'Primary Colors' holds up well. It's a trip of 90's nostalgia and yet it's questions and themes are still very relevant in the Trump age. It takes us back to a simpler time when our gravest concern was Clinton's promiscuity. I like the dilemma of the film as to whether our lead character Henry Burton can look past the fact that the Clinton standee is a reprehensible scumbag to embrace his ability to win voters. I feel as if it's the crux of being a liberal in this country.
The cast is what sells the film because there is so much danger of venturing off into caricature here. For the most part I think the film navigates that tight rope pretty well. The main stand out is Travolta in arguably his career best performance. His Jack Stanton challenges the audience as we can at both times appreciate and loath him. Travolta is particularly good at showing that so much of the character is a facade. The best scene is when he flips out in a restroom after getting some bad news. Emma Thompson is also excellent as Jack's long suffering wife Susan who while angry at her husband is willing to buckle down and withstand his many character faults if it means having her ambitions fulfilled.
It's a very on the nose movie. I'll compare it to a later(but much worse) Nichol's film, Charlie Wilson's War. Both films are politically charged but there is a nuance to them that Nichols really doesn't seem to appreciate at times. He is fortunate in that Adrian Lester really is wonderful at relaying the conflict his character is going through. There's an ending to the film that I feel must have been added in post-production where the moral dilemma is for lack of a better word resolved. He should have left the audience hanging.
The cast is what sells the film because there is so much danger of venturing off into caricature here. For the most part I think the film navigates that tight rope pretty well. The main stand out is Travolta in arguably his career best performance. His Jack Stanton challenges the audience as we can at both times appreciate and loath him. Travolta is particularly good at showing that so much of the character is a facade. The best scene is when he flips out in a restroom after getting some bad news. Emma Thompson is also excellent as Jack's long suffering wife Susan who while angry at her husband is willing to buckle down and withstand his many character faults if it means having her ambitions fulfilled.
It's a very on the nose movie. I'll compare it to a later(but much worse) Nichol's film, Charlie Wilson's War. Both films are politically charged but there is a nuance to them that Nichols really doesn't seem to appreciate at times. He is fortunate in that Adrian Lester really is wonderful at relaying the conflict his character is going through. There's an ending to the film that I feel must have been added in post-production where the moral dilemma is for lack of a better word resolved. He should have left the audience hanging.