Primary Colors (1998)

Directed by: Mike Nichols | 140 minutes | drama | Actors: John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Adrian Lester, Maura Tierney, Larry Hagman, Diane Ladd, Paul Guilfoyle, Rebecca Walker, Caroline Aaron, Tommy Hollis, Rob Reiner, Ben Jones, JC Quinn

Political satire was a popular genre in Hollywood during Bill Clinton’s reign. We knew that those right-wing rascals are making a mess of it, but Democrats preaching hope and expectation is actually much more fun, show us ‘Wag the Dog’, in which the prez starts a war to avert a sex scandal , and “Mars Attacks,” in which the most powerful man on Earth believes he can pacify the aggressive Martians.

Successful parodies of idealistic leadership, as well as ‘Primary Colors’, which takes this theme over a more dramatic tack. John Travolta excels as charmer and charlatan Jack Stanton, a figure who, because of his characterological resemblance to Bill Clinton – but mainly thanks to Travolta himself – immediately settles in the memory. Travolta plays the most ambiguous role of his career as a non-responsible presidential candidate whose boyish bravado keeps him out of trouble. He balances on the tightrope: you never know whether Stanton’s charms are the result of genuine humanity or an insatiable hunger for power.

Stanton’s polar opposite in ‘Primary Colors’ – his conscience and sounding board – is not his intellectual wife Susan, but the naive Henry Burton, grandson of a renowned politician, captivated by Jack Stanton’s enthusiasm and then joined his campaign team. Henry is the moral anchor in the film, as flat as a mirror, but as pure as water. An uninteresting character in itself, but Stanton’s stands out all the better. It’s always tricky to have a movie carried by a saint, but the bucket of good feelings just doesn’t overflow: here and there some nuances are added to Henry’s character (cheating, slack) and that helps.

The relatively unknown Adrian Lester manages his sea of ​​playtime well, being surrounded by seasoned opponents like Emma Thompson (concentrated and subdued), Kathy Bates (in a funny Ien Dales role) and Billy Bob Thornton (a somewhat predictable redneck). The speed with which the latter and Henry’s sweetheart Daisy (ER’s Maura Tierney) are written out of the film suggests that director Mike Nichols (‘The Graduate’) ran out of time at the end of this overcrowded film, but that does little to detract from the end result. ‘Primary Colors’ continues to fascinate as satire and as drama and even if some showy tears are shed here and there, the film gives a good picture of the person behind the politician’s picture. The choice is yours…