Stealth Entertainment: Recount
By Scott Lumley
November 2, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Let's pray there isn't a sequel.
Hollywood is a machine. Every week, every month and every year countless films are released into theatres and not every one is as successful as the studio heads would hope. Sometimes the publicity machine was askew, sometimes the movie targeted an odd demographic, sometimes the release was steamrolled by a much larger movie and occasionally the movie is flat out bad.

But Hollywood's loss is our gain. There is a veritable treasure trove of film out there that you may not have seen. I will be your guide to this veritable wilderness of unwatched film. It will be my job to steer you towards the action, adventure, drama and comedy that may have eluded you, and at the same time, steer you away from some truly unwatchable dreck.

Hopefully we'll stumble across some entertainment that may have slid under your radar. Wish us luck.

Recount (2008)

I watched some truly great films this summer. Iron Man was far better than I hoped, and it looked great before I saw it. Kung Fu Panda was absolutely the best animated film I've seen in a long time (with apologies to Kim Hollis and her deep and true love for WALL-E) The Dark Knight, in particular Heath Ledger's crowning performance, completely mesmerized me. And Recount completely enthralled me with its amazing and unbiased story.

What's that? Recount never made it into theatres? I know. And it's a shame that it didn't. I don't know if it would have set the world on fire or put up Dark Knight style numbers, but I really do feel that the biggest cinematic mistake this year (aside from Speed Racer...) was NOT releasing Recount into theatres. HBO probably could have made an extra $50 million in revenue if they had.

Recount stars Kevin Spacey as Ron Clain, Dennis Leary as Mike Whouley, Tom Wilkinson as James Baker, Laura Dern as political dingbat Katherine Harris and Ed Begley Jr. as David Boies. It's a GREAT cast. I too often throw around terms like eclectic and brilliant, but these were all impressive actors with serious material and heavy dialogue to throw around and they all handled it like it was an Oscar caliber film as opposed as a direct-to-cable release.

Recount, not surprisingly, tells the story of the 2000 election Florida recount. It doesn't shy away from anything in that story and represents both sides with surprising fairness. The film also utilizes news footage taken during the period the recount was occurring and it reinforces just how loony things were when all this happened.

That's the real strength of this film. Not the great actors. Not the well written dialogue. The sense of uncertainty, panic, patriotism, elation and fear that permeated the air when the fate of the country was hanging in the balance. The films conveys this so well that I, a Canadian no less, watched a film with no car chases, no fist fights (Ron Clain gets his nose broken, but it's accidental.) , no gratuitous sex, little humor and little more than a heavy concept and some committed actors at least seven times.

I'd like to point out a couple of really stellar performances in this film. Kevin Spacey, as always, is phenomenal. He turns down the volume on a quiet and unassuming character who refuses to give up and just really want to know who won the election. Equally good, although possibly overdoing it a little is Laura Dern, playing possibly the most memorable character in the film in Katherine Harris, a woman who apparently valued impartiality above everything else... as long as the Republican party won. Laura plays this character like an absolute space cadet, dressed in some truly odd outfits and about 70 pounds of makeup. Tom Wilkinson puts in a great performance as well, standing tall as the Republican field general of the recount and strong in his conviction that the Republicans won the election in the first place.

The script for this film was very tight, with the majority of scenes continuing to tell the primary story of the recount. It's not above deviating here and there to tell a few side stories, however, like the explanation of how dimpled chads come to be or how 20,000 eligible voters were denied the right to vote because their name was similar to a convicted felon living in the state. At one point a character speaks with one individual denied his right to vote and discovers that not only is this person (an African American by the way...) not a felon, he's also a minister. When he announces this to the rest of the Democratic recount team, you can see them react like they've been hit with a ton of bricks. It's a truly disheartening moment in this film. It's equally sad to see the poor electoral staff, struggling to do their jobs, start to receive death threats and hate mail.

And yet, I couldn't stop watching. At the end of the film, Gore calls Clain to tell him it's time to let it end, and Clain is near tears as he begs Gore to hold on. I know how the recount turned out. I know what happened. I'm not even American and I was sitting there hoping against hope that Gore would give it just one more shot.

Gore of course conceded, and Bush took the presidency. You may already know that.

The film wraps up on that point, and the teams pack up and leave. Clain and Baker run into each other at the airport and they both reaffirm to each other that they feel their man won. Neither one chastises the other, because they both understand what the other one is feeling. Baker is generous in his victory and Clain is gracious in his defeat. It's a fitting end for a story that was as hard fought as any action film, yet clearly lacked a bad guy. All's fair in love, war and politics, and this film embraces that philosophy.

This is an intellectual, powerful and entertaining film. It's one of my top ten films of the year and it's one I've watched numerous times. Entertainment like this comes along rarely, so keep an eye out for Recount. It's worth your time.