A Democratic strategist helps a retired veteran run for mayor in a small, conservative Midwest town.
Fans of comedian Jon Stewart might salivate at the thought of his first-ever feature film written and directed by the man himself. His snide political commentary (skewering both left and right) reined long before other late-night hosts attempted to fill the gap and jumpstarted many of those host’s careers. It makes sense, then, that his first movie features many of the hallmarks of his winking comedy popularized on “The Today Show.” “Irresistible” provides laughs while softly poking at the dehumanization of the election economy only to pull the rug out from under the audience.
At this point in American democracy, a vast majority of citizens are fed up with the contrived system in place for electing officials. Whether it’s a President or a Mayor, the lengths to which people go to win those elections and (more importantly) profit off of them continues to astonish. This is Stewart’s wheelhouse as he reported and lampooned the Republican and Democratic National Parties. Things like Super PACs, election announcement optics, and competitive campaign staffers are all fair game for Stewart in this movie, and he couches it all perfectly in a fish-out-of-water story.
Chris Cooper plays Jack Hastings. A Wisconsin farmer gone viral after a video of him challenging his mayor over immigration surfaces. This video lands directly in the hands of protagonist Gary Zimmer, played by Steve Carrell. Zimmer decides to make an example out of Hastings’ potential and convinces him to run for mayor. He’s out to prove there are rural democrats out there and he’ll do anything at all to prove his point. Rose Byrne plays Faith Brewster, his antagonist and direct rival from the Republican National Party. The two rage all-out war in the small town of Deerlaken, Wisconsin while Hasting’s daughter and the rest of the town watch.
Comedy abounds in this story about a broken electoral system. Steve Carrell’s straight man, semi-bad guy routine foils perfectly off the salt-of-the-earth people of Deerlaken. Often his inadequacy comes off as simple fish-out-of-water glee but dips deep into total-asshole from time to time helping realign the audience. Add in Natasha Lyonne and Topher Grace as his sidekicks and the three share fantastic scenes. Only Rose Byrne could so perfectly counter Carrell in a devilish all out antagonist.
At the end of the day, the joke’s on Carrell. In an exchange that near-perfectly sums up the movie Mackenzie Davis clarifies Zimmer’s point: “When they go low we go slightly higher relative to how low they went before us.” Politics, the film constantly demonstrates, are broken not people. At times it can be hilarious (like Carrell screaming to not put too many black cows in the background of a photo op) and other times it can be sobering (like Natasha Lyonne’s analytics potentially illegal personal data collection.) The film argues that the money in politicking has corrupted the system, to begin with, and created a zero-sum game where the only winners are campaign managers looking for a fight. In fact, this film doesn’t waste time with nuance but takes extra time to lecture the audience exactly what it’s trying to say.
Stewart’s comedy never relied on audiences to infer the punchline, he always explained it. This movie follows suit. Admittedly, Stewart’s been griping about the American political machine for decades now so it’s fair to see from his perspective that audiences need to be TOLD and SHOWN just how corrupt this whole thing is. Thankfully, there’s still heart to this movie as Chris Cooper and Mackenzie Davis watch Gary Zimmer slowly burn everything down. The heart of good ‘ol Deerlaken, Wisconsin stays long after the polls are closed.
“Irresistible” can’t help but poke fun at every little dissonance present in politics. The story of fancy bigwigs from D.C. out of place in a farming town never fails to deliver laughs when the horrors of politicking are made explicit. Still, the movie spells out its message, never shying away from the hard truths of campaigning. It leans directly on the goodwill of the people and in that manner delves more into fantasy in any other moment than the rest of the movie. I won’t go into detail because a reasonable plot twist should stay undiscussed but the movie ends on a different kind of us vs. them story. When it uses the goodwill of the people as its Deus ex machina, it bends the narrative arc of small towns everywhere to fit a sunnier disposition.
People, it argues, aren’t inherently villainous or self-serving (despite the fact we never actually see what the town’s politics are), it’s the political machine that makes them evil. While I’d love to believe in that myth, I think even John Stewart can agree with me: We’re all idiots being manipulated by other idiots.
Now available on Digital HD and on Blu-ray™ and DVD September 1st
