Bullock (left) with Joaquim de Almeida.
“Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” That’s a maxim from artful warrior Sun Tzu, whose bellicose playbook is referenced many times over in the course of Austin-based director David Gordon Green’s semi-comedic, overtly cynical drama about soulless American political strategists spinning a Bolivian presidential election into a personal grudge match.
Sandra Bullock is “Calamity” Jane Bodine, a retired campaign manager who, in the wake of a series of disastrous personal adversities (alcoholism, depression, etc.) has removed herself from the duplicitous realm of politics to putter around her tidy little home in the Colorado Rockies. She’s enticed back to the fray, however, when she learns her spin-doctor nemesis, Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton), has also taken a gig in Bolivia, helping to elect the opposing candidate. The candidate she’s off to manage, the hulking egomaniac Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida), is 28 points down in the polls and looking like the darkest of dark horses. He’s an IMF-courting plunderer in the making.
Bullock nails the maniacally creative, win-at-all-costs nefariousness of the political hired gun, and Thornton is almost her equal as her rival. But political comedy has always been a difficult task to pull off, and this is no Wag the Dog. It’s funny in an uncomfortable sort of way whenever Bullock’s on screen (which is most of the time), but the film feels like it’s pulling its punches. Politics is a dirty business, and Our Brand Is Crisis keeps its hands far too clean.