{"id":20254,"date":"2020-07-31T16:43:37","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T21:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=20254"},"modified":"2020-08-14T11:26:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T16:26:57","slug":"irresistible-jon-stewart-film-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/irresistible-jon-stewart-film-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin-set political satire Irresistible<\/em> is a big \u201cope\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, Jon Stewart was the voice of American discontent. As host of The Daily Show<\/em>, the comedian made his name by speaking hilarious truth to power. His 2004 Crossfire <\/em>appearance<\/a> is the stuff of legend. So when it was announced that Stewart would write and direct a Wisconsin-set political comedy starring his old Daily Show<\/em> colleague Steve Carell, my hopes were understandably high.<\/p>\n

But that pedigree is what makes Irresistible <\/em>so frustrating.<\/p>\n

Currently available on demand though platforms like Amazon, Apple and YouTube, the film stars Carell as Gary Zimmer, a prickly Democratic operative searching for hope after the 2016 election. He finds one in Col. Jack Hastings (a typically stoic Chris Cooper), a Wisconsin farmer and Marine vet who goes viral after giving a fiery speech defending immigrants at a town meeting. Zimmer travels to Deerlaken, Hastings\u2019 fictional town, to convince him to run for mayor, thus providing a new salt-of-the-earth hope for the party.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
Daniel McFadden\/Focus Features<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/span>Meanwhile, the Republican party, led by Gary\u2019s nemesis Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne), starts pouring money into the incumbent mayor\u2019s campaign. Essentially it\u2019s all hollow political theater \u2014 incidentally the same thing Stewart excoriated Tucker Carlson for 16 years ago.<\/p>\n

Irresistible <\/em>is full of miscalculations, the most glaring of which is that it never finds its tone. It\u2019s part-Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/em><\/a>\u2019s earnestness and part-The Ides of March<\/em><\/a>\u2019s icy cynicism, all delivered through a voice that\u2019s at times shockingly condescending. Perhaps its closest comparison is 2015 Oscar winner The Big Short<\/em><\/a>, which also aimed high but couldn\u2019t quite shake its know-it-all vibe (and also happened to co-star Carell).<\/span>\n