Mrs. Doubtfire for President

Ross Douthat offers up Robin Williams’ Man of the Year—a comedy about a fake newscaster who accidentally wins the Presidency—as the leading contender for worst movie of the year. And thoughI find that assessment a bit of a stretch (What about this? Or, gag me already, this?), I think the trailer is fascinating. Williams’ character, it seems, is a bawdy populist Democrat who wows voters and sledgehammer stodgy opponents with his mix of straight talk and oh-so-hilarious comebacks. After Williams wins, the movie looks as if it will shift into a combination of juvenile political horseplay and juvenile power fantasy—the barely grown up version of the film about the kid who gets to run the toy factory for a day. And, being a Williams film, it’s likely that it ends with his character learning some life lessons and delivering a big speech that uses come-together populism to disguise liberal talking points.

I always find it telling that big-screen elections are won by socking it to ‘em at debates. Certainly, it’s the easiest way for a film to dramatize political difference, but it also points to the fact that Hollywood, first and foremost, loves a performer; their vision of a good politician is one who can entertain. And with Man of the Year the filmmakers seem to be projecting that view out onto the public—we’re tired of all this heavy talk-talk, let’s elect a rip-roarin’ riotous comedian! The insulated vanity of Hollywood, of course, has convinced Tinseltown that the public loves its pampered stars so much that we would rather have one of their shrill clowns as President than someone who knew what he or she was talking about. I pulled the lever for Mork!, their buttons read, and they aren’t kidding either.