Bob Roberts
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Movie Reviews of Bob Roberts
Movie Review: See the film for what it really is!
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't own the DVD, but the movie was great. People seem to be missing the point, and start to take the film seriously. See it for what it really is: a wonderful comedy/satire that happens to have a political touch.Movie Review: Very Good
Summary: 5 Stars
I always vote Republican. I'm conservative politically. ... I can't stand Tim Robbins knee-jerk liberal ranting when I read him spout political "thought" in interviews. Which means I really mean it when I say this is a first-rate film. It's really original, brilliantly written, well-acted and directed. I was amazed to find how much I like this film. Yeah, it's from a liberal perspective. But I did think it damning of a certain character-type, and not an ideology. This is a fine film.Movie Review: A latter-day "Triumph of the Will"
Summary: 3 Stars
This film left me ambiguous. It is clearly a thinly veiled piece of left-wing ... to help Clinton with his election-something "The Contender" was meant to do in year 2000-yet it was (1) quite cleverly done; (2) it offered insight in the nature of the American voter; and (3) it had an impressive cast.The movie reminded me of an inverted version of "The Triumph of the Will" by Leni Riefenstahl, a 1934 documentary of the congress of the German National Socialist Workers' Party in Nuremberg. Tim Robbins had all the workings of ..., down to simple details like the extended-arm greeting. You are expected to become emotionally involved by showing aversion to the obviously bad guy, shed a tear when the news of the rogue reporter's death come in and, above all, you're expected to be angered with the political stance presented by Tim Robbins's character. It is possible that rhetoric students would have a field day studying this film, but maybe not-because it was intended to expose cliches, but it did so employing another, rather blatant cliche in itself. So let's just call it a case study for the beginning rhetoric and film student.
What is worrying though is that the events depicted in "Bob Roberts" rang very familiar. It was like watching the Bush vs Gore campaign all over again, except that the cinematic rendition was created nearly 10 years previously. Despite what actor-...-writer-...-director (in another word, "auteur") Robbins was implying so desperately, neither side seemed too convincing. I still reserve the right to view Brickley Paiste's economic policy as utter poppycock, yet it seemed bizarre for such a seemingly educated public that Americans claim to be to enter this frenzy of a zero-sum devotion to one candidate as a package deal. Have they no reason, or is it some Freudian search for a missing identity in the vast, homogenous crowd that the USA is? If it was just a parody, I wouldn't worry; yet the Charles Manson associations at times portrayed these excesses quite well.
Another thing that I found interesting was the appearance of some rather unexpected stars. For a smallish and forgotten film, complementing Tim Robbins (who did a better job as a dim-witted loser in "Erik the Viking" and "The Hudsucker Proxy") and Alan Rickman ("Galaxy Quest," "Dogma") were John Cusack, Bob Balaban (the small, funny-looking kinda guy from Woody Allen movies and "Waiting for Guffman"), Helen Hunt as a minor reporter, Jack Black as the mental kid of the Mayor of Harrisburg, Susan Sarandon as news presenter, Jeremy Piven ("PCU," "The Grifters," "Kiss the Girls")-basically, it was fun to look out for another familiar face in the many crowds featured on this imaginary campaign trail.
I'm giving "Bob Roberts" three stars because it carries a clear message of warning-and not of the hippie leftist type that Giancarlo Esposito's character was trying to convey. Even if this film doesn't call for reason, a cerebral viewer should be able to infer this, and it's even redundant for me to note that if indeed you are a cerebral viewer.
Movie Review: A liberal's wet dream
Summary: 1 Stars
For those who wish to believe that the liberal politician is the selfless servant of mankind too pure and true to stoop to the horrific tactics of the conservative who of course is only interested in defending the powerful and taking from the helpless.I would echo the thoughts of reviewers Harris and Moore - Tim Robbin's film is so pathetically simple minded and transparent in demonizing the right it loses all credibility. But credibility aside - the movie was boring and stupid. A great example how ideology and self love can turn an otherwise brilliant movie maker into a dunce.
Movie Review: Tim Robbins, Prophet.
Summary: 3 Stars
When I first saw Tim Robbins' political satire, "Bob Roberts," I had an extremely negative reaction because of what I perceived as the film's smug humorlessness and lack of correspondence to anything resembling political reality. I still think the film isn't as funny as it should be, and is too self-congratulatory by half. But perhaps Mr. Robbins deserves to indulge in a little self-congratulation, for his political prescience is now obvious: George W. Bush IS Bob Roberts. Bush may not sing or play the guitar, but man, he sure plays to the camera--whether landing in a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier or serving fake turkey to the troops in Iraq--while dancing on our basic freedoms and international prestige with football cleats. Similarly, the sinister political adviser played by Alan Rickman now seems a perfect amalgam of Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft and others in the Rogues' Gallery of the Bush Administration. And though I found the zombie-like devotion of the followers of the cold, unappealing Roberts hard to believe, it's no less believable than the fealty that millions of voters swear to Bush. Robbins' spring 2003 speech before the National Press Club--which he made in the wake of being disinvited to the 15th-anniversary celebration of "Bull Durham" because of his stand against the Iraq war--is a brilliant political document, and one that underlines the culmination of many of the dangers Robbins warned against in "Bob Roberts." So while I still don't think this is a particularly good movie from the standpoint of entertainment, its obvious political astuteness mandates my upgrading it from one star to three.