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Critics Consensus: Our Brand Is Crisis offers sporadic amusement and benefits from a talented cast, but ultimately lacks enough of a bite to add much of interest to the political satire genre.
Critic Consensus: Our Brand Is Crisis offers sporadic amusement and benefits from a talented cast, but ultimately lacks enough of a bite to add much of interest to the political satire genre.
All Critics (162) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (106) | DVD (1)
There's nothing new about the political smoke-and-mirrors; the Bullock/Thornton relationship fails to convince, and the inevitable idealistic resolution feels unsatisfying and unearned.
Our Brand Is Crisis is the kind of movie that offers a look at a great antiheroine, but doesn't trust that she doesn't need to be tamed.
Our Brand is Crisis hits a lot of clunky notes and the end is unforgivably cornball, but it's still one of the liveliest political black comedies I've seen in a while.
The movie is funny enough to get its share of laughs but, in its angry heart, it's a tragedy - and the saddest part is that too much of this story is true.
It's the first time I've watched a David Gordon Green movie and found myself wishing I was in the capable hands of a set-'em-up-knock-'em-down director like Jay Roach.
Much of what the film considers fodder for satire is too familiar to feel revelatory or shocking, while characters that start out believable behave in unrecognizably ludicrous ways simply because the script forces them to.
It's a film that can't decide whether it wants to twist the knife of political satire or get on the soap box with a profound statement about the system of political campaigns.
The Bolivians are the great unwashed, their struggles only important inasmuch as they provide Jane the opportunity to spout bromides like a random quote generator. Politics is a dirty game, not for the meek or idealistic. Yeah, we know.
Our Brand is Crisis is worth seeing. Bullock, Thornton, Mackie, Dowd, Almeida, Arcella, Scoot McNairy and more are all entirely on target.
You'll see not only politics in a different light, but all marketing and advertising in a different way. And that's a good thing.
...a solid little drama that boasts an impressive assortment of positive attributes.
There's no bite in this flick to make this cynicism sting
Entertaining and provocative, Our Brand Is Crisis is a satirical political drama. The story follows a political strategist who's recruited to help the campaign of a Bolivian presidential candidate, and decides that in order to win they'll have to convince the people that the country is in a crisis. Featuring Sandra Bullock, Joaquim de Almeida, Billy Bob Thornton, and Zoe Kazan, the film has an impressive cast. And, the writing does a pretty good job at avoiding specific issues, focusing instead on political campaigning in general. However, the plot takes a strange turn at the end, suddenly becoming serious and moralistic. It's a little unfocused and has some storytelling issues, but Our Brand Is Crisis is still an interesting and enjoyable film.
Super Reviewer
This film was such a mixed bag I didn't even notice that it was clearly a white savior narrative. Between the shoddy humor, the weird performance from Billy Bob Thornton, and the strange ethical and moral implications of Jane's (Bullock) involvement, this is a strange mélange of weird. The story follows a disgraced prior campaign advisor who starts working against a former opponent on a campaign in Bolivia. The film's plot follows her involvement in a former president's bid for re-election. From the premise you would think this was a film about a political candidate changing his mind on big issues, and becoming a true leader. Instead the film isn't exactly sure what tone, or message, it wants to leave audiences with. It doesn't know if it wants to be a comedy, drama, or biopic. I'm sure the 2005 documentary this is based off of is much better and less concerned with being preachy. The ending is where the white savior narrative comes into play, and the film is very unsure how she even is one. A white outsider coming in, especially into Bolivia which is anti-American and has been controlled by foreign interests for decades, would not experience a huge amount of success. Overall this is a mixed film that doesn't entertain except when Bullock is being inflammatory and angry in the best way.
On the surface a lighthearted, even sitcom styled, look at political campaigning. But that most of the levity is based on truth adds a sad insight into our world at large that makes for unusually important filmmaking. The effort tries to bravely smile at that unbearable sadness but cannot. Like Cassandra of old here is truth that no one will listen to. Bullock and Thornton play two sides of the same coin well enough to lean this nearly into a romance, but what a sick romance it is.
A Sandra Bullock vehicle that goes into Crisis mode thanks to heavy-handedness and a slipshod presentation, this political drama based on a powerful documentary somehow dilutes the message and sadly amounts to Brand X...as in generic. In the first act, Bullock grandstands with a rousing speech meant to boost us to our feet but it falls on deaf ears because you're being spoon-fed so forcefully that you feel like you smartly boycotted the film via a starvation protest. Oh, there are humorous moments where the dialogue comes close to hitting a bullseye in this intended dark comedy, but the success for such expert marksmanship goes to the ace cast, not the screenwriters or director. Notice the word "intended." The film wants badly to chart in this sub-genre like such cynical political gems Bulworth and Thank You for Smoking. Our Brand is Crisis, however, tries pulling at both heartstrings and laugh-lines like the audience was composed of marionettes, but it all ends up a tangled mess. In truth, it's more of a dramedy and much of the drama cancels out much of the comedy in this equation. Normally, this proves troubling for the end message, but the curtain closer here does enough damage on its own. Too on-the-nose and saccharine, it simply lacks much punch at all. In this R-rated dramedy based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, an American adviser (Bullock) who's well-versed in successful political campaigns gets sent to the war-torn lands of South America to help install a new leader but is threatened to be thwarted by a long-term rival (Thorton). David Gordon Green started his career helming more critically acclaimed hard-hitting fare (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow, Snow Angels) before turning his attention to some popular comedies (Pineapple Express, HBO's Eastbound & Down). Lately, however, his handling of both comedies (Your Highness, The Sitter) and drama (Manglehorn) has done a disservice to both ends of the spectrum. His mixing of both genres in Our Brand is Crisis meets the same disappointing end, hitting audiences between the nose with middling material. Bottom line: Thank You for Smoking and Burning
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