It’s been five years since Jon Stewart stopped weighing in on American politics nightly on The Daily Show. While Stewart has largely stayed quiet since then, the country has only become more partisan and divided. Many would say there’s one person in particular to blame for that, and given Stewart’s famously liberal leanings, viewers might believe his new movie, Irresistible, is a screed against the current president, especially since it starts with Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and the devastation it brings Steve Carell’s character, the political strategist who ran Clinton’s campaign. Yet, it turns out Stewart’s movie is an indictment of the entire political system, and to a lesser degree, the media that aids and abets it.
Carell plays Gary Zimmer who’s looking to put the Democratic party back on top after Trump’s unexpected rise to the presidency. When an online video is brought to his attention of a folksy veteran named Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) waxing poetic about the value of helping others, Zimmer thinks he’s found his solution. He travels to Hastings' tiny hometown of Deerlaken, Wisconsin and convinces him to run against the incumbent mayor in the upcoming local election. Zimmer’s involvement brings national attention to the contest, and soon Republican operative Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne) has arrived to back the mayor’s reelection bid. As the two political animals wage war, more and more money gets pumped into the election and things start to turn vicious in ways the people of Deerlaken aren’t prepared for.
The film is a satire, but in many ways it hits a little too close to home. Given how politics continuously plays out across the country, the circumstances depicted in the movie seem entirely plausible. As a result, the movie elicits a few chuckles but is never uproariously funny, despite taking shots at everything from DC insiders to country bumpkins to coastal elites. In fact, some of the more amusing bits have nothing to do with politics, including Carell’s war with his virtual home assistants and his love affair with a pastry.
This ultimately isn’t helped by the fact that, at this point, Carell could play this kind of role in his sleep. The Daily Show alum has become an accomplished actor since leaving The Office, but that also means his most exciting roles are more unexpected than Zimmer, who comes across as a more competent Michael Scott (or a more liberal version of the character he plays in Netflix’s recently released comedy Space Force). Carell is good in the role, but you also know exactly what you’re going to get from him. The rest of the cast, especially Rose Byrne, is strong and stacked with big names, even in smaller parts. They make the most of the material, leading the movie to be more enjoyable than it would be in the hands of lesser talents.
Still, the movie isn’t nearly as potent as viewers might expect from a political satire written and directed by Jon Stewart. The best satire provides new perspectives on familiar issues so we can think about them in different ways. However, Irresistible elicits the same exhausted and slightly depressed feeling as most political discourse in America at this point in time. It’s not nearly as thought-provoking as it wants to be and is unlikely to move the needle on any of the issues it highlights; those who already agree will continue to do so, those who don’t won’t have their minds changed and those who didn’t know about these issues are unlikely to feel compelled to learn more.
Thanks to the stacked cast and the light humor, Irresistible is engaging enough. It even features a doozy of an ending that almost redeems the rest of the movie. At this point, though, Americans don’t really need another piece of media to remind them their political system is broken. While this kind of thing can work in bite-sized sketches and bits on late-night shows like, ahem, The Daily Show, stretching the message out into a feature-length film that offers no solutions just feels like an exercise in futility.
Written and directed by Jon Stewart, Irresistible stars Steve Carell, Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper, Mackenzie Davis, Topher Grace and Natasha Lyonne. The movie is available On Demand on Friday, June 26.