Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) * * *

Directed by:  David Gordon Green

Starring:  Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd, Joaquim de Almeida

Our Brand Is Crisis works best when we see political consultants Jane Bodine (Bullock) and Pat Candy (Thornton) working opposing campaign strategies for their respective clients running for President of Bolivia.      Jane had been retired for a few years and living in seclusion in the mountains, but is lured out of hiding by an old colleague.    She could not resist the challenge of bringing up the polling numbers of Pedro Castillo, who has a very hard time relating to the constituency he wishes to govern.     He is trailing the front runner badly with 80 days to go before the elections.     Candy's candidate is comfortably in the lead, but neither Candy nor the candidate is above getting his hands dirty to secure a win.

Castillo is a former President of Bolivia who is clearly uncomfortable smiling and shaking the hands of the masses.     When someone smashes an egg on his forehead, he punches him in the face.    Political disaster?    No.     Jane finds a way to reinvent Castillo as a tough guy the country needs and his numbers begin to skyrocket.     The only other person that may work for is Donald Trump.     Jane correctly sees the landscape and how high the ceiling for her client truly is.    ( "He's a mid-20's guy at best, we have to bring everyone else's numbers down." )

I enjoy movies where the characters are able to convince me that they know what they're talking about.     Their expertise is fascinating to watch.     At no time am I convinced that Bullock nor Thornton are dummies.     They play intelligent well, which makes the movie good for long stretches.     The scenes that don't quite fit are ones in which Jane befriends an idealistic young man who hero worships Castillo.      These tend to slow the momentum, but things pick up again as the election draws near.

Jane and Candy have a history, but not a romantic one thank goodness.     They worked on the same campaign long ago and one or both of them sabotaged their client by committing a crucial mistake.     It is not made clear why this was done or whether it was purposeful or not.     It actually creates a backstory where none is really needed.      They could just be professional rivals and leave it at that.     Their best scenes together involve talking shop anyway.

There are enough good aspects of Our Brand Is Crisis for me to recommend it.     The performances are difficult to fault and it understands that politics is politics no matter what the country.     Jane and Candy are not Americanizing the Bolivian Presidential race because politics is a universal language of double speak, broken promises, and image shaping.    The best consultants create the candidate people want to see, even if it is far from the truth.     To quote Robert Duvall from A Civil Action, "You will find the truth at the bottom of a bottomless pit."    People may say differently, but they wouldn't have their politics any other way.     If they did, they wouldn't fall for the same tricks time and time again.