Originally titled
Love, Barack, this is a romantic comedy set in Florida. It's focused on two political campaign managers working on the 2008 presidential election. One works for the Barack Obama team and the other works for the John McCain team. One is a woman and the other is a man. Despite having opposing ideologies, the two fall in love. Unlike most rom-coms though, there aren't any contrivances here, no ridiculous hurdles or hoops to jump. The fact that they do have opposing ideologies is never made an issue beyond the activities of their jobs putting them at odds, but you never feel that post-election, they would have any problems. The only problem is their mutual competitiveness, but since the outcome of the election is already known, there is no surprise there. Writer Gary Goldstein throws in a little tension at the end but director William Dear realizes the actual draw of this movie is watching his two main actors be cute and sexy together, which in several instances requires them to be shirtless.
First up is Brian J. White, a model-turned-actor. White started in television in 2000 at the age of 25. His best performance on the small screen was in Season 3 of the FX series
The Shield. Drawing on his brief-life as a pro-athlete, he was cast in a small, supporting role in the baseball film
Mr. 3000 (2004). He had leading roles in movies that went straight to video, but those movies made good use of his rising status as a sex symbol. He's done various projects in the interim, but, after
The Heart Specialist (2011), this is only his second as a leading man in a romantic comedy, and it's no wonder as to why. If you need more convincing, check out
Me and Mrs. Jones (2001) or
This Girl's Life (2003)
But, White is complimented by his co-star Mallika Sherawat. Sherawat was born in India. She started appearing in Bollywood films about ten years ago. Her breakout role was in the Award-winning film
Murder (2004), which was directed by Anurag Basu. If anyone in the west knows Basu, they probably know him for
Kites (2010), the first Bollywood movie to crack the weekend top ten box office in the United States. Sherawat was introduced to the world at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 when she co-starred opposite Jackie Chan in
The Myth. Her beauty and her lack of fear for showing skin caught several eyes, resulting in her being the first India woman to be offered the cover of
Playboy magazine. This movie is an attempt to familiarize her more with Americans, and if her half-naked car wash scene is any indication, she'll be fine because she is fine.
The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Three Stars out of Five.
Not Rated But Recommended 14 and Up.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 28 mins.
Comments
Post a Comment