Without question one of the finest performances of John Travolta's career (still think he should have at least been nominated for an Oscar for "Get Shorty" and of course "Battlefield Earth"...I joke, but the former I am very serious about). The film is a loosely based depiction of the 1992 Bill Clinton presidential campaign and adapted from the novel under the same name. This film has it all, a seasoned cast under the guidance of the late and great Mike Nichols. A great script filled with witty dialogue and top-notch execution by each of the actors. I am not at all surprised by the performances especially since Nichols came from the theater scene before transitioning to films. You really get to glimpse into how a campaign unfolds and the scrutiny under which you're put upon. This film, while serious at times, is really quite hilarious. Films such as "Game Changer" and TV shows such as "VEEP" and Amazon's "Alpha Dog" owe a lot to this particular piece because it really paved the way for funny, quasi-serious political narratives. Billy Bob Thornton and Kathy Bates were amazing but without question the star as mentioned at the top was John Travolta. He was BRILLIANT!! A very underrated performance. The only reason why I didn't give it 10 stars was Emma Thompson. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy her work but her accent was all wrong. It was just too forced and not believable. A tiny thing to ding on a film but it wasn't perfect but yet it almost was.

Mike Nichols presents a political satire PRIMARY COLORS, which came timely during Bill Clinton's infamous Lewinsky scandal and impeachment in 1998. So it might boost the publicity then, but 15 years later, when our memories fade, the film actually has weathered pretty good, narrating from a Black young novice Henry (Lester)'s eyes, who assists Governor Jack Stanton (Travolta)'s presidential campaign for the democrats, initially Henry thinks Jack is different from other politicians because he viscerally cares about adult literacy and dyslexia, but when he gets closer to him, the stain of Jack's personal life is far more reprehensible and the conniving political game is far too scurvy for an idealist like him. With a light touch, the film sets its campaign process in a vibrant tempo, benignly portrays Jack as a zestful candidate who canvasses and panders to his voters with great facility (through the different connotations from his body gestures and a memorable slapstick cameo from Allison Janney) in spite of the relatively youthful and uninitiated team. Then when Jack's wife Susan (Thompson) comes into the scene, the placid surface cannot dissemble the cracks beneath as soon as we detect Jack's philandering nature. A sex scandal is well-expected, which invites the troubleshooter Libby (an open lesbian and a close friend of Jack and Susan since college), plays by a fiery Kathy Bates, a devil-may-care warrior can track down any sources and break them, Bates is well-deserved for this hard-earned Oscar nominated performance, her wrangle with Jack and Susan about the integrity she cannot forsake is purely magnificent. Emma Thompson is perpetually excellent, especially under Nichol's guidance, a perfect wife behind a successful man mode is such a cinch for her and she nails it with much more nuances to accentuate her vulnerability and snobbishness. As for Travolta, it has hitherto been his last decent offer (if one can count out his droll transvestite transformation in HAIRSPRAY 2007, 8/10), underneath his cordial impression, his true color does not betray easily even in the hardest times, maybe that's why makes him a successful politician. And Adrian Lester is the audience's proxy, a wide-eyed enthusiast undergoes the tidal wave throughout, and an adamant observer which cogently influences his sea change in altitude through the screen to the viewers, bookends with the ending's artificial vagueness which also corresponds with the beginning, the same handshakes, different undertones. Forget about its reality allusions if you can, PRIMARY COLORS qualifies itself as a better-than- expected dissection of what politicians are made of, we are all characters with flaws, sometimes moralities and political expertise should be discriminated in order to see through the murky smoke screen and select the credential-ed ones instead of stalking horses. As for most of us, the most substantial message is that there is no win-win situation or whatsoever in the political composition.

I am not an American but I truly learned about American politics from the time Bill Clinton took office. I also learned about the incredible power that television media began to accumulate during the early 90s.This is a film about both. I will not say that I learned much new about politics or the media. It was all brilliantly covered by the real newscasts. Bill Clinton was a major celebrity and also a good politician.This movie is not really about Clinton, though, as others have pointed out. It's about morals and how they are almost always compromised when it comes to politics. This is of course brilliantly captured with the Libby Holden character, played by the incomparable Kathy Bates.I do, however think that the film is too flawed to recommend. It has too much emphasis on the affairs of Jack Stanton, and I know why so much of the running time was spent on that. It's because Clinton/Stanton is or was a basically decent politician with one serious flaw. But in the end this flaw is milked and milked and milked to the point where I thought: "Okay, I get it!". As a consequence, several characters, who I thought deserved more development, were left hanging, like Billy Bob Thornton's and Maura Tierney's.It's a good enough film but it could have been more.

A thinly disguised couple, one of the most famous couple of the last decade. They carry the "come as you are" kind of attitude, apparently, so, yes, at least apparently. Looking at it from where I'm standing in 2007 she may become the first USA woman president and he was, for 8 years, one of, if not the most popular American president since JFK and with the benefit of hindsight, he was probably a much more talented politician than JFK. I'm not necessarily a Democrat but I became, eventually, pro Clinton. Junk food and "momathons" infidelity and at times right down vulgarity doesn't blur the intentions of the couple and a couple is what they are. It may not have been John Travolta's most popular performance but for my money it's his best. Emma Thompson deals with Elaine May's superb and telling dialog with all the depth and poignancy, let alone fun, that the character deserved. She is magnificent. Kathy Bate's time bomb character is an unnerving fun to watch. Her Libby is a close relative of her "Misery" Mike Nichols keeps it really domestic. The most important things take place in Motels or kitchens. She wears yellow plastic gloves to do the dishes when big decisions are taken and cleanses her skin with a tissue in front of the preppy Adrian Lester the first time she meets him. They are ordinary southern folks with an extraordinary destiny. She's the one with a sense of history. Imagine that. See it now, again or for the first time before the next elections. It's a very good movie too.