Swing Vote was an interesting and provoking surprise. I’m into politics as I believe it to be our civic duty to pay attention to who we elect into our public offices at the local, state and federal levels. Men and women have died to give us each that right and no one should waste that opportunity. Swing Vote is a reminder of that right that so many of us take for granted.

Bud Johnson, Kevin Costner, is a nobody drunk with a young daughter who is way to smart for her own good. Bud ignores his daughter and wastes his life away until voting day. Then everything crazy happens. In an event so rare that it would be highly improbable to ever happen, the election is held up by New Mexico due to one county and one vote that was messed up. That vote was Bug Johnson’s. So the two candidates travel to Texico, New Mexico to earn the swing vote of one American who doesn’t even care.

The movie then makes fun of all politicians on how they will change whatever they stand for just to get re-elected. These are the type of politicians I stay away from myself but the movie portrays them as fairly real people and it’s pretty funny. There really isn’t any Republican or Democrat bashing. There are a few mild jokes now and then but mostly it pokes fun at the entire system, which we can all relate to.

My only problem with the movie was that the story had a lot of family drama in it that I could have done without. I went in expecting political humor and while I got some I ended up with more family drama in my lap than poking fun at politics.

The good news is that there are a lot of good actors in this movie and while most of them don’t play very deep characters, this is the first film that Kevin Costner has impressed me on since Field of Dreams, which came out nearly 20 years ago. Kelsey Grammer did the next best job I guess as the incumbent President but I’m a big fan of Grammer’s work so I’m bias.

So, if you follow politics (as everyone should) then I would recommend seeing this movie. If you don’t then you won’t get it but then again, I still recommend it to you. Swing Vote is a GO! Why? Because, I feel that all the problems that our great nation faces today might not be as bad if everyone paid attention to politics. How could that be? Well, if we are all clued in then we can see when a politician is trying to pull a fast one on us and we can vote his/her sorry butt out of office. The less people who pay attention the harder it is to get rid of those traitors and yes, I believe that anyone who gets into public office for the power is a traitor. The point is to serve your country and do everything you can to make it a better place for the next generation, not to make your life better by ruining the current generation. Too many of our current politicians do this now and they are on BOTH sides of the isle. If there is one thing Swing Vote teaches its that every vote matters. So, we have an election for President and all sorts of local and state offices going on this year, make your vote matter. Pay attention to all the candidates that you can vote for. Find the candidates who are closest to resembling your values and what issues you stand for. Vote for them, not a familiar name or someone looks like your or someone who talks well or any other reason you can think of, other than what they stand for. Trust me, it isn’t easy to find a politician that stands for something but they do exist, you just have to look for them. So get out there and live out your right to vote because if you don’t you may one day regret it.

Until next time, look out for those Critical Hits!

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