Politics is a subject that really gets people fired up. Whether they are wrong in someone else's opinion or not, is an age-old question as to whom is on the more "moral" side. Of recent decades, the most intensely debated over and highest blood-boiling election for America was during this year. No matter who was destined to win, approximately one half of the nation was not going to be happy about it. And by this, didn't mean sitting back, arms crossed and pouting. This was anger, frustration and harsh controversy. A topic fueled so much outside media sources that it drove people nuts. The sheer number of ads that were being played a day were ridiculous. Perhaps far more than any other election that came before it. Yet like every election season, Republicans duked it out with Democrats; sending zingers at each other left and right, trying to persuade their current voters why they were wrong to vote the other side. But what probably nobody saw coming was the next president of the United States having a celebrity background (for a second time).This was exactly the punch line for this movie a mere decade prior to this strange moment in history. With Barry Levinson attached as writer/director, the story is about celebrity comedian Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) who decides to run for the next president of the free world. Behind the scenes a subplot about a new electronic voting system called Delacroy is preparing to be used for this election too. However an employee by the name of Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) finds a glitch in the programming and tries to warn the head of Delacroy named Stewart (Jeff Goldblum). Fearing she may go public with the info, Stewart has her fired. This is what ends up leading to Dobbs' winning the election. From there after the story focuses on Dobbs trying to pull the information from Green. All the while, Dobbs' manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) tries to convince him otherwise. As a political comedy, Levinson could have struck gold if he played his cards more directly. Including the sub thread about Delacroy's glitch was such a misfire.Of course this was released back in 2006 but the concept was the same on a political level. Voters want change and they want to hear it from an energetic, likable and honest individual. It may have seemed absurd then but compare it to now? By no means am I saying Donald Trump is any of those three but many people heard the man because of his outspoken nature. The only reason why this is being brought up is because it is a very odd parallel. The coincidence is just too well put together. There are just too many similarities. But this is exactly what is demonstrated with Robin Williams' character. Dobbs' is the funnyman; he tells things like they are and isn't afraid to be politically incorrect. It is quite possible perhaps more people would have been interested to see what the outcome would have been if the results for Dobbs winning the election wasn't because of a glitch. I in fact would be in extreme favor of Williams if he had run for president. It's really hard not to believe who wouldn't at this point.Yet Levinson's script says otherwise when half way through the setup, the focus shifts to Laura Linney's role. When that happens, the story becomes generic and overly reliant on the danger Eleanor Green constantly puts herself into. This is why the movie also suffers from erratic tone fluctuations. When Robin Williams is on screen, he's fun to watch and see him make wisecrack after wisecrack to whomever he's speaking too. This is another thing people might actually enjoy if a politician did this in real life. Would it work? That's debatable (no pun intended) but it would surely grab viewers in for a watch. People want media, which would be a great political campaign. Getting back to the movie, when jumping over to Laura Linney, it's the scared woman being sought after her corrupt boss. Just make the movie about Tom Dobbs as president; forget the whole election conspiracy junk. All the more interesting is that the cast also includes other real life celebrities like Chris Matthews, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.Even Christopher Walken as Tom Dobbs' manager is more comedic than Laura Linney's character. Her part is just a waste of a story. For Dick Pope's cinematography, all shots were well executed with no apparent issues. Pope has gone on to work for a number of entertaining films like Bernie (2011) and Legend (2015). Also early on in his career he did work on the iffy movie called The Air Up There (1994), which could have been better. Most shots were stable and keep focus on the matter at hand. The film score was nice to hear although it has never seen a public release. Graeme Revell, who normally produces action related music, made the composition to this movie. Unfortunately due to the uneven tone, the music changes frequently as well. There are cues that sound like they belong to a comedy and there are others that sound like they belong to a horror score. It works for both ends but it just doesn't fit in its entirety. This is also perhaps as to why the score wasn't released. It's a confusing cluster of themes. Though it's different for Revell.The release of this movie with such a premise feels like it knew itself before its time. The idea of a comedian like Robin Williams running for president is an excellent idea. Somehow though, director Barry Levinson got caught up on adding in a melodramatic subplot dealing with election glitches, which completely takes away half of the comedy.

This is one of Williams worst showings. Even when allowed to rift in his own style (like Good Morning Vietnam) the genuine laughs are few and far between. GMV uses Williams comedy effectively to break up an otherwise poignant and dramatic movie but in 'M of the Y' Williams seems hard pressed to find a balance and the humour seems stale and disjointed. (To be fair, Williams supposedly based his act on Leno's routine which might explain the painfully dumbed down and tired jokes.) A complete waste of Lara Linney's talents. It is ironic that the film was shot in 2006 and seems to foreshadow the 2016 circus of Donald Trump's campaign but none the less a very bad movie.

Man of the Year (2006): Dir: Barry Livinson / Cast: Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Jeff Goldblum, Lewis Black: Provocative film about the influence of celebrity. Robin Williams plays talk show host Tom Dobbs whose humour targets politicians. One evening he is challenged by his audience to run for President. At first he jokes about it until floods of e-mails arrive to boost the encouragement. He shocks everyone with his campaign and debates not realizing that it is a computer glitch that causes his victory. Thought provoking and well written with Barry Levinson directing. He made a similar film called Wag the Dog, which is superior in its satire approach. Its biggest flaw is its inability to combine humour and thriller elements. Williams seems the right casting as someone who cannot realize that forest for the trees in an election such as this. Christopher Walken plays his manager who survives heart failure. Laura Linney steals scenes and tries to warn Dobbs of the glitch. Jeff Goldblum plays the head of the computer system voting program but this role is merely standard issue and not very interesting. It is a collection of actors from different backgrounds and abilities that sometimes gel and sometimes fail to do so. The film is well made although hardly the best of its kind. Strong theme regards our unfocused worship of celebrities. Score: 8 ½ / 10

Talk about deceptive advertising. While the trailers for this movie sold it as a political comedy, the tone of it is actually more serious and includes elements of romance and thrillers. Sadly, the results are less than compelling and rather stale. In MAN OF THE YEAR Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a political comedian like Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, who decides to run for president on the suggestion of one of his audience members (which gets an applause and millions of emails). Venturing onto the campaign trail, he shakes things up by not following the norm when it comes to political conduct and being honest about the issues without beating around the bush. Subsequently, he wins in a landslide. Or did he? While there are elements of Robin's standup peppered through the film, the central conflict is actually about computerized voting machines. How riveting. You would think that Robin Williams re-teaming with Barry Levinson, who directed him in "Good Morning, Vietnam" and has done some excellent political satire in the past (e.g., WAG THE DOG), would be a slam-dunk but it's far from that. At best, it's poorly written with lots of tired jokes and half-hearted attempts at humor. At worst, it's a dull story that tries to liven things up but just makes a mess out of the plot. Still, all the actors involved do give good performances. Robin Williams, even though on autopilot, does decent work. Christopher Walken and Laura Linney also do a decent job. Pity that they were given something sub-par to work with. Ultimately, this film fails to say anything that a majority of Americans aren't already thinking, and the possibilities of a political comedian actually winning an election aren't fully explored. While well-filmed and acted, the story was too inconsistent and the themes underdeveloped. My advice is to skip it and watch one of Robin Williams' standup specials.