Recouting ‘Recount’ May 26, 2008

It’s probably a movie that 99.3 percent of Hollywood wanted to take part in. But there were only enough characters for a few.

Tonight on HBO (2, maybe), I got sucked in by Recount, a movie chronicling the complexity of the 2000 presidential election. I turned it on and really couldn’t turn it off, so therefore, I recommend it.

Of course, expect a strong liberal bias. Kevin Spacey and Dennis Leary aren’t too keen on remaining objective in their roles, but hey — it’s Hollywood.

Despite knowing the outcome, Recount somehow keeps you on the edge of your seat. We see archive footage of Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings in addition to video from Fox News and CNN.

Side note: Remember what CNN or Fox looked like without the crawl at the bottom? Well, this shows you. I kind of miss those days.

There’s a scene where Al Gore is about to make his concession speech in front of thousands of supporters. One of his aides, who has a severe limp after pulling a muscle in his leg, attempts to stop the vice president because of breaking news — the numbers the networks were reporting were incorrect. Gore is steps from the stage, and the aide is trying his best to reach him. I haven’t been so worried since watching Simba vs. Scar in The Lion King.

It’s a very well done HBO film, but there are some flaws. The bias gets a little too goofy. Katherine Harris, the now infamous former Florida Secretary of State, was portrayed as a makeup-laden ditz. OK, all opinions aside, the performance by Laura Dern seemed a little too stereotypically blonde (Harris, though, is a brunette).

At the conclusion of the film (SPOILER ALERT: GORE DOESN’T WIN THE PRESIDENCY!) Spacey’s character is having a conversation with a Republican leader (paraphrased):

SPACEY: “Did the best man win?”
REPUBLICAN: “Yes.”
SPACEY: “Are you sure about that?”
REPUBLICAN: “I’m as sure about that as you are for your man.”
SPACEY: “I hope you’re right.”

After pans of a FEMA headline and Katherine Harris riding a horse after her Congress win, the credits roll. The song in the background? Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.”

So…expect the bias, but Recount is an interesting movie to see. I guess it was made to reminisce about what could have been.

But, in my opinion as summarized by Dennis Leary’s character at the end of the movie in the most cliche of modern cliches, “it is what it is.” But dwell on the past anyway.