Double Feature

May 2009 - Never mind Waterworld. Forget about The Postman. And, overlook the fact that his scenes in The Big Chill were left on the cutting room floor. All things considered, Kevin Costner has had a pretty nice career in Hollywood. Maybe that's because he’s so darn likeable.

That likeability shines through in 2008's Swing Vote. In this PG-13 film, Costner plays a single dad with lots of problems - and that's before he finds out that the future of America rests in his hands. Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper co-star. You'll notice other familiar faces, and get used to seeing Madeline Carroll because you'll probably be seeing a lot more of her in the coming years.

Costner plays Bud, a down and out dad trying to raise his daughter, Molly (Carroll), in a hick town named Texico, New Mexico. On Election Day, Bud gets fired, gets drunk and passes out in his pickup. Molly takes it upon herself to forge his name and cast his vote. But, there's a problem. And, when the race for president ends up in a tie, Bud gets a chance for a do-over.

Overall review: Ehhh, it was OK. Costner fits comfortably in the jeans and T-shirts that he wears for most of the movie. Carroll is engaging as his too-smart-by-half daughter, and Grammer and Hopper rise to their roles as the presidential candidates. My problem is that the movie never quite seems to find its center. It has several entertaining parts, but they don't quite come together to make a whole.

About 20 years earlier, Costner did a whole lot of running in No Way Out, an R-rated thriller from 1987. Gene Hackman, Sean Young and Will Patton co-star. Fred Dalton Thompson has a small role as the CIA director.

Costner plays Lt. Commander Tom Farrell, a young, smart and handsome Navy officer. He's buds with Scott Pritchard (Patton), the counsel for Defense Secretary David Brice (Hackman). At some inaugural ball, Pritchard introduces Farrell to Brice, but Farrell is more interested in Susan (Young), Brice's beautiful mistress. Fast forward a few months and Farrell is now on Brice's staff. He's supposed to get the dirt on a new stealth submarine which Brice feels won't be very stealthy at all.

That mission changes when Brice kills Susan in a fit of rage over her affair with another man. No one knows that Farrell is that other man, so Pritchard convinces Brice to go along with the story that Susan's lover was a Russian mole named Yuri and that he's the one who killed her. Farrell is assigned to find Yuri. For everyone involved, the cover-up is definitely worse than the crime.

Overall review: Liked it. The movie is just shy of two hours long, but snappy dialogue and a couple of chase scenes keep the film from dragging. Those elements also help to overcome a somewhat convoluted plot. The movie holds up well despite obvious Cold War overtones and despite what is, by current standards, primitive computer technology.