed away or laundered into Hollywood-style pseudo-psychological neutrality. An SUV carrying the Castillo advisors sees him and stop to give him a ride home, insisted upon by Jane. Castillo and the campaign team are on the outdoor set of a commercial for the Senator. Comedy-Drama. A bus race ensues around dangerous bends and cliffs. Um, yes. Exactly who decided that a widely disliked candidate in such a small country merited such attention, alongside such star GCS clients as Tony Blair, the Israeli Labor Party and the Canadian Liberal Party? His slickness fits the milieu. Castillo immediately punches the man. Maybe its time to put it out to pasture. The big reason it works, though, is that it takes its premise from Rachel Boyntons phenomenal (but little-known) 2005 documentary of the same name. It might be possible to make a good movie out of a cross between Mike Nichols Primary Colors and Costa-Gavras Z, but Our Brand Is Crisis, directed by David Gordon Green in a seeming attempt to do something along those lines, is not that movie. Loosely based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, Our Brand is Crisis offers a fictionalized take on the 2002 Bolivian Presidential election with a cast that includes Academy Award. You never find out. During the debate, Nell observes how charming Rivera is, while the team watches stage left. Jane says it will be an honor. [22], Our Brand Is Crisis grossed $7 million in North America and $1.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $8.6 million, against a budget of $28 million. Morales government has dramatically reduced poverty and inequality, and presided over one of the worlds fastest-growing economies, right through the crash of 2008. The police arrive and the demonstration quickly turns into a riot. Loosely based on true events, Our Brand Is Crisis, follows Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her campaign team when they are hired to help Pedro Castillo win a presidential election in Bolivia. She comes to realize shes better than that. Candy can be seen watching the action in the background. They are then in a restaurant, the entire campaign team drinking heavily. Janes voice is heard saying, If you dont like the road youre on, start paving a new one.. She doesnt respond. Maybe Carville and the Clintonocracy were empowering democracy after all, even if it wasnt quite the variety they intended. But it seems as though screenwriter Peter Straughan and director David Gordon Green realized near the end that theyd written a feature-length film celebrating consultants ability to install a lying, oligarchic, IMF-beholden stooge to a South American presidency, and decided they ought to wrap things up more palatably. That was almost certainly the final straw. 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