Game Change

"Game Change", the HBO movie that premiered on Mar 10, 2012, is a relatively brief part of the book, "Game Change", written by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin and published in 2010. Basically, the book covers both the Democratic and Republican primaries and general election of 2008. The HBO producers - and Tom Hanks was one of them - decided t0 concentrate on the REAL "Game Change", the selection of Sarah Palin by John McCain as his running mate.Okay, three years, almost four, have passed since August 29, 2008. It was John McCain's birthday and also the launching of the Republican "secret weapon" - Alaska's governor Sarah Palin - as his running mate. Cast a woman for the VP slot, McCain was urged by his advisers, including Steve Schmidt. So the campaign searched around that early August for a "game changer". They looked at some of the Republican women governors and senators. Hawaii's governor Linda Lingle? Nah, not glamorous enough. Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison? Too old. Maine's two senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins? Meh...definitely not glamorous enough. All hardworking Republican women politicians who had worked their way up the political ladder, earning respect from their constituents and their political colleagues.However, Sarah Palin, then the first-term governor of Alaska... Now, there was someone with sex-appeal that never appeared to end. (Remember, these are white, middle-aged Republican men doing the choosing - and vetting). Not shown in the film was the fact that Sarah Palin had been on Republican "radar" for a while. She had met - and charmed - members of the Republican establishment during two Alaskan cruise stops in Juneau, where she was introduced to Bill Kristol and other Republican stalwarts.In so much of a hurry to blunt the edge that Barack Obama had received during his nomination, held a few days before the Republican convention, McCain and his staff - after a minimum of vetting - asked Sarah Palin if she would accept the nomination for Vice-President. "Yes, sir", she sure would, seemingly very self-assured by the chance to hit the big time and sure that it was "God's will" that she accept the nomination, despite her woeful unpreparedness for the second highest job in the world.Anyone reading this review knows that Sarah Palin was one errant cancer-cell away from the Presidency if the McCain/Palin ticket had won in November. The movie, "Game Change", with great performances by Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, and Woody Harrelson as well as by an excellent supporting cast tells the story of that 11 week campaign/nightmare as McCain and his team slowly learned how unprepared Sarah Palin was for the job of Vice-President. As the possibility of having unleashed Sarah Palin onto the country finally became clear to Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, they began to realise the folly of the campaign's decision to nominate Palin. The acting is matched by the intelligence of the screenplay and direction in "Game Change". I think it will end up as one of the classic American political movies and serve as a warning that a wink and fancy pageant walk do not make a viable Vice President.

This is very realistic with Moore's acting being extraordinary. She really seems to actually be Sarah Palin in the movie including the accent she adapted to sound like Sarah Palin.I am not a Sarah Palin fan but Moore's balanced portrayal left me feeling much more sympathy for what Palin and her family went through in her deciding to accept the nomination for Vice President than I had previously felt.While we all know Palin has made a lot of mistakes and has showed her basic ignorance about a lot of issues on national TV, I never really thought about what humiliating herself like that made her feel. Yes, she seems strong as nails and confident in public but in the movie some of this is depicted as bravado and I think that anybody ridiculed the way she was ridiculed had to have some human reactions as a result...e.g. depression, self doubt and anger.I think that, even though I disagree with her political position, I would respect Palin more if she could just admit that she is wrong or misinformed about certain things. The fact that she defends her mistakes in the light of them being blatantly false makes me think she would be dangerous in a powerful position and this movie supports my opinion in this area.As usual Ed Harris gives a great performance but Woody Harrelson gives one of the best performances that I have ever seen him give and that is saying a lot. I hope he won an Emmy like Moore did for this movie.One final thing. When this film came out there was considerable criticism that it was not an accurate account of McCain's choice to make Palin his running mate or a fair portrayal of Sarah Palin.I disagree with that criticism and my stance was formed by many other sources besides the book of the same name on which this movie is based. These sources are not only other books and articles but Palin's own words and actions. Almost everything in this movie that is not a dramatized depiction of the characters in private can be corroborated by other reputable sources and, therefore, I think this movie is very informative as well as very entertainingAnyway, I HIGHLY recommend this movie and bought it for several people...including somebody I know who LOVES Palin...for Christmas and they all liked the movie as much as I did. Truly a "must see."