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Critics Consensus: Its crude brand of political satire isn't quite as smart or sharp as one might hope in an election year, but The Campaign manages to generate a sufficient number of laughs thanks to its well-matched leads.
Critic Consensus: Its crude brand of political satire isn't quite as smart or sharp as one might hope in an election year, but The Campaign manages to generate a sufficient number of laughs thanks to its well-matched leads.
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All Critics (201) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (130) | Rotten (71) | DVD (5)
Despite the obviousness of its political points, the film has a scattershot, breezy appeal.
What these dog days of political campaigning needs is a good, sharp political satire. Alas, The Campaign is not that movie -- not even close.
Simply taken as a broad character comedy, "The Campaign" definitely has its moments.
It's way over the top, but then again, so are most modern political campaigns. Lots of funny s--- here.
[A] very raunchy and sometimes pretty funny comedy - which isn't above going for dumb jokes, but is also smart enough to play to its two stars' strengths.
This movie is single-handedly causing a major rise in our mirth deficit. It's so bad, I'm declaring a laugh emergency.
Filled with the broad stereotypes typical of an increasingly divisive electorate and of a Will Ferrell vehicle, but there's a broader and in fact biblical message at the movie's heart. What do you benefit if you gain the world but lose your own soul?
At 85 minutes this might be one of the shortest election campaigns around, but with a cast that's on-fire and the humour inappropriate and irreverent, it's surely one of the funniest.
The leads do fine work, but the screenplay bizarrely reduces Ferrell to straight man for much of the film.
It's the most infuriating kind of comedy, one that keeps flirting with sharp ideas, only to retreat into barn-door-broad buffoonery.
It even has something like a brain with awareness of the world outside the film, and that is too rare of a commodity in American film comedy in the 2010s.
You keep waiting for the movie to say something, to find that extra level of inspiration we've seen each of these two guys reach. Or at least to justify making a political comedy in the first place.
A few funny moments, but in light of all the Trump stuff, pretty accurate viewing, even though it was made prior to all this and I am just late watching it. Below average comedy.
Super Reviewer
An average satire of the cancerous political platform known as the campaign for public office, with two of the most powerful comedic titans of the industry (Will Ferrell, Zack Galifianakis) at the helms. It starts to head in the right direction near its conclusion, but sadly it is already too late. Ferrell sports another over the top performance that we are all used to, while Galifianakis and his silly southern accent are not as utilized. Americans need a movie with a ferocious political bite like say, "Wag the Dog", especially now, when the future of our country looks bleak. Sadly, "The Campaign" is not that beast, instead it comes across as somewhat likable but largely forgettable, and probably a film that should have been on Ferrell's "Funny or Die" website as a 5-10 minute sketch, not an hour and a half long film.
A real riot. This movie gets my vote. A raunchy, wild and hilarious comedy. Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell are comedy gold together. A super funny satire that packs plenty of laughs and a great cast. Dylan McDermott and Jason Sudeikis are terrific. A really funny good time. Over the top fun from start to finish.
Not Ferrell's best turn, but he's done much worse. And Zach Galifianakis isn't doing much you haven't seen before, rolling his Seth Galifianakis character into his role as bumpkin-cum-politician Marty Huggins. But what you see really is what you get: two talented comic foils going at each other for 90 minutes. The story is a bit thin but the supporting cast is also funny. There can be only one Anchorman in Ferrell's career - even if he is making a sequel - and this isn't it. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the movie. It's a comedy... laugh already.
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