Primary Colours follows the story of the presidential campaign of Jack Stanton, a democratic candidate. John Travolta gives a great performance as Jack Stanton, a character in which the parallels between him and former US president, Bill Clinton are obvious and almost certainly deliberate, which explains the sex scandal element of the movie. The campaign is seen through the eyes of a young campaign manager; Henry Burton, a man with ideals and a man that believes Jack Stanton is the 'real thing', and America's best presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy. The film is a satire on the world of politics from the director of The Graduate; Mike Nichols, and it works very well.
One of the best things about this movie is its script. As you might expect from a social satire, the script is sharp and witty and there's some genuinely funny dialogue, as well as some observant criticisms of the way that the country is ran. Some of the humour in the film also manages to be quite dark, such as the part where Jack is on a radio show, debating with his rival; who puts the phone down in the middle of the debate, to which Jack responds with laughter over the way that his rival has dropped out of the debate. Only to find he has suffered a heart attack. Also of note is the way that the film is very American, too American, in fact; shown by the way that the characters sing American songs, and talk highly of the country, it's almost sickly, but it works in the satirist content of the movie. The script does, however, become a little over the top at times, and it feels like extra bits are being added in to make the it seem like more is going on, and I feel that the movie would be more efficient if the script has been trimmed a little; but it's a small criticism, and the movie runs smoothly enough.
Aside from John Travolta, who gives one of the best performances of his career in this movie, the rest of the cast is good too, and includes performances from Emma Thompson, who makes a great leading lady as Susan Stanton, Kathy Bates; who is gratuitously over the top in her usual electric style, as well as Adrian Lester, an English man that is without doubt the most 'American' character in the movie, and finally; Maura Tierney, who was in the background for a lot of the film but still managed to make an impression as one of the campaign helpers. She's not bad looking either, which is a bonus.
Overall, Primary Colours is as good as political satires get; it has everything, from the parallels to real life, to a sharp script, to a great cast and the whole piece comes together nicely as a biting satire on the USA's electoral system.
One of the best things about this movie is its script. As you might expect from a social satire, the script is sharp and witty and there's some genuinely funny dialogue, as well as some observant criticisms of the way that the country is ran. Some of the humour in the film also manages to be quite dark, such as the part where Jack is on a radio show, debating with his rival; who puts the phone down in the middle of the debate, to which Jack responds with laughter over the way that his rival has dropped out of the debate. Only to find he has suffered a heart attack. Also of note is the way that the film is very American, too American, in fact; shown by the way that the characters sing American songs, and talk highly of the country, it's almost sickly, but it works in the satirist content of the movie. The script does, however, become a little over the top at times, and it feels like extra bits are being added in to make the it seem like more is going on, and I feel that the movie would be more efficient if the script has been trimmed a little; but it's a small criticism, and the movie runs smoothly enough.
Aside from John Travolta, who gives one of the best performances of his career in this movie, the rest of the cast is good too, and includes performances from Emma Thompson, who makes a great leading lady as Susan Stanton, Kathy Bates; who is gratuitously over the top in her usual electric style, as well as Adrian Lester, an English man that is without doubt the most 'American' character in the movie, and finally; Maura Tierney, who was in the background for a lot of the film but still managed to make an impression as one of the campaign helpers. She's not bad looking either, which is a bonus.
Overall, Primary Colours is as good as political satires get; it has everything, from the parallels to real life, to a sharp script, to a great cast and the whole piece comes together nicely as a biting satire on the USA's electoral system.