The Campaign, a timely comedy set against the backdrop of a North Carolina congressional campaign, is less political satire than an excuse to give Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis a chance to reprise some of their most famous roles.
Ferrell is Cam Brady (D), the unopposed incumbent and career politician in it more for the fame and status than the issues, and a perfect fit for Ferrell’s “Dubya” meets Ricky Bobby style of Southern showboat. Zach Galifianakis inhabits the role of Brady’s unassuming rival Marty Huggins. With his mustache and fanny pack, Huggins is the effeminate spittin’ image of Seth Galifianakis, Zach’s fictional brother famous for a love of Fugees and Funions. The son of a local bigwig, Huggins is targeted by the Motch brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow), sibling CEO’s loosely modeled on a mispronunciation of the infamous Tea-Party backing Koch brothers, banking on Huggins being an easy patsy to greenlight their evil scheme to bring Chinese labor to North Carolina, a program they call “insourcing.”
But that’s about as “political” as The Campaign gets. The candidates’ party affiliation is only a necessary afterthought, as both Brady and Huggins prove to be petty gasbags, too busy speechifying and trying to out-American one another to actually know what they’re talking about. In fact, Ferrell’s character fires his newly appointed campaign manager just for telling him about a recent tax-break for corporations that outsource labor. In this way, the film is spot on in its portrayal of politicians and their relation to actual politics on the campaign, but Ferrell and Galifianakis are such lovable boobs that they erase any trace of satirical bite.
Mostly, the candidates, and the film, run on the belief that sex and negativity sell. Brady runs ads featuring bikini-clad models and accusing Huggins of being Al-Qaeda because they both have facial hair. And the majority of their debates involve actual physical violence in which both a baby and a puppy get punched in the face. Jay Roach directs this supposed mayhem with the visual flair of Kevin Smith without the heart or wit to justify it. And Ferrell and Galifianakis provide some chuckle-worthy moments, but none as memorable as their previous incarnations of these decidedly non-political characters.
