"Man of the Year" is Full of Humor and Hope

Finally, a fun and funny movie with a good moral. Robin Williams's "Man of the Year" is entertaining from start to finish.

The story centers on Tom Dobbs (Williams), the host of a comedy talk show. Fed up with the entire political system, Dobbs takes the advice of a fan and runs for President on an independent ticket. At first, his manager Jack Menken (played by Christopher Walken) and staff just see his candidacy as a means to improve his career. However Dobbs really wants to make a difference on behalf of his country. Although Dobbs has no illusions that he can actually "win" the presidency, he does believe that he can get the other candidates to actually think about what is good for the country. He also believes that he can stir the long dead patriotic desire within the souls of the American people.

As Dobbs makes his way cross-country on a bus tour to campaign, on the West coast a computer geek by the name of Eleanor Green (played by Laura Linney) discovers a problem with the newly designed voting machines scheduled to be used in the election. Something is wrong with the program, which causes the machines to change the actual end result of the vote totals.

Although she is not exactly certain what the glitch is, Eleanor notifies the head of the company (played by Rick Roberts) about the problem. He and his legal counsel (played by Jeff Goldblum) have no intention of listening to anything negative, however. They realize that a problem with the system will greatly hurt the company's upcoming international deal, losing them hundreds of thousands of dollars. To make certain she stays quiet, they take matters into their own hands, hiring someone to break into her apartment and pump her full of drugs.

Mount Rushmore

Credit: Click Art

Copyright: Broderbund