Jon Stewart's new political satire, Irresistible, premiered on premium video-on-demand last week, and the reviews have been tepid to downright terrible. Stewart, who is most famous for his 16-year run as the host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, was the country's most prominent political gadfly just a presidential election cycle ago. Yet the most critical takes on Irresistible, which Stewart wrote and directed, focus on how out of touch the film seems in the present moment. So what happened? Has Jon Stewart lost his left-wing edge? Or is it simply impossible to make light of politics in the age of protests, pandemic and the most divisive political climate in modern history?

Stewart has always been as interested in social commentary as he has in comedy. When he succeeded Craig Kilborn as host of The Daily Show, he completely changed its tone and trajectory. In doing so, he pioneered the now common late-night talk show formula that blends jokes with journalism (though he'd never admit that's what it was). More often than not, it was cultural luminaries and global power players rather than celebrities on press junkets who sat across the desk from him. Stewart's opinion held sway, and near the end of his tenure, he began to spend some of it on causes like the 9/11 First Responders Bill. He wielded so much influence that some critics actually blamed him, or rather his absence, for the election of Donald Trump.

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Stewart's first attempt at directing was the well-intended but mediocre drama, Rosewater, based on the memoir of his Iranian counterpart, Maziar BahariThough the capture and torture of outspoken citizens is certainly worthy subject matter, that Rosewater underwhelmed could be attributed to how purposefully serious the movie was. Stewart's brand is more righteous anger tempered with restrained wit and the occasional dash of slapstick. When it was announced in 2018 that he'd write and direct a film about the poisonous effect of limitless money in American election campaigning -- starring Steve Carell no less -- his sophomore effort seemed like a return to form. But two not-so-short years later, Irresistible feels like a comedy from an alternate timeline and universe.

The movie, about a Democratic operative who exploits a rural Wisconsinite and convinces him to run for office, isn't unwatchable. Had it been released in 2018, or better yet, at the height of Stewart's popularity, it might have been a pleasant-enough sleeper hit. And Stewart's theses -- that cynicism corrodes, that stereotyping and polarization are exponentially toxic, that governing in America has become a game for the wealthy and well-connected for which the common man pays the price -- aren't exactly misguided. It's just that the United States is in a significantly more urgent and earnest crossroads today than even during the crises of the early 2000s. Stewart is pointing our attention to molehills as we face down mountains.

But Irresistible's fatal flaw is that it's more concerned with being clever than conscious. There's a final-act twist that's sure to be as divisive as everything else is in American politics nowadays, and besides the fact that it isn't particularly satisfying, it also muddies Stewart's message. In concept and execution, it only pokes and jabs; it doesn't land a knockout punch like Stewart's take-downs of the entrenched and hypocritical used to do. Partly, the issues with the movie comes from the fact that, despite his reputation and all the good he's done, Stewart is still one of those wealthy and well-connected white men with some power. He's even become thorny when pressed to explain his own shortcomings in his employment of women and people of color.

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However, it's not all Stewart's doing. He couldn't have imagined half of what's happened between when Irresistible was greenlit and now, and he's not the only comedian struggling to find his voice in 2020 America. It's not political correctness run amok or cancel culture that's the issue, either, though fitting wokeness is a new and necessary hurdle for satirists to clear. For Stewart's many late night protégés, including Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Hasan Minhaj, it's been tricky to cut outrage with humor when, frankly, pure outrage feels more appropriate. Satirical films, like Dick Cheney biopic Vice, have tried to reckon with our political reality, too, but most feel petty and stuck in the past as soon as they come out. The problem is, satirical comedy can't come from a place of privilege anymore -- not even from allies.

Instead, today's most successful commentary comes from a place of genuine experience that's as deeply felt as it is well thought out. A rare example is 2018's brilliant and bizarre Sorry to Bother You. The surreal comedy by Boots Riley contains sequences that are so crazy, it seems like someone altered its Wikipedia page as a prank. It earns honest laughs, but it's also one of the clearest-headed movies about race, class and political powerlessness in recent memory. Sorry to Bother You isn't only more clever than Irresistible, it's edgier, plus more creative and meaningful in its call to action.

That's not to say Stewart's finished. He was at his best in empathetic and challenging conversations with actual politicians in which he warned them of a coming revolution if they didn't do right by their constituents. They didn't, and America is burning. Unfortunately, Irresistible only holds straw men's feet to a pretty small fire.

Written and directed by Jon Stewart, Irresistible stars Steve Carell, Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper, Mackenzie Davis, Topher Grace and Natasha Lyonne. The movie is currently available On Demand.

KEEP READING: Jon Stewart's Political Satire Irresistible Tells Us What We Already Know