“Irresistible” Movie Review by Josh Davis : Pop Culture Leftovers

“Irresistible” Movie Review by Josh Davis

July 6, 2020 10:16 am |

A Democratic strategist helps a retired veteran run for mayor in a small, conservative Midwest town.

“Irresistible” is a perfectly good, funny, sweet, comfort-food comedy about modern politics … about 15 minutes before the ending, which pulls the rug out from under its viewers.

This review won’t spoil the twist, but audiences should be warned — this is not going to go the way you think.

Steve Carell plays Gary Zimmer, a Washington, D.C. political insider for the Democrats who is crestfallen after the last presidential election. Looking to reverse course, Zimmer starts looking for someone with enough midwestern credibility to help turn a swing state like, say, Wisconsin, that the Democrats lost in 2016.

Enter Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper), a salt-of-the-earth farmer, military veteran, and man who recently gave a stirring small-town city council speech that just so happened to go viral.

Zimmer recruits Hastings to run for mayor and, he hopes, draw enough attention and credibility with Wisconsin voters to turn the state blue in the next big election.

Carell is classic Carell as a man out of his element. There are easy laughs to be had at this big city guy in a small town, but the movie does a genuinely good job of doing so, aided by a supporting cast that includes Will Sasso and C.J. Wilson, among others, as townsfolk.

Early on, Zimmer shows up at the town watering hole and orders a burger and a Budweiser — an obviously forced attempt at being folksy. Because they’re actually a german beer hall, the purveyors don’t have either. But, because of their midwestern politeness, they humor the stranger anyway, handing him an obviously store-bought burger and a six pack.

Once the small-town election starts grabbing national headlines, Republicans also want in on the act and Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne) — another D.C. insider — comes in to run the rival campaign for the incumbent mayor.

There’s also Diana Hastings (Mackenzie Davis), Jack Hastings’ daughter, who helps with the campaign and is generally there to make Zimmer feel all warm and tingly. And it’s a little icky.

Topher Grace and Natasha Lyonne help elevate the material as hired guns for the Hastings campaign — one as a veteran pollster and the other as someone who knows how to read between the data. Again, more D.C. insiders to rub up against the small-town yokels — dueling cliches, but played well enough for laughs.

For most the of film, “Irresistible” is an earnest, funny, only slightly cynical political comedy. It might be two years too late, but it’s a fun reminder of a pre-COVID world when politics in all its weirdness dominated much of the news cycle.

In that way, it’s perfectly charming.

Then, right at the climax — Election Day — there is a swerve and it’s a doozy. It’s preachy and convoluted and kind of vapid. And it ruins an otherwise pleasant movie.

And anyone who watched a trailer or read a review or knew anything about the plot going in, ought to be confused, at best.

There are better, funnier, more clever movies out there about western politics, from “Long Shot” in 2019, to “Dave” to “Dick” to “Dr. Strangelove.”

Writer and Director John Stewart also has produced far better, including his groundbreaking stint hosting “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, where he smartly skewered politics for more than 15 years and 2,500 episodes.

Here, he tries to pull a clever twist on a fairly conventional formula and it just falls flat — smug, preachy and downright disappointing.

“Irresistible,” ironically, is pretty easy not to like.

PCL Rating: Toss It

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: Rotten