Recount

Why Jay Roach? Why do you insist on drumming up these rancid, eight-year-old feelings of woe and disillusionment that I thought were successfully stowed away in the sizzling recesses of my inquisitive mind? Seriously, do you really think I want to relive the inconceivable gaffe that was the 2000 presidential election while we Americans are still paying through the nose in every way possible? I’d like to believe that your new film “Recount” is just a petrifying glimpse into a bizarro world full of gutless pen pushers and archaic voting practices, but one look at the pump is all I need to jolt me back to reality.

Yes, the election did happen and yes, the fate of the nation was in effect hanging by a chad that no one really knew how to handle. How in the year 2000 does the most important political race in the world come to be decided in such an embarrassingly haphazard fashion might you ask? Well, that question has haunted people for years and rather than continue to rant, I’ll just assume that a legitimate explanation will never be provided. After all, this is a movie review…not a political pig roast.

As for the film, I can honestly say it’s one of the tightest and most compelling I’ve seen all year. The script by Danny Strong just crackles with all the passion and finely honed intellect you can ask from a political thriller and seldom hits a false note. Sure, it’s biased, but aren’t all films biased in some way, shape, or form? Don’t they all reflect the individual outlook and ideology of the creators? Would people still be complaining had it been written from a Republican perspective? This is just one man’s take on the folly in Florida and I think he captures the madness with stellar precision.

Kevin Spacey stars as Gore’s former Chief of Staff Ron Klain and delivers some of his finest work in years as the feisty, cutthroat lawyer who did everything he could to ensure that every vote was counted. For those who have seen 2000’s “The Big Kahuna,” you’re more than familiar with Spacey’s ability to fluently tear through dialogue and here he’s nearing at his acerbic best. His scenes with Michael Whouley (Denis Leary) are certainly where the film rides highest and Leary is the perfect actor to echo Spacey’s motor mouth technique. Together, they launch an astounding barrage of malice toward the Florida Supreme Court and keep Secretary of State Katherine Harris (Laura Dern) forever on her heels.

Dern tries her best to capture the bubbly panache of Secretary Harris, but the character is way too watered-down to become anything other than a vacant caricature. She‘s a terrific actress, but simply had the misfortune of falling victim to one of Strong’s rare creative miscues.
The role of former Secretary of State James Baker, on the other hand, is handled superbly by Tom Wilkinson and he gallantly patrols the screen like the seasoned veteran that he is. After an Oscar-nominated turn in “Michael Clayton” and a vividly quirky take on Ben Franklin in HBO’s “John Adams,” he appears to be on an artistic hot streak with no end in sight.

Since we’re not used to seeing director Jay Roach handle this type of material, I have to say that it was refreshing to know that he can manage more than just “Meet the Parents” and “Austin Powers.” His pacing is more than sufficient, but the cast is so good here that he really doesn’t need to go out of his way to be successful. No matter how infuriated I felt at the outcome, the absurdity of it all was enough to deaden the pain and make me laugh out loud at much of what the system deems acceptable. With another controversial election looming, I can’t really say anything other than “Let the fun begin!”

- *** ½ out of 4