With a little more than two months until the U.S. election, the Shuswap Film Society brings you a timely political comedy about the shortcomings of the American electoral system.
Called the most anticipated movie of 2020, Jon Stewart’s Irresistible is set in a rural Wisconsin town that becomes a microcosm of the entire political landscape.
Steve Carrell plays Democratic political strategist Gary Zimmer, who is still reeling after Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016. But, when he sees a YouTube video of retired Colonel Jack Hastings making an impassioned speech at a town hall meeting in Deerlaken, Wisconsin, Gary sees the hope of a new Democratic winner. He convinces Jack to run for mayor against the incumbent Republican, but, when the quaint mayoral race attracts national attention, the Republicans send in Gary’s ruthless political adversary, Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne). Both completely out of touch with the locals, they take over the election, employing all the expected truth-twisting, political pandering and dirty tricks.
The movie becomes a slightly exaggerated but very plausible tale of what happens when the full machinery of Americas’s two political parties descends on the rural heartland. There aren’t any earth-shattering revelations – we already know political operatives are sleazy and small town folks are nice, but some of the movie’s most outlandish twists (as a real-life expert tells us in the credits) are frighteningly possible.
Well-written, well-acted and entertaining, Stewart’s movie is a satirical look at all that’s wrong with the U.S. political system and how both parties are complicit, and how democracy has been poisoned by money and the polarizing media.
Rated R for language including sexual references, Irresistible plays at 7:30 nightly from Aug. 28 until Sept. 3 at the Salmar Classic. COVID-19 protocols in place. Please bring a mask.
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