DVD REVIEW

Blue State

MGM || R || February 12, 2008

Synopsis

Blue State looks at just how far one young man will go to prove his point that the wrong candidate won the 2004 presidential elections. When John Kerry loses to George W. Bush, one of Kerry's campaign workers makes good on his promise to move to Canada if Bush is elected president. The disgruntled volunteer John (Breckin Meyer) is a borderline slacker who most likely would've been too lazy to move anywhere if his friends didn't remind him about his promise.


Critique

There was a lot of talk in 2004 about leaving the country if George W. Bush was reelected.  As ridiculous as it seemed at the time, there was still an underlying question: how bad would things have to get for me to consider leaving the country.  Four years – what seems more like four decades – later, maybe there was something to that.  Watching John lament the reelection of George W. Bush and gas up his car at $1.86 a gallon makes it blindingly clear just how naïve we were as to just how bad things could get.

John is almost too liberal to be true, left wing to the point where he starts to lose touch with reality.  If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve actually met people like him, I’m not sure I would believe that people like him actually exist.  His father is, predictably, an arch conservative who speaks like a talk radio pundit, not just parroting what he hears on right wing radio, but even peppering his speech with phrases like “next caller” and “clear the phones.”  John and his father, like most of the characters in the film, are two dimensional, caricatures more than characters.

John has no real plans for Canada, except to get there, and he hooks up with a service that marries American ex-patriots to Canadian citizens.  John is blind to the absurdity of the whole situation until a few of the Canadians start to put down Americans in general, real imaginative stuff like saying we’re all fat and dumb.  John, who is so disappointed in his country, does an abrupt one-eighty and rethinks everything.

Clair (Anna Paquin) is John’s traveling companion.  She is another character with potential, but she is never fully developed, and it’s hard to stay engaged with her.  When it is revealed that she wants to go to Canada because she is actually AWOL from the U.S. Army and wants to avoid another tour in Iraq, the revelation just doesn’t ring true.

At the beginning of his commentary, Marshall Lewy says, “I wanted to make sure the politics did not outweigh the story.”  In that, he failed.  Every scene, every line of dialogue feels like a political statement aimed right between the audience’s eyes.  It’s not that a movie shouldn’t have a message, but the message is less effective when it is wielded so bluntly.  

The film also suffers from being about four years out of date.  This would have been more impressive about three years ago.  The condition of the country has deteriorated so much since the election that you want to scream at John not to drive back across the border, to stay in Canada and make the best of it.

Blue State is a smart film, but it repeats too many things that have been said and said over the last few years.  The characterizations are thin, and the political message to blatant to be easily swallowed lightly.


Video

Blue State is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The film’s muted photography is rendered well, the palate of Earth tones coming through sharply.  The white and black levels are both solid, and the overall picture is translated nicely.


Audio

This disc is presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround.  While it’s not a complicated soundtrack, the levels are sharp and well balanced.  The quiet moments are blended well with the more frenetic moments, and the overall presentation is well done.


Special Features

Commentary by Director Marshall Lewy: Lewy, who also wrote the film, talks about the genesis of the film, working with Anna Paquin and her brother, working on a small budget, and more.


Final Thoughts

Blue State is an amusing, well-intentioned film that ultimately fails.  Its message is too obvious and too out of date, and the writing is one-dimensional.  The commentary track is good, but it would be nice to have more bonus material.

VERDICT: RENT IT

 

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Review posted on May 5, 2008 | Share this article | Top of Page

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