A game changer for Julianne Moore
Game Change (NR) - HBO
Julianne Moore recalls the days of Far From Heaven, giving her best performance since. Cast is uniformly excellent, and the screenplay is sharp; creates a sympathetic monster, buckling under her own stardom, and genuinely worried that she might become President of the United States.
Sarah Palin isn’t the most likable figure. I know staunch Republicans who wouldn’t vote for her if she were the only person running. Personal politics aside (though it might make sense to say that I have liberal views and they probably influenced my reception of this picture), I like to think that the script, and Moore, did a fine enough job that a blank canvas could go in and be painted the color they wanted. Not red, nor blue, just… green, let’s say.
Perhaps you hadn’t heard, but Sarah Palin ran for Vice President alongside John McCain in 2008. They lost, partly because of her. How large a part is her fault is up for debate. I’d say a good, flat 80%. But never mind. Palin (Moore) was hand picked by a team of experts to be McCain’s (Ed Harris) saving grace in an election he couldn’t win. Not because he might not have been good enough, according to his camp, but because Barack Obama (wisely portrayed through stock news footage, a la McCarthy in Good Night, and Good Luck.) had already been crowned homecoming queen by the public. McCain knows that he needs a “maverick” choice. That he has to separate himself from the Bush administration, and that he needs to compete with the chance that Obama might pick Hilary Clinton for his VP.
Palin is simply a pawn. She was picked at face value for her values, because she was a pretty hardcore conservative with kids. And she just happened to be a politician. That didn’t hurt, either. As predicted, women and men (of both parties) fell in love with her, and she began to make quite a change in the race. Until the McCain camp realized - she didn’t know anything. Having a world history lesson in the back of a campaign bus is a key scene. “The Queen isn’t the head of the British government. She’s the head of state.” “Well… then who is?”
Moore’s portrayal is the definition of an actor “falling in” and giving a perfect performance. I’ve long said that her turn in Far From Heaven is my favorite lead actress performance of recent memory, and I believe that here, she’s just as good. She plays Palin straight as an arrow, never making her a joke - but an honest glimpse of what apparently ‘probably’ happened. Supported by a fantastic Harrelson and a properly tired Ed Harris, the film works as a sort of companion piece to Oliver Stone’s W., but less cruel - though, according to this film, she might not deserve it. It’s part horror movie, part black comedy, part political drama. All an example of what a TV movie should be, and how actresses should work. And it makes itself very clear on the point that Palin is, and should be, a sympathetic character. What was done to her was a form of further character assassination. And it’s easy to feel sorry for her, but… they created a monster.
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